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How to Form an LLC in Nebraska

Nebraska charges $100 to form an LLC online, $110 in office, and then adds a step most states dropped long ago: the notice of organization must run in a legal newspaper for three successive weeks, and the proof of publication is filed with the Secretary of State for another $25 online. The state also calls the office a designated office and the agent an agent for service of process, prices its biennial report two different ways in two of its own publications, and closes an LLC with two filings plus a second mandatory publication.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

The Nebraska filing steps

1. Check your name on the state's own search

   Search the Secretary of State's records before you file. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 21-108, a Nebraska LLC name must contain "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C.," "LLC," "L.C.," or "LC," with "limited" shortened to "Ltd." and "company" to "Co." if you choose, and the name must not be the same as or deceptively similar to the name of another entity incorporated, organized, or authorized to transact business in Nebraska, or to a reserved name, in the records of the Secretary of State. Nebraska's standard is "deceptively similar," which is stricter wording than the distinguishable standard many states use. A deceptively similar name can still be authorized under section 21-108(c) if the present user consents in a signed record or you deliver a certified copy of a final court judgment establishing your right to the name, and the Secretary of State's schedule prices a consent for use of a similar name at no fee. A search does not reserve the name. To hold one, file an Application for Reserved Name for $30 under the Secretary of State's fee schedule; section 21-109 reserves the name for your exclusive use for 120 days, and the reservation is transferable by a signed notice of transfer.

2. Choose your agent for service of process

   Nebraska does not use the registered agent wording in its statute. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 21-113(a), an LLC shall designate and continuously maintain in this state an office, which need not be a place of its activity in this state, and an agent for service of process. That office is the designated office, and it is the address the formation publication is measured against. Under section 21-113(c), the agent for service of process may be an individual who is a resident of Nebraska or another person with authority to transact business in Nebraska. A foreign LLC with a certificate of authority must likewise maintain an agent for service of process in Nebraska under section 21-113(b). Change either item with a statement of change under section 21-114, for $25 online or $30 in office through eDelivery; an agent's own statement of resignation is priced at $30 on the Secretary of State's schedule. Keep the record current for a practical reason as well as a legal one: the Secretary of State sends biennial report notification to the agent, states that failure to maintain an agent can result in administrative dissolution, and for a foreign LLC, failure to appoint and maintain an agent is a ground for revocation of the certificate of authority under section 21-160(a)(3).

3. File the Certificate of Organization with the Secretary of State

   File the Certificate of Organization, Limited Liability Company, under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 21-117. Nebraska does not use Articles of Organization for a domestic LLC. Online filing runs through the Secretary of State's Corporate and Business Document eDelivery system at nebraska.gov/apps-sos-edocs, and you must have a signed PDF of the document to upload; filings requiring a fee may be paid by credit card. The fee is $100 online and $110 in office, the figures printed on the form itself and set in section 21-192(1)(a). Under section 21-117(b), the certificate must state the name of the LLC, complying with section 21-108, the street and mailing addresses of the initial designated office, and the name and street and mailing addresses and post office box number, if any, of the initial agent for service of process, plus, for a company organized to render a professional service, the professional service statement. Under section 21-117(d)(1), the LLC is formed when the Secretary of State has filed the certificate and the company has at least one member, unless the certificate states a delayed effective date. Duration is perpetual under section 21-104(c). Filing the certificate is not the last formation step in Nebraska: the publication duty in the notes below follows it.

4. Get an EIN from the IRS

   Free, online, and takes minutes once your Nebraska filing is approved. Never pay a service for this. See EIN for an LLC for the walkthrough and the one IRS rule (a real person as responsible party) that surprises people.

5. Write your operating agreement

   Under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 21-110(a), to the extent the operating agreement does not otherwise provide for a matter, the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act governs the matter. The Act is the gap filler and the agreement controls where it provides otherwise, subject to the nonwaivable list in section 21-110(b): the agreement may not, for example, eliminate the duty of loyalty, the duty of care, or the obligation of good faith and fair dealing except as sections 21-110(c) to (f) permit. The operating agreement is an internal document. It is not filed with the Secretary of State, nothing in section 21-110 or section 21-117 requires it to accompany the Certificate of Organization, and it carries no state fee. Write it at formation anyway, because every matter it leaves blank is decided by the statute instead.

