The NY Publication Rule: Why an LLC Costs More to Set Up Than a Corporation

When clients ask whether to “be an LLC or an S-corp” in New York, the cost question comes up fast — and there’s one piece almost nobody mentions until the bill shows up. So first, the cleanup I always do: an LLC is a legal structure. An S-corp is a tax election you put on top of one. They aren’t two items on the same menu. Which means the real setup-cost comparison isn’t LLC vs. S-corp. It’s LLC vs. corporation — because New York makes LLCs do something corporations don’t. They have to publish.

The publication rule only applies to LLCs

Under Section 206 of the New York LLC Law, every new LLC has 120 days from formation to publish a notice in two newspapers — one daily, one weekly — chosen by the county clerk where your office sits. The notice runs once a week for six straight weeks. Then you file a Certificate of Publication (form DOS-1708) with the state and pay a $50 fee.

Corporations? New York’s Business Corporation Law has no equivalent. Form a corporation and you skip the entire process.

The actual math

Here’s where the money is. The Articles of Organization for an LLC cost $200 to file. On top of that comes publication — and that number swings hard by county. On Long Island it usually runs a few hundred dollars; in New York City counties it can sail past $1,000, sometimes $1,500 or more. Then the $50 certificate fee.

A corporation, by contrast, files a Certificate of Incorporation for about $125 and never publishes. So the LLC route can cost anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars more to launch — and almost all of that gap is the publication requirement.

”But I want to be an S-corp”

This is where the confusion actually costs people. The S-corp election does not get you out of publishing. Form an LLC and elect S-corp tax treatment, and you’re still an LLC — you still publish. The only version of the “S-corp route” that skips publication is forming a corporation and electing S-corp status. Same tax outcome, different entity, different setup bill.

So if setup cost is genuinely your deciding factor, the question was never “LLC or S-corp.” It’s “LLC or corporation.”

Don’t skip publishing to save the money

I get this one every formation season: what happens if I just… don’t? Miss the 120-day window and New York suspends your LLC’s authority to do business. Your LLC still exists, your EIN still works, and — contrary to a lot of bad advice floating around — your liability shield and your signed contracts stay intact.

But a suspended LLC can’t get a certificate of good standing. And good standing is exactly what a bank wants before it opens your account, what a lender wants before a loan, and what a title company wants before a closing. Courts have even tossed lawsuits filed by an LLC while it was suspended.

The saving grace: there’s no late penalty, and you can publish late and have the suspension lifted retroactively. But “I’ll fix it later” isn’t a plan — it’s a problem sitting quietly until the worst possible moment.

We handle the publishing — at cost

Here’s the part I like telling people: you don’t have to touch any of this. Geiger Tax has relationships with local publishing companies, and we run the whole Section 206 process for you — placing the newspaper notices, collecting the affidavits, and filing the Certificate of Publication with the state.

And we don’t mark it up. Our cost on publishing is your cost — you pay the newspapers and the $50 state fee, nothing more. Because publication pricing moves around by county and by paper, we’re always tracking down new publishers to land you the lowest number we can find. When we find a cheaper option, that savings is yours, not ours.

The bottom line

For most Long Island owners, the LLC is still the right home — the liability protection and flexibility are worth a one-time few hundred dollars. The publication rule isn’t a reason to avoid an LLC; it’s a reason to budget for it and put the 120 days on your calendar. Just don’t choose your entity on setup cost alone, and don’t let the word “S-corp” fool you into thinking you’ve dodged a rule that’s really about LLC vs. corporation.

Related reading: S-Corp Reasonable Salary · Is an S-Corp Worth It in New York?

General information, not tax or legal advice. The right answer depends on details specific to you and your state. Talk to a qualified preparer before you form an entity or make a tax election.