About LlamaFilings
An accounting practice that files formations, rather than a filing service that resells accounting. The distinction decides almost everything about how we work.
Why the order matters.
- The usual order
- Filing service, then accounting as an upsell
- Ours
- Accounting practice that files
Nearly every company in this market started as a filing service and added accounting later, usually through a partner. That order shapes the product. The filing is the thing being sold, the accounting is an upsell, and the relationship is designed to end when the certificate arrives unless something else is bought.
It produces a specific and predictable failure. Nobody who touched the formation has any reason to know what the entity will owe in eighteen months, so nobody mentions it. The founder abroad who is never told about Form 5472 is not the victim of dishonesty. They are the victim of a business model in which nobody in the chain had a reason to look that far ahead.
We built it the other way round because the accounting relationship is the one that lasts. When the people preparing the return are the people who chose the entity, the entity gets chosen with the return in mind.
The commitments we will not trade away.
What we decided at the start
- No bank pays us, ever. We do not sell accounts or cards and nobody pays us for where you bank. It costs us revenue and it is the reason our advice on the subject is worth having.
- The government fee is always separate and always visible. You should be able to see exactly what goes to a state and what goes to us.
- Nothing renews silently. A notice comes first, every time.
- We say when you do not need us. Including when the S election is not worth it yet, when your entity is fine as it is, and when you should talk to a lawyer instead.
- Your files are yours. The accounting subscription is in your name and the data leaves with you if you go.
- We check the source. Every compliance claim on this site is checked against the authority rather than against what a competitor wrote about it two years ago.
On the parts of this industry we do not admire.
- Checked
- September 2026
- Sources
- fincen.gov, irs.gov
A great deal of marketing in company formation depends on making the process sound more frightening than it is and then selling relief from the fear. Beneficial ownership reporting is the current example. FinCEN removed the requirement for companies formed in the United States, and yet paid filing services for it are still being sold to people who do not need them.
There is a milder version of the same thing in the way an EIN is presented. The IRS issues it free and says so on its own website. Charging a preparation fee is entirely reasonable. Presenting the number itself as something you must buy is not.
We are not claiming any moral distinction here. We are describing the specific practices we decided not to adopt, so that you can hold us to it.
Common questions
Are you a law firm?
No. We prepare and file formation documents and we do accounting and tax work. We do not give legal advice or provide legal representation, and we will tell you when a question needs a lawyer rather than answering it anyway.
Are you a CPA firm?
We are an accounting practice. Where an engagement requires a licensed professional's sign off, that is arranged and disclosed. We do not imply credentials we do not hold, which is more than can be said for parts of this industry.
Who owns LlamaFilings?
LlamaFilings is privately owned. It is not funded by banks, payment providers or anyone else whose products we might be asked about, which is what makes the position on this site affordable to hold: nobody here earns anything from where you bank, so nobody has a reason to steer you.
Where are you based?
We work remotely and we file in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. There is no office to visit and no reason there should be: a formation in Wyoming and a formation in Florida are handled the same way, by the same people, over email, phone and video. The team works across time zones, which is deliberate given that a large share of our clients are not in North America.
Who actually does the work?
The person who prepares your formation is in the same firm as the person who will prepare your return. You get their name. Work is not passed to an anonymous queue.