Incfile was founded in 2004 and based in Houston, Texas. Due to the inexpensive attorneys as well as needless paperwork just for LLC registration at that time, Nicholas Siha has come out with the idea to make it easier for business formation at a competitive price and named it Incfile.
Incfile is an LLC formation service that helps you form an LLC from scratch. In other words, Incfile allows small businesses to form an organization at a cheaper price. Incfile provides start-up services for people who want to start an LLC.
For instance, Incfile offers convenient services like registration of a company, banking, business tax and other useful services for LLC owners. The mission of Incfile is to deliver clients with an outstanding and top-grade experience at an exceptional value.
The entity type in which Incfile helps to form include Limited Liability Company (LLC), Small Business Corporation (S-Corporation), C-Corporation and Non-profit Corporation. The services offered by Incfile vary according to the entity type.
For instance, there would be a difference in the business tax, state filing fee as well as compliance fees for each of the entity type. These state fees and taxes can sometimes be confusing especially when you’re looking to form an LLC.
Thus, it would be too confusing and a waste of time for the business owners to ensure that the LLC formation is done correctly. As a result, Incfile would aid them to deal with the complex taxation and make sure the ease of use of technology in dealing with the LLC formation.
The best LLC service would offer customer support in the event that you have any questions as to how to form an llc, or all those confusing state fees and whatnot, or even when it comes to obtaining the employer identification number (EIN).
Fret not, that is where customer service comes in. Incfile has quite the customer service to ensure a smooth LLC formation. Let’s bounce straight into how Incfile operates.
Incfile Reviews : How does Incfile Work?
Incfile has made it easier for entrepreneurs to set up a company by utilising the advancement of technology.
Firstly, clients should find a suitable entity type for the LLC.
As the numerous states are composed of different sets of rules and regulation which include state fees, taxes and compliance requirements, thus, it is crucial for the clients to identify suitable entity type for the LLC in order to minimize loss of investment capital as well as the cost in operating LLCs.
To identify if you require LLC service, you should ask yourself first, if you are familiar with state fees, or if you know the requirements to form an LLC. State fees can sometimes be confusing, as different states will have different fees.
To learn more on the various state fees, check out Corporate State Information in their website where they explain accurate information regarding a LLC in a particular state.
Next, the clients can choose a package according to their own budget allocation. As an example, there are three packages named Silver package, Gold package and Platinum package offered by Incfile which ranges from cheapest price to the most expensive. The packages differ in services offered.
In other words, the Silver package consists of basic features at low price, while the Gold package includes extensive features which are crucial to start your LLC. As for the Platinum package, it delivers complete features at an ideal price, thus, it is a premium package compared to the others.
Lastly, describe the LLC to Incfile for further understanding of the nature of the LLC. With this, Incfile would analyse and choose the preferable choice for the clients. By following these three simple steps, unnecessary paperwork and inexpensive legal services would be minimized.
Incfile Services – Is Incfile Worth It?
So what makes Incfile the best LLC Service?
There are a variety of services that Incfile offered, including Registered Agent Services. Registered Agent services help you to manage your crucial and essential legal papers to avoid hassle or mistakes, no matter big or small.
With at least a year of this service, you need not worry about much, as they will aid you in every way they can should you have any questions.
Not only that, but Incfile is also able to help your LLC by ensuring you have paid your state fees and corporation taxes, which is particularly important when it comes to starting a corporation.
The Incfile Registered Agent service gives you access to your own corporation dashboard so that when you are ready to set up your own corporation, the process would be as easy as ABC!
Besides, they are able to help you out on filing a “Fictitious Business Name” (FBN) or “Doing Business As” name (DBA). Of course, it is with a condition that the name availability is still vacant.
A Fictitious Business Name or DBA service is necessary when you own a business in multiple states and want the names to represent specific states. For example, Texas Print Shop LLC or California Print Shop LLC, depending on the location.
Next, Incfile provides service for the annual report as well. An annual report is needed if you are an LLC, LLP, S-Corp, and C-Corp, no matter how big or small your corporation is. It is to keep track of a company’s activities throughout the previous year.
