How to Start a Business in Virginia

Guide to Starting a Business in Virginia

You’re ready to start your own Virginia business, and we’re ready to provide you with a complete guide on how to be successful every step of the way!

This guide walks you through all the steps to consider from beginning to end when starting an LLC or corporation in Virginia, including any helpful information you may need along the way such as prices, forms, and links to helpful resources.

Starting a business in Virginia is straightforward and affordable. The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) files your business formation documents in about one business day, which legally creates your business entity. The business formation filing fees run an LLC $100, and a corporation about $75 (more if you authorize over 25k shares). The SCC provides business owners with an eFile system called the Clerk’s Information System (CIS), which processes business documents in real time and provides helpful resources.

Use Our Services to Start Your Business

Although starting your own business in Virginia is more clear-cut than other states, the process is still a complex one, requiring time-intensive paperwork and several different fees. It’s easy to make one mistake that could lead to losing a significant amount of time and money.

Instead, use our Virginia LLC formation or Virginia incorporation services for just an extra $100 on top of Virginia’s state fees! Or, if you own a company in another state and need to start doing business in VA, we can register your Foreign Virginia LLC or Foreign Virginia Corporation. After we form or foreign register your company, we are there to provide you ongoing support whenever you may need it along your business journey.

We can also serve as your Virginia registered agent service for only $49 per year. Both business formation and registered agent service are our thing, and our friendly and experienced staff are more than happy to get your business started off right.

If you’re looking for more than just business registration, we can even help you start reaching customers and building your brand. With Virginia Business Presence, you get a business website, web domain, advanced security, business email, and phone service at no upfront cost.

Hire Us Today!

How to Set up a Business in Virginia

Below we’ve outlined the most essential steps you’ll need to take, along with an abundance of links to resources and ways our business can help your business.

Decide on a Business Structure
Choose Your Business Name
Designate Your Virginia Registered Agent
Get a Virginia Business Address
Submit Your Articles of Organization or Incorporation
Obtain Your Federal Tax Number (EIN)
Create Your Operating Agreement or Bylaws
File Your BOI Report to FinCEN
Look Into City & State Business Licenses
Sign Up for Business Insurance
Open up a Company Bank Account
Schedule Your First Business Meeting
Build Your Online Business Presence

Each step will need to be highly customized to fit your unique business needs, so we recommend talking to a professional in your business area to ensure the best possible success you can achieve.

1. Decide on a Business Structure

It’s important to remember that each state has its own laws for LLCs and corporations. Here’s a quick background on the differences between LLCs and corporations.

LLCs

Easier overall maintenance
Pass-through tax entity by default (no double-taxation like corporations)
Flexibility in structure, management, and profit allocation (can split based on ownership or otherwise)
Can elect to be taxed as an S-corporation or C-corporation

Corporations

Double-taxation allows for reinvesting profits back into the company
Investors prefer putting their money into stock
High level of prestige

Virginia LLCs and Virginia Corporations

Both have strong limited liability compared to other states
Corporations can issue stock to new shareholders whenever the board desires
LLCs can admit a new member (who holds economic interest) only if a majority of the existing members agree.
Most state statute default rules for LLCs can be changed by an Operating Agreement, although the same thing cannot be said about corporations with their Bylaws.

For more details about these entities, visit our Virginia LLC Formation and Virginia Incorporation pages.

For more detailed tax information on Virginia businesses, check out the Virginia SCC’s Virginia Tax page.

2. Choose Your Business Name

One of the most exciting first steps you get to take as a entrepreneur is choosing your company’s name. You’ll want to consider your target audience, your brand, and your future (consider if the name will age well).

During your brainstorming, remember there are a few rules for business names in Virginia.

LLC names must include the phrase “Limited Liability Company,” “Limited Company,” or an abbreviation of those.
Corporation names must include the phrase “Corporation,” “Incorporated,” “Company,” “Limited,” or an abbreviation of those.
Name must be different from any other business entity on file with the SCC.

