Alabama LLC Certificate of Formation
(2025 Guide)

This section provides detailed instructions on how to form your Alabama LLC online by filing your Certificate of Formation directly with the Secretary of State.

Prior Lessons Reminder: Before you begin, ensure you’ve completed these crucial preliminary steps:

• Alabama LLC Name Reservation 
• Alabama LLC Registered Agent 

Let’s begin the online filing process!

1. Get Started

• Visit the Alabama Secretary of State: Online Services.
• Click “Domestic Business Filing”.
• Click “Domestic Formation”.
• Scroll down and click “Continue to application”.

2. Contact Information

• Enter your contact information (phone number, email address) and your physical address.
• Click “Continue”.

Important Notes:

• The email address you provide here is where the state will send your LLC approval document (a stamped and approved Certificate of Formation). This doesn’t need to be a formal “business email”; use any email address you prefer.
• This contact information is private and not part of your public LLC filing. It’s solely for the Secretary of State to contact you regarding your submission.
• The address can be any address; it doesn’t have to be an address used elsewhere in your LLC filing and can be located in any state or country.

3. Alabama LLC Name Reservation

Prior Lesson: Make sure you’ve thoroughly reviewed the Alabama LLC Name Reservation lesson before proceeding.

• Already have an LLC Name Reservation? If you previously filed an LLC Name Reservation and received your LLC Name Reservation Certificate, enter your Reservation ID Number in the designated field at the bottom.
• Don’t have a Name Reservation? If you haven’t filed one yet (or want to file it concurrently), enter your desired Alabama LLC name in the provided field.
  
  • For “Type of Reservation,” select “Domestic.”
  • For “Type of Entity,” select “Limited Liability Company (LLC).”

Note: A Foreign LLC is an LLC that was originally formed in another state and is now seeking to register to do business in Alabama.

• Click “Continue”.
• The system will then give you an option to file only the Name Reservation or to combine it with the Certificate of Formation. To proceed with forming your LLC, click “File of Formation Data.”

4. Requestor Information

• The “Requestor” is the individual or company making the Alabama LLC Name Reservation.
• If this information is the same as your previously entered contact details, you can use the provided link at the top to auto-populate the fields.
• If the Requestor is different, enter their information here.
• Make sure to select either “Organization” or “Individual” as appropriate.

5. Review Reservation

• Carefully confirm that the LLC name information is correct.
• Check the box to confirm accuracy and click “Continue”.

6. County Information

Prior Lesson: Ensure you’ve read our guide on your Alabama LLC Registered Agent before proceeding, as this section directly relates to it.

• Which county should I put here? The county you enter in this section is the county where your Registered Agent’s address is physically located.
• If you or someone you know will be your LLC’s Registered Agent, enter the county corresponding to their street address.
• If you hired Northwest Registered Agent, their official address is in Houston County.
• If you hired another Commercial Registered Agent, you will need to contact them directly to determine which county to use for their Registered Office address.

7. Filing Options

• Select “Limited Liability Company” from the available options.

8. Delayed Effective Date (Optional)

Related Article: We highly recommend reading our detailed guide on LLC Effective Date. If you are forming your LLC later in the year (e.g., October, November, or December), it can be beneficial to forward-date your filing to January 1st of the next year for tax purposes.

• Immediate Effective Date: If you want your LLC to become legally effective (go into existence) on the date it’s processed and approved by the Alabama Secretary of State, simply leave this field blank.
• Future Effective Date: If you wish for your LLC to become effective on a specific future date, enter that date in the format: month/day/year (e.g., 01/01/2026).
• Important: If using a delayed effective date, the date cannot be more than 90 days in the future.
• Can I back-date my filing? No, the Alabama Secretary of State will not accept filings with a past effective date.

9. Registered Agent Information

Prior Lessons: Before completing this section, ensure you’ve reviewed:

• Alabama LLC Registered Agent 

• Is a Registered Agent an LLC Member? for further clarification.

• Select whether your LLC’s Registered Agent is an “Individual” or an “Organization” (Commercial Registered Agent).

• Enter their contact information accurately.

• Check the box to confirm, and then click “Continue”.