Apart from that, there is an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or another name for it, Tax ID number service too. It is essential in order to open a bank account in the name of your corporation and to pay the wage to your employees.
Should you seek Incfile regarding this matter, they will acquire your federal EIN electronically and you will receive it via email within one business day.
Last but not least, there is also a Business License Research service. A business license is necessary to authorize your corporation in order to operate in a specific location. Incfile offers to not only inform you regarding the necessary paperwork that you need, they also offer to do all the process for you.
Incfile boasts its LLC Service by showing that they are able to cover all aspects, whether it is regarding state fee, business tax consultation, or basically anything when it comes to starting a business.
Besides IncFile, you may have also heard of their competitors – Northwest Registered Agent. That said, is their competitor – Northwest Registered Agent really legit?
Types of Entity
One of the most crucial steps to start your corporation is to identify which type of entity you would choose for your corporation. There are a total of four types of entities such as Limited Liability Company, S-Corporation, C-Corporation and Non-profit Corporation.
Each of these entities contributes to a variety of rules and regulation, tax consultation, state fees or legal services. Hence, Incfile would provide the businesses with the right choices of these services which would result in eliminating confusion and waste of time for the business owners.
In short, you would be able to start your corporation in making accurate and precise decisions with the help of Incfile. Here, we will emphasize on LLC formation as it is one of the most well-known entities among the four different types.
What is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)?
LLC is considered as a small start-up that is less complex and flexible, thus, it will be easier to set up for a small organization by choosing LLC formation. One of the requirements to form an LLC is the LLC Operating Agreement.
An operating Agreement is a governing document that indicates an agreement among the owners. LLC Operating Agreement is crucial as it is a personalised term of the organization and consists of rules and regulation that the owners must obey.
Although the Operating Agreement is not necessary in the process of LLC formation, however, the operating agreement acts as an essential constituent for the LLC owners to avoid conflict and set clear expectations. The process of Incfile LLC formation will only take up to approximately two weeks.
Why use Incfile?
There are several advantages of LLC formation which include personal interest protection as the individual’s own assets are distinct from the LLC. Thus, limiting the increase of debts incurred to the owner.
Meanwhile, one of the disadvantages would be banking. A different type of bank account would need to be set up for the LLC formation to separate between individual finances and organization finances. Furthermore, banks would set various fees or interest rates for different types of bank accounts. A suitable bank account for LLC is a checking account.
Incfile LLC
It is undoubtedly that Incfile provides the best LLC formation service. This is because you can form an LLC with Incfile as they offer free LLC filing service and only bill for state fees. Incfile has made it convenient for entrepreneurs to form an LLC with digitalisation.
It would save so much cost for a start-up through this free Incfile LLC service and low-cost state fee which result in maximising profits.
Incfile LLC formation services include preparation and documentation of the articles of organization, a certified copy of the articles of organization, unlimited customer support and creation of corporation website, it’s all for free.
It is crucial for an organization to own a corporation website, thus, Incfile has a partnership with Xoopah.com to offer the clients of Incfile a promotion on its Assisted Website Design.
Moreover, Incfile also provides extensive LLC formation service to ensure a great experience for the clients.
For example, the extensive Incfile LLC services are one year of registered agent service for free, lifetime company alerts, business information kit, banking resolution and online tracking of order status.
Incfile also delivers the business information kit to your house door for free. The shipping would take place within three to four business days for the continental in the United States. The business information kit would contain LLC corporate kits, corporate forms, corporate embossing seal and more.
Incfile is the one LLC service that really puts effort into ensuring that you get what you paid for, and there is no doubt about that.
Pricing
Incfile pricing is considered cheap as compared to other online legal services. Incfile services are open to multiple states. For example, Texas is one of the states that is able to use Incfile services.
The pricing for LLC in Texas starts at $300 for a Silver package, with $0 package fee and $300 for the state fees in Texas. Meanwhile, they impose $449 for a Gold package, with $149 for package fee and $300 for the state fees and $599 for a Platinum package which consists of $299 for package fee and $300 for the state fees.
