Form a Professional Corporation, built for licensed work.
A Professional Corporation (PC) is the structure many states require for licensed professionals: doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers. It gives you a corporation's structure and tax options while meeting your licensing board's ownership rules. We prepare and file it, and handle the professional-entity paperwork most states want.
Right now, your license and your practice aren't the same thing.
You spent years earning the license. Turning it into a business means a specific structure: most states won't let a licensed professional form a plain LLC or corporation, and require a Professional Corporation or PLLC instead, with rules about who can own it and what it can be called. You don't need to decode your state's professional-entity statute. You need one clear path, and a team that files these every day.
The first question is the one your licensing board cares about too: PC or PLLC?
What a PC protects: and what it can't.
A Professional Corporation gives licensed owners a corporate structure the state will accept for regulated work. It separates the practice's debts and contracts from your personal assets, and lets you elect corporate or S-corp taxation. The line it does not cross is your own professional conduct: a PC shields you from the business's ordinary debts and from a co-owner's malpractice, but not from a claim about your own work. That is what malpractice coverage is for, and the two do different jobs.
- Your state requires licensed professionals to incorporate as a PC rather than a standard corporation.
- You want corporate structure with the option to elect S-corp taxation once profit is steady.
- You have, or will add, multiple licensed owners in the same profession.
- You want a clear separation between the practice's liabilities and your personal assets.
- Your state lets professionals use a PLLC, which is usually simpler to maintain.
- You're a solo owner who wants pass-through tax without a board and bylaws.
- Your profession is one your state allows to use a standard LLC.
- Still weighing the corporate side? Our LLC vs. corporation breakdown helps.
The detail that trips professionals up: in most states every owner of a PC must hold an active license in the same profession, and the company name has to include a professional marker such as "P.C." Bring in a non-licensed co-owner and the filing gets rejected, or worse, jeopardizes the license itself. We verify ownership eligibility before we file.
Going with a PC? Settle two things first.
The two calls that stall founders: your name, and your state.
Make both right here. No signup: real 2026 filing numbers, and names you can check on the spot. Professional names carry extra state rules, so checking early matters.
Find a name that fits.
Type a word or two about your practice. We'll spark a set of ideas, then you can check any favorite live against state and USPTO records.
Add your professional marker (P.C.) when you file. Run a favorite through the live availability check, or open the full name generator.
What will your PC cost?
Our service fee for a Professional Corporation is $149. You also pay the state's filing fee, passed through at cost. Some states add a licensing-board certification step.
State fees are the government's charge. Full breakdown on the pricing page.
Name picked, state chosen. Now the handoff.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
You make four decisions. We handle the professional-entity filing, the naming rules, and the license paperwork the state wants.
Pick your state
Professionals almost always form in the state where they're licensed and practice. BosAI confirms your state requires a PC and not a standard corporation.
Confirm your name
We check it against the state register and the professional-naming rules, including the required "P.C." marker, then reserve it if you're not filing today.
Add licensed owners
List your owners and their licenses, name your directors, and appoint a registered agent, included year 1. Every owner must hold an active license.
We file it
We submit your professional Articles of Incorporation and, where required, the licensing-board certification, then return the stamped approval.
Then the part you're actually waiting for.
The moment your practice becomes a company.
Timing is set by the state, and by any licensing-board step it adds. We file the moment your details and licenses check out, so nothing bounces back over an ownership or naming error.
Alvarez Dental, P.C.
Professional Articles of Incorporation, filed with the Secretary of State. Ownership and licenses verified before submission.
Dr. Alvarez opened her dental practice.
We filed her PC and cleared the state's board step. Within the week she had her EIN, a business bank account, and malpractice coverage in the practice's name, and she saw her first patients under the new company.
Approval is the start, not the finish. Here's your first 30 days.
What to do once it's filed, in order.
These make the practice bankable, compliant, and safe to see clients under. A couple are specific to licensed work.
Get your EIN
Your practice's federal tax ID, needed to open a bank account, run payroll, or file taxes. It's free from the IRS, and we file it the same day.
Adopt bylaws and issue stock
Bylaws set how the practice runs and how shares move. Because owners must stay licensed, your stock carries transfer restrictions that keep ownership inside the profession.
Put malpractice insurance in the company's name
Your PC shields you from the business's debts and a co-owner's malpractice, not your own. Professional liability coverage fills that gap and is often required to see clients or bill insurers.
