Converting a Corporation to an LLC in Illinois

If you're thinking of converting the legal form of your small business from an Illinois corporation to an Illinois LLC, you should be aware of some basic facts regarding the state's business-entity conversion process. Because the tax consequences can be significant, you should consult with a tax adviser before undertaking any conversion.

Statutory Conversions vs. Statutory Mergers

As an initial point, be aware that there is a distinction between a "conversion" and a "merger," and more specifically between a "statutory conversion" and a "statutory merger." A statutory conversion is a cheaper, quicker way to convert a corporation to an LLC—largely because you do not have to form a separate LLC before the conversion can occur. However, Illinois is one of only about ten states that do not allow statutory conversions of corporations to LLCs. Instead, Illinois only allows statutory mergers. Unlike statutory conversions, statutory mergers do require you to form a separate LLC before you can convert—or, more accurately, merge—your business.

Notwithstanding the distinction between statutory conversions and statutory mergers, "conversion" is a more general term that can include mergers; in this article, we'll use "conversion" and "merger" somewhat interchangeably, sometimes speaking broadly about "conversions" and "converting" your business, even though, more narrowly and technically, we'll be talking about a merger.

Variable Elements of Conversions

Before looking at the specific steps for converting your business, let's be clear that there is not just one kind of corporation or one tax status for an LLC. On the contrary, there are:

• C corporations and S corporations
• for-profit corporations and non-profit corporations
• corporations formed under Illinois law and corporations formed under other states' laws
• multi-member LLCs and single-member LLCs; and
• LLCs taxed as partnerships, LLCs taxed as corporations, and LLCs taxed as "disregarded entities."

We won't be looking at every possible combination of these variables. Instead, we'll try to keep matters as simple as possible, focusing mainly on the general rules of Illinois's merger statutes as they apply to closely-held, for-profit Illinois corporations merging into multi-member LLCs.

All of the paperwork and procedural steps to start a limited liability company in Illinois can be done online using Nolo's Illinois Online LLC Formation application.

Illinois's Merger Statutes

Bearing in mind that mergers can be among the most complicated of business transactions, this section provides a very brief summary of the process of conversion-via-merger under Illinois's merger statutes. As in most states, Illinois has one merger statute under its corporations laws and another merger statute under its LLC laws; portions of each of these statutes apply to a corporation-into-LLC merger. For the most important parts of each of the two statutes, check Sections 5/11.39 through 5/11.50 and 180/37-20 through 180/37-35 of Chapter 805 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS).

To convert your Illinois corporation to an Illinois LLC via a statutory merger, you need to:

• create a new LLC
• prepare a plan of merger
• have your corporation's board of directors adopt the plan of merger
• obtain shareholder approval of the plan of merger
• obtain LLC member approval of the plan of merger;and
• file articles of merger with the Secretary of State.

Step 1: Create an LLC

Creating an LLC is a multi-step process. However, for immediate purposes, the key elements are preparing articles of organization and an operating agreement; the articles of organization will be filed with the Secretary of State. Through these LLC organizational documents, the shareholders of your preexisting corporation will also become the members of your new LLC. For more detailed information on forming an LLC in Illinois, check How to Form an LLC in Illinois. Note: Initially, the name of your corporation cannot also be used as the name of your new LLC, because the Secretary of State will not allow two Illinois business entities to have the same name. However, you can specify in the plan of merger that the name of the LLC will be changed to the name of your corporation when the corporation merges into the LLC (at which point the corporation ceases to exist).

Step 2: Prepare a Plan of Merger

As its name suggests, the plan of merger will contain details about the merger. It must include:

• the name of your corporation
• the name of your new limited liability company prior to the merger
• the name of the limited liability company after the merger
• the type of business entity that will survive the merger (limited liability company)
• the street address of the new LLC's principal place of business
• the "terms and conditions" of the proposed merger; and
• the basis for converting corporate shares into LLC membership interests.

Steps 3 and 4: Corporation Board and Shareholder Approval of Agreement

On the corporation side of this transaction, the plan of merger must be adopted by a majority vote of the board of directors, and then approved by the shareholders. (Of course, for a small business, the directors may well be the same people as the shareholders.) By default, approval of the plan of merger requires at least two-thirds of the votes of the shares of each class or series of shares entitled to vote on the plan, and two-thirds of the votes of the total shares entitled to vote on the plan. However, the statute allows for the possibility that the articles of incorporation may provide for different voting requirements; those alternate provisions will apply so long as they continue to require some form of majority vote. For more details, check 805 ILCS 5/11.20.

