Sole proprietorship to LLC, state by state.
A sole proprietorship has no liability shield. A customer claim, a vendor dispute or a contractor lawsuit reaches you personally, because there is no entity standing in between. Converting sets one up. Mechanically it is a new LLC formation in your state plus a cleanup pass on the old side: EIN, banking, trade name, contracts. Pick your state for the route.
Four things that change with your state.
The reason to convert is the same everywhere. The mechanics are not: what your state calls the formation document, how long it takes to approve, and what happens to the trade name you already filed.
Why anyone does this
A sole proprietorship is you. There is no separate entity, so claims arising out of the business reach personal assets directly. An LLC puts a legal person in between. That separation is the entire point of the exercise, and it only holds if the business is genuinely run through the entity afterwards.
A new entity, not a rename
There is no form that turns a sole proprietorship into an LLC. You form a new LLC with the state, and the sole proprietorship winds down behind it. What the document is called, which office takes it, and how long the state needs to approve it all vary.
New number, new account
The LLC is a new entity, so it takes its own EIN rather than inheriting the one you used as a sole proprietor. The bank account follows: opened in the LLC's name, with income and outgoings running through it from the day the entity exists rather than whenever you get to it.
What happens to the DBA
A trade name registered by a sole proprietor does not automatically belong to the LLC. Depending on the state it is cancelled and refiled, or transferred across, and the office that holds trade names is not always the office that holds the entity register.
The formation is the short step. The cleanup is where the shield is won or lost.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers the formation route in that state, how it handles a trade name registered by a sole proprietor, and the order to work through EIN, banking, contracts, licenses and insurance once the LLC exists.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
Two things happen at once here: a new entity starts and an old one stops. Most of the work is making sure nothing carries on running through the old one after the switch.
Form the LLC
We prepare and file the formation document with your state, under the name you want the business to trade as. That filing is the moment the entity, and the shield, begins to exist.
New EIN, new account
The LLC takes its own EIN, and a business bank account opens in its name. From here income and outgoings run through the entity rather than through you personally.
Move the business across
Customers, vendors, contracts, assets, licenses, insurance and online accounts are reassigned to the LLC. Anything still written in your own name is a hole in the separation you just created.
Close the old side
Cancel or transfer the trade name, close the sole proprietor accounts, and file a final Schedule C for the year the sole proprietorship was still trading.
An LLC on paper is not a shield. The cleanup is what makes it one.
The rest of Change or convert.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Convert Corp to LLC
Corporation to LLC, state by state
All 51 states → HubConvert LLC to Corporation
Converting an LLC to a corporation, state by state
All 51 states → HubDBA filing
The DBA filing, state by state
All 51 states → HubLLC Domestication
LLC domestication, state by state
All 51 states → HubDBA filing
Filing a DBA, state by state
All 51 states → HubAmendment
Filing an amendment, state by state
All 51 states → HubForeign qualification
Foreign qualification, state by state
All 51 states → HubLLC name search
The LLC name search, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Change or convert.
The questions people ask before they convert.
Is converting the same as changing my registration?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. There is no filing that converts a sole proprietorship into an LLC, because a sole proprietorship is not a registered entity to begin with. You form a new LLC and move the business into it. The state sees a new entity. Everything else, the EIN, the bank account, the contracts and the trade name, has to be pointed at that entity by hand.
Do I need a new EIN?
Yes. The LLC is a new legal entity and takes its own EIN rather than carrying over the number issued to you as a sole proprietor. The new number is what the bank, payroll and tax filings use from then on. Getting it is a short step and it comes straight after formation, because the bank account and most state tax accounts will ask for it.
What happens to my DBA?
It has to be dealt with rather than left alone. A trade name registered by a sole proprietor belongs to the sole proprietor, not to the LLC, so it is either cancelled and refiled under the entity or transferred, depending on what your state allows. Leaving it in place means the name customers know you by is still attached to the person you were trying to step behind.
Do my contracts move automatically?
No. A contract signed in your own name stays in your own name after the LLC exists. Reassigning or reissuing them in the entity's name is a step of its own, and whether the other side has to agree depends on what each contract says. Customer agreements, supplier terms, leases and subscriptions are the usual list. This is the part that gets skipped and matters most.
What about licenses and insurance?
Both are issued to a named holder, and after the conversion that holder should be the LLC. Licenses and permits generally do not transfer on their own, because they are tied to whoever applied for them. Insurance is the same: a policy naming you personally covers you personally. Updating them belongs in the move rather than in a follow-up list, and it is worth timing around a renewal.
How does the tax side end?
The sole proprietorship's final year is still reported on a Schedule C, which closes out the old activity rather than letting it trail into the next year. How the LLC itself is taxed from then on depends on how many members it has and whether an election is made. That is a conversation for your accountant, and it is better had before the switch than after it.
Keep going, in order.
Change or convert
Every hub in change or convert, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
Get in touch →