6. Open the business bank account and handle licenses

   Bring your approved formation document and EIN letter. Then check your city and county for a general business license and your industry for state permits. Nebraska issues no single statewide general business license through the Secretary of State. Licensing is industry specific, through state agencies and boards, or local, through your city or county. The near universal state level step is tax registration with the Nebraska Department of Revenue for the taxes your activity triggers. Check your industry and your city before you budget, because those offices, not the Secretary of State, set those charges.

Filing details that trip people up

• Publication is required to form, and there is no deadline in the statute. Under section 21-193(1), notice of organization must be published three successive weeks in some legal newspaper of general circulation near the designated office of the LLC, showing the information section 21-117(b) requires in the certificate. Proof of publication is filed with the Secretary of State under section 21-193(3), for $25 online or $30 in office. The newspaper sets its own charge for the three weeks, and the state publishes no amount for it, so it sits outside every total on this site. Section 21-193 states no deadline for publishing or filing the proof, and it provides a cure: a notice published late, with proof then filed, leaves the company's acts valid. The 45 day deadline in many guides belongs to trade names, not LLCs; see the trade name note below.
• The biennial report fee is in open conflict between the state's own sources. Section 21-192(1) sets the general filing fee at $25 if submitted electronically and $30 if submitted in writing, and the 2025 to 2026 biennial report form prints a paper filing fee of $30. A Secretary of State news release, however, tells LLCs they can file their report online for $28. No source opened in our research explains the $3 gap, so this site carries the statutory figures, discloses the $28 release figure wherever the fee appears, and advises confirming the total in the filing portal before you pay. Our calculator uses the $25 statutory electronic figure, averaged to $12.50 a year.
• Foreign LLCs pay $110 online, and the home state certificate of existence is required. A foreign LLC files an Application for Certificate of Authority for $100 online or $110 in office, plus $10 for the certificate, so $110 online or $120 in office in total. Under section 21-156(b), the company shall deliver with the application a certificate of existence or a record of similar import signed by the Secretary of State or other official having custody of its publicly filed records in its home jurisdiction. Section 21-156(b) states no freshness window, and this site prints none. A foreign LLC that transacts business without a certificate may not maintain an action or proceeding in Nebraska, although its contracts stay valid and it can still defend one, and a member or manager is not liable for the company's debts solely because of the unregistered business, under section 21-162. A revoked foreign LLC cannot reinstate; it re-qualifies with a new application.
• A trade name costs $100 online, lasts 10 years, and has the hard 45 day publication rule. Nebraska's DBA is a trade name registration with the Secretary of State under sections 87-208 to 87-219.01, for $100 online or $110 in office. Under section 87-219, the registration must be published once in a newspaper of general circulation where the business is to be located, and proof of publication must be filed with the Secretary of State within 45 days from the date of registration or the registration shall be canceled. Filing that proof costs no fee, unlike the $25 online proof filing for the LLC's own organization notice. Registration lasts 10 years under section 87-211, and renewal for successive 10 year terms is $100 electronically or $110 in writing, on an application filed within six months before expiration. Our DBA guide covers the details.
• Closing a Nebraska LLC takes two filings plus a mandatory dissolution publication. A Statement of Dissolution for $25 online or $30 in office, then a Statement of Termination for $30, and under section 21-150 the dissolved LLC shall also publish notice of its dissolution for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper in the county of its principal office, or of its designated office if it has no Nebraska principal office, at the newspaper's own unpriced charge. The state fees and the publication are set out on the report page.

After your Nebraska LLC is approved

Get the EIN, open the business bank account, and register with the Nebraska Department of Revenue for the tax accounts your activity triggers. Then finish the formation step Nebraska adds: publish the notice of organization for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper of general circulation near the designated office, and file the proof of publication with the Secretary of State, $25 online or $30 in office; the newspaper's own charge is separate and set by the paper. Set the recurring reminder next: the biennial report, due January 1 to April 1 of every odd numbered year, delinquent June 16, at the statutory $25 electronically or $30 on paper, with the Secretary of State's news release quoting $28 online, so confirm the total in the portal. Keep the designated office and the agent for service of process current as well, and file a statement of change, $25 online or $30 in office, whenever either changes. If the business will trade under a different name, budget the trade name registration and its own one time publication, with proof due within 45 days.

The full recurring picture for Nebraska, with fees and due dates, is on the Nebraska annual report and compliance page, and the money view is on the Nebraska LLC cost page.

Nebraska LLC questions