For an Individual Registered Agent:

• Select “Individual” at the top.
• Enter their last name and first name.
• Enter their office address (this is their physical street address, which doesn’t have to be a formal “office” building) and check the box confirming they are your Registered Agent.
• If their mailing address is different from the office address, enter it. Otherwise, click the link to copy the office address.

For an Organization (Commercial Registered Agent):

• Note: You’ll typically need to log in to your online account with your chosen Registered Agent Service to obtain their exact address details.
• Select “Organization” at the top.
• Click the blue search link and search for your Commercial Registered Agent’s name (e.g., “Northwest Registered Agent”).
• Select their name from the list (their Entity ID Number should auto-fill).
• Enter their office address and check the box confirming they are your Registered Agent.
• Enter their mailing address (if different from the office address) or click the link to copy the office address.

10. Organizer Information

Related Articles: For more clarity on roles, we recommend reading:

• LLC Organizer vs LLC Member
• Registered Agent vs LLC Organizer 

An LLC Organizer is the person or company legally responsible for signing and submitting the Certificate of Formation to the state. It’s important to understand that an LLC Organizer (while they may also be an LLC Member) does not automatically become an LLC Member simply by signing this document. LLC Members (the owners) are officially listed in your Alabama LLC Operating Agreement.

For most people forming their own LLC, they will be the LLC Organizer.

What’s confusing about this section of the online filing is it says “Organizer Information is Optional.” This doesn’t mean the Organizer role is optional (it’s legally required). Instead, it means that providing their contact information in this specific online field is optional.

Note: As per Section 10A-5A-2.01 (a) of the Alabama Code, your LLC’s Certificate of Formation must be signed by an Organizer.

Therefore, you can usually skip entering the LLC Organizer’s information in this section (they will just sign later in the “Summary & Signature” section) and click “Continue”.

11. Document Uploads (Adding Members to Certificate of Formation)

This section is optional and allows you to upload any additional documents with your LLC filing.

• If you are not uploading any attachments, simply click “Continue”.

LLC Members (owners) are generally not required to be listed in the Alabama LLC Certificate of Formation (their details are typically documented in the Alabama LLC Operating Agreement). However, some people may choose to publicly list who owns the LLC. If that’s your preference, you can upload an attachment listing the LLC Members.

We’ve provided a convenient form you can use for this purpose, available in both PDF and Microsoft Word format:

• Adding Members to Alabama LLC Certificate of Formation (PDF) 
• Adding Members to Alabama LLC Certificate of Formation (Word) 

Feel free to customize the Word document by adding or removing sections/lines as needed. You are also not required to list the addresses of the Members; if you prefer to list only their names, simply edit the Word document to remove the address lines.

Important: If you edit the Word document, it must be converted to a PDF file before you upload it to your online filing. In Microsoft Word, you can typically do this by clicking File > Save As > and selecting PDF from the File Format list.

12. Summary & Signature

Related Article: Before finalizing, we recommend reviewing Member-managed vs Manager-managed LLC. This will help you determine the correct title for your signature.

• Thoroughly review your entire LLC filing. Check for accuracy and meticulously look for any typos.
• If you need to make any changes, click the “Edit” buttons in the relevant sections.
• Once everything looks correct, you can now sign your filing.
• Enter your first and last name in the “Electronic Signature” box.
• Enter your title in the “Title” box based on your LLC’s management structure and your role:
  
  • If your LLC is Member-managed, your title will be “Managing Member”.
  • If your LLC is Manager-managed and you are a Member, your title will be “Member”.
  • If your LLC is Manager-managed and you are the Manager, your title will be “Manager”.
• Alternatively, regardless of how your LLC is managed, you can consistently use the title “Organizer” (instead of signing as the Member or Manager). If you choose this, it’s good practice to sign a separate Statement of LLC Organizer for your internal records (this document does not get sent to the state).
• Check the final confirmation box, and then click “Continue”.

13. Payment

Note: There is an extra $8 “processing fee” when filing online. The information entered on this payment page is private (not on public records) and is not made a part of your LLC filing.

• Enter your contact information and billing details.
• Submit your online payment.

Congratulations! Your Alabama LLC Certificate of Formation has been successfully submitted to the state!