The services that are included in the Silver package for Texas come with preparing and filing the articles of organization, unlimited name searches and free registered agent service for a year.
As for the services in the Gold package, it has more variety and it includes EIN corporation tax number, IRS Form 2553, operating agreement, banking resolution, lifetime company alerts, online access dashboard, unlimited phone and email support, business banking account, as well as corporation tax consultation.
Last but not least, the Platinum package offered by Incfile along with all the other basic services and a few extra services, such as business contract templates, expedited filing, and domain name as well as corporate email. The pricing and services of Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages for S-Corp and C-Corp are the same as LLC.
As for the non-profit business, it is cheaper in a sense where it only costs $25 for Silver package, $174 for Gold package, and $324 for Platinum package with all the same services as the other.
The pricing of Incfile consists of many types due to the difference in states fee in America. Thus, the price in Texas would differ from the price in California and other states. To check out the different state fees, click here.
Reviews by customers
The overall reviews for Incfile are splendid, with 4.8 overall satisfaction ratings based on 18, 740 ratings from the customers. The Incfile review makes up 4.6 average stars for product satisfaction, 4.5 average stars for customer service, as well as 4.4 average stars for price satisfaction.
Over 15,000 of customers rate Incfile for five stars, which makes it 83.5% of people who used Incfile service. One of the customer reviews for the five-star rating is “Incfile made this process foolproof. I’m happy I made a decision to use Incfile.” by Isis M.
Not only that, some of the prices for obtaining licenses, permits, EIN are cheaper to get through Incfile than through the state or government sites.” There are some other customer reviews that are praising Incfile for being a good platform that provides multiple services for people from various states in the United States.
Besides, there were 11.9% of people who rated four stars for the service Incfile had offered. It is then followed by 3.1% of clients who voted for three stars, 0.5% of clients who rated two stars and lastly, 1% of people voted one star in the reviews shown in Incfile.
Although there are some complaints about the slow response of Incfile customer service, however, Incfile still values customer relationships a lot, which is why they emphasize on the customer reviews and would do improvement on Incfile services based on the complaints shared in the customer reviews.
The customers are praising Incfile for being one of the best service providers as they provide lifetime customer support and lifetime company alerts as well as many other benefits.
Incfile provides a Learning Center on their site where people can learn the steps to start a corporation. This proves that Incfile delivers excellent customer service where they aim to help people. Furthermore, Incfile focuses on delivering outstanding customer service through high-quality services, professional, trust and reliability.
Moreover, Better Business Bureau allows consumers to find or check if a corporation is legit and trustable. As such, it is proven that Incfile is indeed legit because the Better Business Bureau had awarded Incfile with an A+ rating due to its excellent reputation.
With over 250, 000 entrepreneurs that Incfile has helped since 2004, Incfile has built a strong customer base, customer loyalty and customer trust. As a result, Incfile has surpassed the benchmark of reliability to the clients.
Incfile Pros & Cons
a) Incfile Pros
Excellent customer support
Clients can find the customer support of Incfile in their business website. The phone support of Incfile is made available Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm (CST). Nevertheless, their customer experience is never limited to only phone support as it also includes question submission from customers to the company.
For example, clients can utilise their customer support request by providing contact information such as name, email address, phone number, order number and enquiry to Incfile in their website. Thus, the clients can expect a fast response from Incfile to answer their queries.
This indicates that Incfile shows a massive interest in maximising excellent customer experience.
- Personalised Client Dashboard
Each client can have access to their own dashboard through here. The client dashboard on Incfile is made to ensure ease of use and convenient access to their own order status.
This is because the client dashboard acts as a primary document repository in which it allows the customer to actively handle their own organization. With just the order number and email address linked to the order of the clients, they can fully utilise several great features of the client dashboard.
For instance, clients can track the status of their order, order history and receipts, the information of the company, appointed registered agent as well as existing requirements. It is no doubt that the dashboard will be user-friendly.
- Free-of-charge services
Incfile offers free registered agent services for a year to show support for customer loyalty from entrepreneurs who have contributed to the sustainable growth of Incfile as well as the economy.
