DFI: LLC Registrations Outpace Business Corporations for the First Time

Contact:  Gail Gawenda

March 13, 2006                                                                                               608:267-1711

(Madison) The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) reports that for the first time since limited liability companies (LLCs) were allowed in Wisconsin in 1994, their numbers have exceeded those of business corporations.  As of January 1, 2006, Wisconsin has 139,125 LLCs versus 128,500 corporations on record at DFI.  As an indicator of LLC popularity, during 2005, LLCs were created at a rate of five for every one business corporation created.

Additionally, last Friday Governor Jim Doyle signed into law Senate Bill 496, which will put LLCs on an equal footing with corporations by giving them the same privileges of unlimited reinstatement after business dissolution.  LLCs had been restricted to a 30-day time frame while corporations had no time limitation.

“We’ve also made it easier for LLCs to be created by streamlining the process,” says DFI Cabinet Secretary Lorrie Keating Heinemann.  “Applicants can do their entire application by computer—online—by going to DFI’s website at www.wdfi.org. 

“The LLC business structure also encourages small business growth,” she said, “because it offers the entrepreneur an easier way to set up shop, it offers the tax benefits of a partnership, and it provides the legal protections of a corporation without the cumbersome corporate structure of a board of directors and officers.”

“My Grow Wisconsin plan called on state agencies to encourage growth in the state’s economy by making government more responsive and efficient,” said Governor Jim Doyle. “I am pleased DFI has followed this directive by making it easier for new businesses to form in our state.”

For more information on how to create a new business in Wisconsin, visit www.wdfi.org.          

###