South Dakota LLC add member

Last updated on November 15, 2022

To grow your team in South Dakota, you can add a spouse or partner to your LLC. To do this, refer to your operating agreement and follow the procedures accordingly. Learn in detail about how to add a new member to a South Dakota LLC.

What is an LLC?

Limited Liability Company

LLC is a business entity in the U.S that provides limited liability to its members. It has characteristics from both corporation and sole proprietorship. LLCs are permitted under State statutes of each US state.

Limited liability

Personal assets are protected for people with limited liability when they are sued.

Corporation

A business entity that can issue shares and give limited liability to shareholders.

Members

Owners of an LLC are referred to as members. They own membership interest in the LLC.

Sole proprietorship

Where an individual engages in business activity without formal organization.

Types of LLC

Depends on the number of members and whether it has elected to change its IRS classification.

Single-member LLC

Has only a single member. IRS considers it as a sole proprietorship for tax purposes.

LLC as C-corp

Owners of an LLC are referred to as members. They own membership interest in the LLC.

Multi-member LLC

Has two members. IRS considers it as a partnership for tax purposes.

LLC as S-corp

A special election for a maximum of 100 US shareholders.

Action

Here are step-by-step instructions:

How to add a South Dakota LLC member?

Follow these steps:

1. Check your operating agreement

If you have an operating agreement, check the procedure for adding a new member. Follow the voting and transfer procedures accordingly.

2. Default South Dakota provisions

If you do not have an operating agreement, you will have to follow South Dakota's default rules as mentioned in South Dakota Codified Laws § 47-34A-401

According to the default provisions, all the existing members of the LLC must consent to add a new member.

3. File Articles of Amendment

To update the Secretary of State with the latest list of members, you can file the Amended Articles of Organization.

4. Get EIN if necessary

Some single-member LLCs don’t require an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. If you were one of these, now you will require one after you add a new member. If you already had one, you don’t have to do anything now.

5. Update the Responsible party with IRS

If you want the new member to be the responsible party with the IRS, then you have to file Form 8822-B with the IRS within 60 days of the change. However, if you’re not changing the responsible party, you don’t have to file this.

Notify within

60 days

6. Update your operating agreement

Amend your operating agreement to include the names and details of the new member.

Articles of Organization

In South Dakota, Articles of Organization is the form you file with the Secretary of State to form an LLC. It contains the articles of formation for the LLC.

Filing Articles of Organization

There are a couple of ways to file

  • File it online on State of South Dakota website

    Visit

  • Mail a form to the state department

    PDF

Address

Secretary of State Office

500 E Capitol Ave

Pierre, SD 57501

Online fee

$150

Online processing time

Instant

Mailing fee

$150

Mail processing time

1 - 2 days

Operating agreement

Operating agreement is an internal business document that outlines the general rules and policies of the LLC.

Importance

It is not a legally mandatory document. However, it is recommended to have one since many courts, banks and financial institutions use it for verification. It is also nice to clearly outline the duties and relations between multiple members of an LLC—so you avoid any confusion in the future.

Format

There is no ‘required’ format for an operating agreement. You can include anything reasonable in it. In general, it has the following sections:

Basic Business information

Contains name, address, names and details of members, purpose

Member relationship

Contains membership interest, decision making process, powers, duties.

Membership transfer

Contains details on how to add or remove members and managers.

Accounting and tax

Contains details on how company records and distributions are maintained.

Dissolution

How to dissolve, wind up and terminate, due process to follow and exceptions.

Entity name

Every LLC should have a unique name in South Dakota. South Dakota maintains a list of names of entities in the state. Go through it to check if your chosen name is available.

Search for names

Go to the official website of the South Dakota business information search tool to see if the name you want is available.

Searching fee

Free

Reservation

You can reserve a name for your LLC for a specific duration by paying reservation fees to the South Dakota business services. You will have to file your LLC formation documents within this period to keep the name. Alternatively, you can directly go ahead with the LLC formation without any reservation. That's fine too.

Reservation fee

$40

Reservation period

120 days

LLC naming guidelines

The name you choose for your LLC must the official naming guidelines.

  • South Dakota Codified Laws §47-34A-105

    Visit

Here are some of the guidelines in simple language:

  • 1

    Must contain, limited liability company, or limited company, or the abbreviation, L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. Limited may be abbreviated as Ltd. and company may be abbreviated as Co.

  • 2

    Don’t include terms that indicate that you are doing an activity that you are not authorised to do.

  • 3

    Your name should be ‘distinguishable’ in the Secretary of State records. Adding a punctuation or ‘the’ does not make it distinguishable.

  • 4

    Don’t use words that makes it seems like you are a governmental entity or has an affiliation.

Frequently asked questions

Business entities in South Dakota

LLC is a flexible choice for small businesses in South Dakota. However, in order to add more investors and external shareholders, C-corporations are better suited than LLCs.

South Dakota LLC

South Dakota business search

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