You can check and make sure that the name you want is unique by searching the SCC’s Virginia Name Check Availability page.

3. Designate Your Virginia Registered Agent

All businesses in Virginia are required to have a registered agent (occasionally still referred to as its old title, resident agent) in Virginia to receive service of process on their behalf. If your company is sued, your Virginia registered agent will be the main point of contact for the state, and will ensure that your company is properly notified.

Official notices and documents from the State of Virginia, such as the annual report, will also be sent to the Virginia registered agent.

Your Virginia registered agent legally must maintain normal business hours at a business office (or registered office), be available during those business hours to receive service of process, and have a physical address in Virginia (a PO Box is not acceptable).

Who should you designate for your Virginia registered agent needs? Well, we recommend our service here at Virginia Registered Agent Services™! We charge just a flat $49 for 1 year of registered agent service.

Once you’re signed up, you’ll be logged into your online account and have all the necessary forms pre-populated with our Virginia registered agent information on them and ready to file anytime. In less than 10 minutes, you’ll have what you need and understand what to do with it.

Get Registered Agent Service Today!

4. Get a Virginia Business Address

A Virginia business address is a physical address that you can use anywhere on your business formation documents where an address is required, in place of your personal addresses.

When you use any personal address on your business formation documents, it becomes publicly available online. Losing privacy of your personal address allows any client or random person to find it, and you’re guaranteed to get a bevy of junk mail for years to come.

Instead, use our Virginia business address service when you hire us to be your registered agent, start your LLC, or start your corporation. Our business address will save you an incredible amount of privacy, time, and sanity in your already-hectic life of being a business owner.

5. Submit Your Business Formation Forms

The step that brings your business entity into legal existence is filing the Virginia Articles of Organization or Virginia Articles of Incorporation.

The Articles of Organization comes with a one-time state filing fee of $100. You can file online or by mail or online. We recommend filing online with the Virginia SCC’s CIS online filing tool for the most secure and quickest business formation.

As we mentioned before, its important to make sure this is taken care of correctly the first time out to save you a significant amount of time and money. To ensure your privacy and sanity stay intact, we recommend our business formation services. Sign up here and you’ll be sure to start your business off without a hitch!

6. Obtain Your Federal Tax Number (EIN)

Your federal tax ID number is known as the Employer Identification Number, or EIN (occasionally referred to as the Federal Employer Identification Number, or FEIN). The EIN is needed for things like filing tax returns, bank accounts, and some business permits, just to name a few.

An EIN is easy to obtain through the IRS Employer Id Number webpage, and doesn’t cost anything. If you hire us to form your business, you can choose to have us apply for your EIN on your behalf as part of the package we offer.

7. Create Your Operating Agreement or Bylaws

Your LLC or corporation needs an internal document laying out the policies, procedures, and organizational structure of your company. For LLCs, this document is called an operating agreement, and for corporations, it’s called corporate bylaws. You don’t need to submit this paperwork to the SCC, but you should keep it with your permanent records and consult it before making important business decisions, as it is legally binding. Adopting a strong LLC operating agreement or corporate bylaws reduces potentially harmful risks to your company, whether that’s confusion and stress among the members or shareholders or even damaging legal conflicts that could have been avoided by agreeing to your policies in advance.

When you hire us to form your business, we’ll include free basic bylaws and operating agreement templates, as well templates for initial resolutions, stock certificates, and a resolution to open a business bank account.

8. File Your BOI Report to FinCEN

More than likely, your Virginia LLC or corporation will be required to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOI) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to meet the mandates of the Corporate Transparency Act. Businesses registered with the state after January 1, 2024 must file their no-cost BOI report within 30 days of formation. Entities already in existence before 2024 have until January 1, 2025 to file a report and do not have to provide company applicant information.

Company information required on the report includes the full legal name, any trade or DBA names, current address, formation jurisdiction, and tax ID.

Beneficial owners and company applicants include their full name, date of birth, residential address, and copy of an identifying document*.