Open a business bank account
Keeps the practice's money separate from yours, which preserves the liability shield and simplifies the books insurers and the board may want to see.
Track your annual report and license renewals
Keep the entity in good standing with the state, and keep every owner's license current, since a lapsed license can put the PC itself at risk. Consider an S-corp election once profit is steady. A compliance calendar tracks it all.
You can do these one by one. Or hand the whole sequence to one team.
File once, or stay protected year-round.
- Professional Articles of Incorporation filed
- Ownership + license eligibility review
- Bylaws + organizational resolutions template
- EIN walkthrough
- Everything in one-time
- Registered Agent year 1
- Annual report autopilot
- 47-signal compliance monitoring
- Year-round protection, cancel anytime
State fees vary by jurisdiction and are passed through at cost. See full pricing →
And this is where most filing companies stop. We're just getting to the part that matters.
Your practice is now a company. Let's build everything that comes next.
Formation is one line in a much longer story. Every stage below already lives on one platform, so you're never starting over with a new provider.
Everything above happens inside File.Business: one platform, from your first idea to the day you sell or hand off the practice. It's where you form your PC, and where you run the whole company.
The questions professionals ask right before they file.
PC or PLLC: which do I need?
It depends on your state and profession. Some states require licensed professionals to use a Professional Corporation, some allow a PLLC, and some let certain professions use a standard LLC. The PLLC is usually simpler to maintain, while the PC gives you a corporate structure and the same S-corp tax option. We confirm which forms your state accepts for your license before you file, so you don't pick the one it will reject.
Who is allowed to own a Professional Corporation?
In most states, every owner of a PC must hold an active license in the same profession the company practices. A dentist's PC is owned by dentists, a law firm's by attorneys. Bringing in a non-licensed investor or spouse as an owner usually isn't allowed and can jeopardize the entity or the license itself. If you need outside capital, that's a conversation about structure before you file, and we can walk you through the options.
Does a PC protect me from a malpractice claim?
Not from your own. A Professional Corporation shields you from the business's ordinary debts and from a co-owner's malpractice, but you remain personally responsible for your own professional conduct. That's by design: the license is personal. Professional liability (malpractice) insurance is what covers that exposure, and the PC plus the coverage do two different jobs. Carry both.
Do all owners really need a license?
In the large majority of states, yes: ownership of a PC is limited to individuals licensed in the profession, and often the officers and directors must be licensed too. A few states allow a limited share of non-licensed ownership in certain professions. Because the rules vary and the penalty for getting it wrong is high, we verify every owner's eligibility against your state's professional-entity statute before submitting.
Can a PC elect S-corp taxation?
Usually, yes. A Professional Corporation is taxed as a C-corp by default, but it can file an S-corp election if it meets the IRS requirements, which lets profit pass through to the owners and can lower self-employment tax once earnings are steady. It adds payroll and a separate return, so it's a math decision rather than an automatic upgrade. We can file the election when the timing works for your practice.
Is there a licensing-board step before I can file?
In some states, yes. Certain professions and states require a certificate or registration from the licensing board before or alongside the Secretary of State filing, confirming the owners are in good standing. Where that step exists, we prepare and route it as part of your filing rather than leaving you to chase two agencies. We flag it up front so the timeline holds no surprises.
What has to be in the name?
Most states require a Professional Corporation's name to include a marker such as "Professional Corporation," "P.C.," or a profession-specific variant, and some restrict words that could mislead the public about the services offered. Your name also has to be distinguishable from existing entities in the state register. We check it against the state's naming rules and reserve it for you if you're not filing the same day.
Can a non-US resident form a US Professional Corporation?
Only if you can meet the licensing requirement. A PC's owners generally must hold the relevant US professional license in the state of formation, so residency matters far less than licensure. If you hold, or your co-owners hold, an active license, non-residents can form a PC, and we obtain the EIN from the IRS without an SSN so the company can bank and pay taxes.
What happens if an owner's license lapses?
It's the risk unique to professional entities: if an owner stops being licensed, most states require that person to leave the ownership within a set window, which is why PC stock carries transfer restrictions. Left unaddressed, a lapsed license can put the entity's good standing in question. We track your annual report, and a compliance calendar can flag renewal dates so a lapse never quietly becomes an entity problem.