The New York LLC Publication Requirement
To meet the New York LLC publication requirement, all limited liability companies (along with LPs, LLPs, and PLLCs) doing business in New York must:
- publish legal notices in two local newspapers for six weeks
- obtain an Affidavit of Publication
- file a Certificate of Publication with the New York Department of State
Like many things in New York, the publication requirement is neither straightforward nor cheap. But here, we’ll break down the process and show you how to save some money. Skip ahead with the links below:
Publish Your LLC
Get Your Affidavits of Publication
File the Certificate of Publication
Northwest’s New York LLC Publication Service
Publish Your LLC
N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law § 206 requires all LLCs to publish legal notices announcing themselves to the public. In a nutshell, you’ll need to publish legal notices:
- in two newspapers—one daily and one weekly
- for six consecutive weeks
- in the county where your principal business address is located
- within 120 days of forming or registering your LLC in New York
The New York LLC publication requirement applies both when you start an LLC in New York and when you register a foreign LLC in New York. We know—this requirement is about as old-fashioned as the classifieds themselves, but you’ll need to publish to keep your LLC in good standing.
Publishing FAQ
As you might imagine, publication fees vary widely between newspapers, depending on location. Publishing in New York County can cost you thousands. Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose which county you publish in… or do you?
If you hire a registered agent, you can list their office address (and county) as your own on the Articles of Organization. Doing so allows you to publish in the county where your registered agent is located.
For example, our office is in Albany, where publication fees are low (around $150.) When you hire us and use our business address as your own, you can meet the publication requirement in Albany. Better yet, you can hire us to take care of the entire publication requirement for you ($375).
The legal notice you publish needs to cover basically the same information listed in your Articles of Organization, including:
- your LLC’s name
- the county of your LLC’s business address
- your LLC’s business address
- the date you filed Articles of Organization
- your registered agent’s information
- your LLC’s future date of dissolution (if you have one–most LLCs don’t)
- the kind of business activity your LLC will engage in
Double-check that the information included on your notice matches the information you provided on your Articles of Organization exactly. Any discrepancies could cause legal problems down the road.
Note: Newspapers charge for space—usually by line or per word. We have an approved formula for squeezing all of the required information into the smallest space possible, because saving money is fun.
Whenever an address is published in a newspaper, its next stop is one of those janky “public records” websites. And then comes the junk mail.
Your best bet to avoid this hit to your privacy (and your mailbox) is to hire a registered agent who will list their business address on your Articles of Organization in place of your own. Hey, what a coincidence—we do that!
If our business address is listed on your Articles of Organization, you can publish it in your legal notice. This will help keep sensitive information—like where you sleep at night—private.
You can hire us as your New York registered agent and use our address and complete the publication requirement on your own, or you can hire us to take care of the publication requirement entirely. It’s up to you.
By law, you have to publish your LLC’s notice for six consecutive weeks. After that, you have to file a Certificate of Publication with the New York Department of State’s Division of Corporation. And they have to process it. Somehow, that takes them six to seven months.
With wait times like that, we recommend expediting your documents for an extra $25. In fact, we automatically expedite all our clients’ Certificate of Publication filings. So when you hire us, we’ll see that your Certificate of Publication is processed fast—usually within two business days.
All limited liability companies, foreign and domestic. This means all traditional LLCs, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and professional limited liability companies doing business in the state of New York need to meet the publication requirement (even if they were formed in another state). Corporations are off the hook.
Yes. Arizona and Nebraska also require LLCs to publish notices of their formation. Learn more on our LLC Publication Requirement page.
Get Your Affidavits of Publication
Once your six weeks of publication are up, each newspaper should send you an Affidavit of Publication. The Affidavit of Publication is proof that your legal notice actually ran in the newspaper. You should have two of them—one from the daily newspaper and one from the weekly newspaper. The newspaper should also include clips—that is, copies of the ad itself. You’ll attach the clips and the Affidavit of Publication to your Certificate of Publication.
Affidavits FAQ
An Affidavit of Publication is a sworn, written statement that serves as proof that you did in fact publish your LLC’s information for six consecutive weeks. Every newspaper’s affidavit will look different, but most are notarized.
File the Certificate of Publication
Once you have your Affidavit of Publication in hand, you’re ready for the final step—filing a Certificate of Publication with the New York Department of State. To fill out the Certificate of Publication, you’ll need to provide the following:
- your LLC’s business name
- your LLC’s formation date
- a signature from a member, manager, or another person authorized to do business on behalf of your LLC
- the name and mailing address of whoever is filing the form
After you complete the form, mail it to the New York Department of State. Your filing should include:
- the Certificate of Publication
- your Affidavits of Publication (you should have two—one from each newspaper)
- a check or money order for $50 (payable to “Department of State”)
Note: Standard processing currently takes up to 7 months, so we recommend expediting for an extra $25.
Certificates FAQ
If you fail to publish notice of your LLC within 120 days of forming it, the New York Department of State will revoke your authority to transact business in the state. What does this mean? Well, you’ll have trouble getting any licenses or permits your LLC may need (and let’s be real—in New York, you need a permit to do pretty much anything).
Luckily, if you fail to publish and your authority to do business is revoked, all you need to do to bring your business back into good standing is to meet the publication requirement. But as you know, if you’ve read this far—publishing takes at least six weeks, and if you wait on the Department of State to process your Certificate of publication, you could be waiting another seven months to bring your business back into good standing.
You can only file the Certificate of Publication by mail.
Department of State
Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code
One Commerce Plaza
99 Washington Ave
Albany, NY 12231-0001
Northwest’s New York LLC Publication Service
This requirement is an outdated pain in the butt. Yeah, we said it.
We can take care of the whole publication process—from publishing legally compliant ads in approved newspapers to filing your Certificate of Publication—for you. Our office is located in Albany, which is one of the cheapest counties to publish in.
What We Charge
Here’s a breakdown of what we charge.
| Albany County Publication Fees | $150 |
| New York’s Certificate of Publication Fee (expedited) | $75 |
| Our Filing Fee | $150 |
| TOTAL: | $375 |
How to Sign Up
To hire us, you can add Publication Service to a new or existing business from within your account.
Create an Account and Get Publication Service
Northwest NY LLC Publication FAQ
No problem—just file a Certificate of Change with the New York Department of State, Corporations Division once you’re done publishing. It costs $30, but you’ll still save hundreds by publishing outside of the city.
If you only hired us as a registered agent to save money on the publication requirement, we get it. You can cancel registered agent service anytime with a few clicks in your online account and by filing a Certificate of Change form with the Department of State for $30.
But many business owners find that they like us. While technically, the Secretary of State automatically serves as your registered agent in New York, appointing another registered agent is a great way to keep your personal information private. If we’re your registered agent, you won’t have to file a Certificate of Change every time you move (which creates a public history of where you’ve lived and worked).
Plus, we’re fast. If your time-sensitive legal mail shows up in our office, we scan it and upload it to your account that day. So if you’re traveling or away from your office, you won’t be in the dark on what’s going on with your business.