An LLC for your Maine home day care

The license stays yours, whatever you form

A family child care license is issued to a person, at a premises. The rule is explicit that a license may not be transferred from one provider to another, from one location to another, or from one owner to another.

So the LLC cannot hold the license, cannot be named on it, and cannot outlive your eligibility for it. What it can hold is everything around the license: the bank account, the enrollment contracts, the equipment, the insurance policy for the business.

That split is the whole decision. The entity runs the business side of the capacity you are licensed for. You personally keep the license, the ratios and the inspections in the renewal cycle.

Maine's family child care rule states a license may not be transferred between providers, locations or owners, and is only effective at the premises for which it is issued. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

What the formation itself costs

A Maine LLC is formed by filing a Certificate of Formation with the Secretary of State, on form MLLC-6. The filing fee is $175.

The form lists a registered agent — commercial or noncommercial. The registered agent listed must have consented to serve, per the statute the form cites. You can name yourself as a noncommercial registered agent and keep the filing at $175.

In a hurry, the Secretary of State sells speed: 24-hour expedited filing for a $50 additional fee per entity, immediate same-day handling for $100. The child care license cannot be expedited — see the licensing guide for the path that actually gates your opening date.

$175A Maine domestic LLC files a Certificate of Formation on form MLLC-6 with the Secretary of State for a $175 filing fee. — Maine Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

$50 or $100 expediteMaine form MLLC-6 states the registered agent listed has consented to serve, pursuant to 5 M.R.S. §105.2, and offers 24-hour expedited filing for $50 more per entity. — Maine Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

The annual report, due June 1

A Maine LLC files an annual report every year to maintain good standing, and the Secretary of State sets the legal filing deadline at June 1.

The filing exists whether or not a service was used to form the company. It is owed by the entity, to the state, every year. The Secretary of State also warns paper filers sending by mail near the deadline to document that USPS had the report in hand on time.

This is the second calendar in a day care owner's year: the license renews on its own sixty-day clock, the LLC on June 1. Put both on the wall beside the posted license, because nothing in the state's systems reminds you for free.

June 1The Maine Secretary of State states an annual report is required to be filed every year to maintain good standing status, and the legal filing deadline is June 1. — Maine Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

Where a formation service fits

The entity paperwork is the one piece of this business a service can carry: typing the certificate, naming the agent, tracking the June 1 deadline. Nothing else on this site can be delegated — the license, the inspections, the ratios and the background checks are yours by law.

When you want the business filing off your plate, Tailor Brands is one platform that forms the LLC and keeps the yearly compliance tracking in the same account. The formation services page puts its published prices beside four other services and the file-it-yourself route.

The comparison to make is narrow and honest. Everyone files the same $175 certificate, so what differs is what is bundled around the filing and what renews after year one.

$175 either wayThe domestic Certificate of Formation form MLLC-6 lists its filing fee as $175.00, the same fee whoever prepares the filing. — Maine Secretary of State, retrieved 2026-09-29

What the LLC does not change

The license, the ratios and the inspections follow you, not the company — a provider who forms an LLC tomorrow holds the same license tonight.

Taxes do not simplify into a different species either. A single-member LLC is disregarded for federal income tax by default, so the profit lands on your personal return, and the home-use deductions for the day care follow the daycare rules rather than the ordinary home-office rules. The tax page covers that exception and why your license matters to it.

Insurance does not follow the entity either. The homeowners policy excludes the business whatever owns it, and the 2009 law's protection is conditioned on the provider carrying liability cover for the child care business. The insurance page covers what to buy.

Under Maine's family child care rule, all other licenses for businesses operated in the home must be reported to the department at the time of application or before opening a new business. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

The EIN, free from the IRS

If the LLC will have a bank account, it needs an employer identification number. The IRS issues one online, directly, in minutes, at no charge.

The EIN is also the point where the free route and the paid route diverge honestly. Some formation packages bundle the EIN into the price. The IRS charges nothing for it either way, so the value of the bundling is the typing, not the number.

Get the EIN yourself if you file yourself — the application is the IRS's own, and no fee belongs to it. Then bring the whole picture — the entity, the license and the bank account. Back to the cost breakdown to check the first-year total before you file anything.

The IRS issues an employer identification number online, in minutes, at no charge, through its own EIN application tool. — IRS, retrieved 2026-09-29

Questions