# Business phone for a new LLC > A business phone for a new LLC is not your registered agent. This checklist covers the number, the brief, forwarding, and what to publish. Published 2026-11-10 · by RingKit · tags: small business, setup, ai receptionist. