The following information is provided for.educational purposes only and in no way constitutes.legal, tax, or financial advice..For legal, tax, or financial advice specific.to your business needs, we encourage you to.consult with a licensed attorney and/or CPA.in your state..The following information is copyright protected..No part of this lesson may be redistributed,.copied, modified or adapted without prior.written consent of the author..An Operating Agreement is an agreement between.the members of the LLC that sets forth how.the LLC will be managed both financially and.operationally..Unlike your LLC Formation Documents, the Operating.Agreement does not need to be mailed in to.the State..It is an \"internal document\", meaning you'll.just need to keep a copy with your business.records..The purpose of an Operating Agreement is to.spell out who the members are and what percentage.of the LLC they own (also known as their membership.interest)..It also defines how the LLC is managed, how.taxes are paid, and how profits and losses.are distributed amongst the members..You will find both the PDF and the Microsoft.Word versions below this video in the download.Section..You can print these out and fill them out.by hand, or type directly in them with your.computer (whatever is most convenient for.you)..We will show you how to complete your Operating.Agreement regardless if you are a single-member.LLC (with just 1 member) or if you are multi-member.LLC (with 2 or more members)..The Operating Agreement that is provided as.a generic Operating Agreement that will work.for the majority of businesses..If your business requires industry-specific.management, complex ownership agreements,.has multiple investors or a large amount of.members, we recommend getting the help of.an attorney..You can complete the Operating Agreement provided.as a base for your initial conversation with.your attorney..This may save you time and money..If you are single-member LLC or a family-owned.LLC, this may be less of an issue for you.(unless you have a crazy family)... then we.recommend you seek legal advice to prepare.this document..You may need to provide a copy of your Operating.Agreement to: a lender if you are obtaining.financing; a title company if you are purchasing.real estate; accounting and tax professionals.for financial assistance; lawyers for legal.advice or potential investors or partners.have an interest in your business..Also, if you find yourself a party to a legal.action, the court will likely ask for a copy.of your LLC's Operating Agreement..This can help document to the court that you.have a well-organized structure for handling.issues that arise in relation to your LLC..One of the benefits of forming an LLC is the.flexibility of managing your business..The Operating Agreement is a working document.that is meant to be fluid and allow for changes.as your business grows..If you make simple changes such as a change.of address for a member, or you change your.Registered Office or Registered Agent, open.the original Operating Agreement, make the.changes you need and then save the document.as a new version..For complex changes to your LLC, for example.1 member purchases the interest of another.member, or you decide to raise financing with.investors, it is best to hire an attorney.as this is not something we recommend you.do yourself..If changes are made, you'll need to print.out the new Operating Agreement and have all.the members sign..It is best practice to keep a copy of all.previous versions on file in order to complete.your Operating Agreement..In order to complete your Operating Agreement,.you will need some basic information..It is easiest to grab a copy of your LLC Formation.Documents as it already has most of the information.you will need such as: the formation date.of your LLC, the name and address of the Registered.Office and Registered Agent, the general business.purpose of the LLC, the members, percentages.of ownership, and the names of the members.and their addresses..We are now ready to fill out the Operating.Agreement..You can download this document below the video..Let's get started..Here we are in the Operating Agreement..Please note that I'm using Microsoft Word.to edit this document..If you don't have Microsoft Office, you can.use similar and free software called Open.Office, or you can use Google Docs..If you prefer to just print and fill out by.hand, we've also included this document in.PDF format..You can then open this document on your computer,.print it, and then fill it out by hand using.blue or black ink..Let's get started..In Section 1, I'm going to list the name of.the LLC, and the date in which I mailed in.the LLC Formation Documents..Again, it's easiest to reference your Formation.Documents as most of the information can be.found there..I'm going to now fill out Section 1..Alright, let's move down to Section 2..Please note in this video example, I'm going.to be filling out this Operating Agreement.for a Texas LLC..This Operating Agreement will work for all.50 states, so no matter what state you're.forming your LLC in, everything for the most.part is going to be pretty much the same..You're just going to adapt it, change it,.for your State..In Section 2 on the 1st line, I'm going to.fill in the State in which the LLC was formed,.and then I'm going to write the Effective.Date..This is going to be the same date as in Paragraph.1..Let's now go down to Section 4, where we're.going to list the Registered Office and Registered.Agent..This