Step 5: LLC Approval of Agreement

On the LLC side of this transaction, the plan must be approved either by all LLC members, or by a number or percentage of members as specified in the LLC's operating agreement. Generally speaking, where the LLC is formed for the primary purpose of the merger, and the shareholders of the corporation are also the members of the LLC, it should be the case that all LLC members will approve the merger. For more details, check 805 ILCS 180/37-20(c).

Step 6: File Articles of Merger

The articles of merger—to which your plan of merger will be attached—will repeat some of the same information as the plan of merger, as well as a few other items. More specifically, the articles of merger will include:

• the name of your corporation, the state of its incorporation (Illinois), and its file number as issued by the Secretary of State
• the name of your new LLC prior to the merger, its state of organization (Illinois), and its file number as issued by the Secretary of State
• a statement that the laws under which the corporation and the new LLC are organized permit the merger
• the name of the LLC after the merger
• a statement that the plan of merger was approved by the new LLC in compliance with Illinois law
• a statement that the plan of merger was approved by your corporation's shareholders by one of the several methods permitted under 805 ILCS 5/11.20; and
• authorized signatures of corporation officers and LLC members.

A blank articles of merger form specifically for mergers between Illinois corporations and LLCs is available for download from the Secretary of State.

Other Important Advice

Some people may consider the formation of the new LLC, the plan of merger, the plan approval process, and the articles of merger all to be straightforward. However, as mentioned above, mergers are generally complex transactions, and often involve unexpected complications. Therefore, you should strongly consider working with a business attorney to draft the required documents and otherwise complete the merger process.

Your total filing fees for this process probably will be at least $700, which includes $600 for filing articles of organization for the new LLC and $100 for filing the articles of merger including the plan of merger.

The Illinois's LLC merger statute states not only that all of your corporation's property, as well as all of its debts, liabilities, and other obligations, are transferred to the new LLC, but also that any legal actions against your business may continue "as if the merger had not occurred," or your new LLC may be substituted for your old corporation as a party in such actions. For more information, check 805 ILCS 180/37-30.

Apart from the items mentioned in How to Form an LLC in Illinois, one other important step when undertaking this type of merger is to make sure that no business contracts or agreements, such as bank documents, leases, licenses, and insurance, will be nullified by your corporation's conversion to an LLC.

Tax Consequences

Merging a C corporation into an LLC taxed as a partnership often results in a large tax bill. This is largely because the IRS considers this kind of merger to be a liquidation of the corporation for which the corporation will owe tax, on top of which the corporation's stockholders will also be taxed personally on the corporate assets assumed to be distributed to them; in other words, there is double taxation.

Merging a corporation into an LLC that will continue to be taxed as a corporation generally does not have the same degree of adverse tax consequences as when merging into an LLC taxed as a partnership, and may even be largely tax-free. However, as this type of merger will not change the basic elements of how your business will be taxed going forward, you should investigate closely how it would benefit the business, other than by providing a more flexible management structure. Also, in order for your LLC to continue to be taxed as a corporation, you must file a special election form with the IRS.

Merging an S corporation into an LLC is fundamentally different from a merger involving a C corporation, because an S corporation has only one level of taxation; as a rule, an S corporation itself does not pay tax, only its shareholders do. Therefore, the tax consequences for this type of merger are often more limited than mergers involving a C corporation.

In general, the tax consequences associated with merging your corporation into an LLC will be complicated.Therefore, for any kind of corporation-into-LLC merger, you should consult with an experienced tax adviser.

Additional Reading and Guidance

For further guidance on converting from a corporation to an LLC, check Corporations and S Corporations vs. LLCs. Also, while they are not a substitute for expert tax advice, you should also consider looking at Tax Savvy for Small Business, by Frederick Daily (Nolo), and Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, by Fred Steingold (Nolo). For a more complete discussion of the steps involved in forming and running an LLC, consult Your Limited Liability Company: An Operating Manual, by Anthony Mancuso (Nolo). And, finally, for information on conversion rules in other states, check Nolo's 50-State Guide to Converting a Corporation to an LLC.