Beneficial owner: anyone who controls the company directly or indirectly, which includes anyone who owns at least 25% of the company or holds a key decision-making position like the CEO or board members.
Company applicant: the “organizer” of the company who filed the forms to register the company, and if different, the person who directed the filing to be made.

Information provided through the report is held secure by FinCEN and not made public. It’s purpose is to fight money laundering and other financial crimes in the US.

*To meet FinCEN requirements, the copy/picture of your identifying document needs to show your full legal name, ID number, the jurisdiction where it was issued, and an ID photo

9. Look into City & State Business Licenses

State Business Licenses
While there is no general state business license that all businesses must have, there may still be professional, occupational, or specialty licenses or permits required by the state for your company. Occupations such as barber, engineer, or real estate agent are a few examples of industries that require special licensing or certification.

Local Business Licenses
Local business licenses and permits are usually determined and set by the city or county itself in Virginia. For example, a business subject to inspection (such as a restaurant) may need additional or different licenses, depending on the city or county where it’s located. Get in touch with your local city or county government to find out exact details.

Check out Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) page for detailed information.

10. Sign up for Business Insurance

It’s legally required for Virginia businesses with two or more employees to carry Worker’s Compensation insurance. This doesn’t include members of an LLC, who are exempt from this law. Even if your business hires subcontractors, the subcontractor’s employees may need to be included when figuring the total number of your employees.

If your business involves a commercial lease, you may need Commercial General Liability insurance (also referred to as simply Business Liability insurance). This heavily depends on your industry, and it’s best to speak to a professional about this potentially mandatory insurance.

Additional business insurance

Here are some other types of business insurance that may or may not be necessary for your business:

Professional Liability insurance
Cyber Liability insurance
Commercial Auto insurance
Employee Disability insurance
Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance

As mentioned earlier, be sure to speak to a professional insurance agent or lawyer to understand all the options, and how important they may be to ensuring your business is as safe as possible.

11. Open Up a Company Bank Account

Separation of your business banking and your personal banking is one of the key ways to demonstrate the separation of yourself from your business. This practice can help maintain your business’s limited liability and prevent piercing of the corporate veil.

Just choose the bank you prefer and ask them about the paperwork and steps to take to open a business bank account with them. Some banks will want to see more than others, including things like your company’s business plan. Some benefits of having a business bank account include the following:

Protecting your limited liability
Accurately identifying business expenses and tax deductions
Accepting client or customer credit card payments
Easily managing business transactions – writing checks, collecting receipts, etc.

12. Schedule Your First Business Meeting

We recommend all Virginia businesses hold an official first meeting to discuss and settle any business matters, and tie up loose ends. These matters can include the organizational resolutions, which are adopted actions related to the organization and incorporation of a company such as authorizing share issuance, appointing directors, or purchasing real estate.

Common business matters to discuss and authorize can include the following:

- Electing officers or other governors and agreeing on salaries
- Finalizing the bylaws or operating agreements
- Discussing the business bank account and who will have access

13. Create Your Online Business Presence

Most successful businesses have a website where customers can learn more about the business, contact the owner, or even make purchases online.

When you start your business with Virginia Registered Agent Services™, you can get a business website completely free for the first 90 days. Design your website using a pre-built, customizable template. If you need help, our experienced website-building team can walk you through the entire process.

Our Virginia Business Presence bundle comes with everything you need to start reaching customers:

Business website
Domain name (The address for your website, like virginiaregisteredagent.com)
Advanced website security
Professional email address
Private business phone line

Pricing and Discount Options

Your domain name is FREE for an entire year. After that, domains renew at an affordable yearly fee, based on the value of the domain. All other Business Presence services are FREE for 90 days, then $9/month per service. Get 20% off the entire bundle when you keep all services.

Ready to Start Doing Business in Virginia?

Here at Virginia Registered Agent Services™, we’re a small company with a longstanding history of business formation and registered agent services. We’ve been in the game a long time, and we love what we do. We’re the most affordable and efficient business service here in Virginia. Hire us for your business and see for yourself!