will either be yourself, someone you.know, or a Commercial Registered Agent..This information will be identical to the.Registered Office and Registered Agent that.you have listed in your LLC Formation Documents..In this example, we hired a Commercial Registered.Agent..I'm now going to fill in Section 4..Don't worry that in my example the address.looks a little funny..Northwest Registered Agent is an approved.Registered Agent within all 50 states, so.their addresses are formatted a bit differently.than we're used to seeing..Let's scroll down to Number5..Number5 is where we're going to list the business.purpose of the LLC..This can be a few words or a few sentences.that describe the purpose of the LLC..Now many people do ask those questions of.how specific they need to be, and if they.mention something here, if they're going to.be pigeonholed and forced to do that forever..No you're not..Remember, this is a fluid document and you.can make changes, and it's best to usually.use something a little bit more generic here..This LLC is a marketing agency, so I'm going.to list that in Section 5..Under Number 6, the duration of the LLC, you're.going to list \"Perpetual\"..\"Perpetual\" means that the LLC will be in.existence, until the members decide to close.(also known as \"dissolve\") the LLC..All right, let's scroll down and go to the.next Section..We're going to continue scrolling through.Page 1, we're going to go to Page 2, and we're.actually going to end up at the bottom of.Page 2 underneath \"Tax and Financial Provisions.Number1\" (the tax classification of the LLC)..If you are single-member LLC, for tax purposes.the IRS is going to tax your LLC just like.a Sole Proprietorship..So in this case, if you're a single-member.LLC, we're going to list \"Sole Proprietorship\"..Now, if you're a multi-member LLC with 2 or.more members, the IRS is going to tax your.LLC just like it would tax a Partnership..So if you're multi-member LLC, you're not.going to put the word \"Sole Proprietorship\",.you're going to put \"Partnership\"..Let's move forward..Here we are at the top of Page 3, Number2.(the \"Tax Year and Accounting Method\")..The tax year of this LLC shall be the \"calendar.year\"..The LLC shall use the \"cash method\" of accounting..And that completes Number 2..Let's go down further..Here we are in Section 4 (\"Capital Provisions\")..Under Number 1, we're going to list the date.in which all members made their contribution.to the LLC..This will most likely be the date that the.LLC was formed, or that it became effective..Feel free to use the same date that you used.at the top of Page 1 under Number 1..Let's move on and list the names, addresses,.contribution, and percentage of interest in.the LLC for all the LLC's members)..For this example, this is going to be a multi-member.LLC owned by a husband and wife..If you are a single-member LLC, you're just.going to list your name and your address,.the contribution, and then under \"Percent.Interest\", you're going to put a hundred percent..In this document, we have 3 areas where you.can list the names and addresses of the LLC's.members..If you have more than 3 members feel free.to add additional lines below..For our example, I'm going to put the name.and address of a husband-and-wife-owned LLC.where each member owns 50 percent interest..If you or the .members of the LLC did not make an actual.cash contribution, feel free to simply lists.$100..Let's move forward..Let's scroll down to Page 4 where we're going.to go to Number 8 (\"Allocation and Distribution.of Cash\")..In this blank line, you're simply going to.put \"all of the members\"..Under Section 5 (\"Membership, Withdrawal and.Transfer Provisions\"), in this blank line.you're going to put \"60\" for 60 days..60 days is the amount of days that we recommend..However, if your business needs more or less.time, this is flexible, so feel free to make.those adjustments as needed..Let's scroll down to Page 5..Underneath Section 6 (\"Dissolution Provisions\"),.where it says \"except that within blank\",.I'm going to list \"60 days\"..Again, this is flexible, so feel free to adjust.for your business if needed..All right, let's move forward..We're nearly complete with the Operating Agreement..We're going to scroll through Page 5 and go.to Page 6, and only thing that we have left.to do is list the members, sign, and date.the Operating Agreement..If you just have 1 member, you’re simply.going to put the date that you're signing.this document..After you print it out, you'll sign on the.2nd line, and then you're going to put your.name on the 3rd line..Again for this example, this is a multi-member.husband-and-wife LLC, so I'm going fill out.this Section real quick..So in my example, I've listed \"1/1/2014, wrote.\"John Doe\", and the same thing on Page 7 (\"1/1/2014.and Mary Doe\")..All they would need to do is simply print.this document, and sign on both of those lines..In this sample document, we have 3 areas for.members..If you're not using any signature blocks,.feel free to just simply put an \"X\" through.them if you're filling this document out by.hand, or if you're on the computer you can.simply highlight and delete them..Also, if you have more than 3 members, feel.free to add additional lines and signature.blocks below..Please note: the LLC Operating Agreement does.not need to be notarized..You'll simply print out the document, have.all members sign, and then you'll just keep.a copy with your business records..And this completes the LLC Operating Agreement..