Registered agent services are essential for a corporation because they serve as a mediator to deal with government-related documents such as legal and tax association, annual report forms and notices of litigation.
As a result, the one-year free registered agent service offered by Incfile can not only lessen the trouble and inconvenience involving the management of corporate documents but also help minimize the cost of the new business.
Furthermore, Incfile also provides free business tax consultation. It is well known how complex the taxation would be for businesses, thus, Incfile offers a new business with free one-hour consultation with recognized tax professionals in order to ease the burden of the complexity of taxation.
Not only that, the LLC formation is free as well due to the digitalisation of the overall business formation process. Thus, Incfile is able to make use of the advancement of technologies and keep the cost low.
b) Incfile Cons
- No legal advice plans
As the main point of Incfile is to aid entrepreneurs incorporation formation, Incfile is certainly not a law firm and does not provide a lawyer or attorney to the customers. Thus, Incfile does not offer legal advice plans for customers. Besides, there are also no choices for customers to seek professional consultation with a lawyer regarding their businesses.
- Need to upgrade to Gold and Platinum package to utilise the best features
The pricing of Incfile varies according to the different types of packages. For instance, one of the differences between the Silver package and the Platinum package is the speedup of the business days from 15 to 3 business days for state filing.
Moreover, the Platinum package also delivers numerous LLC premium services like Employer Identification Number, Operating Agreement, Banking resolution and more, while the Silver package would need the customers to pay additionally for the LLC premium services.
The prices of each of the LLC premium services range from $35 to $70. As a result, customers can only obtain the benefits of the great features offered by paying a higher price.
Conclusion
We hope this Incfile review has managed to show you the current LLC formation services available in the industry. It is a fact that the LLC formation services offered by Incfile are undoubtedly astounding, meeting all the criteria needed for the basics of an LLC formation.
Incfile helps provide everyone with a head start to form an LLC. But of course, it is understandable that not every startup is suited towards Incfile. Henceforth, if you are looking for alternatives, fret not, LLC service from different companies are provided right here as well.
Incfile Alternatives
a) LegalZoom
Why choose LegalZoom?
LegalZoom was founded in 2001 and has helped 1.6 million entrepreneurs to form an LLC along the way. This company offers their services at an affordable price with a starting price of $79 which includes the filing fee as well.
Moreover, they also provide legal advice where the clients can choose to speak with an attorney. Thus, customers can get legal advice plans at a low monthly fee. For instance, there are Business Advisory Plan and Legal Advantage Plus that include contracts, individual legal matters, and estate planning or employment issues.
These services alone have a huge help to the businesses as a mistake in legal matters would cause loss of fortune in an organization.
Pricing
There are three types of price packages for LegalZoom which include Economy Package, Standard Package and Express Gold Package. Although Express Gold Package is expensive, however, it offers a full set of LLC services which would make it convenient for businesses.
Customer review
There are not any differences between the reviews for LegalZoom and other companies such as Incfile and Zen Business. Below are some examples of good reviews given by customers that have used LegalZoom services.
The majority of reviews for LegalZoom are five stars reviews which makes them somehow similar to other companies in terms of customer reviews. Most of the clients praised them for their user-friendly website, their professionalism to simplify complex business formation processes and the overall services.
They also have legal advice for customers to speak with an attorney which acts as a competitive advantage against its rivals.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Incfile good for LLC and how much does it cost?
Yes, but the costing would depends on the business formation packages offered by Incfile. However, they do offer a diverse price ranges which includes free services that exclude state’s fees. Incfile’s free service is found within their Sliver package which even comes with 1-year of registered agent services. Meanwhile, the other available LLC formation packages runs for $149 and $299.ent
Is Incfile really free?
It depends, business owners that decided to go for the Sliver package then Incfile does not charge a single penny for your LLC formation. However, business owners are still required to pay your respective state’s fees. Note that Incfile free service has only access to basic and standard features.
Starting a business correctly doesn’t have to be difficult. With over 15 years of experience consulting new businesses and start ups, Matthew is probably the best person to help you set a strong foundation for your business.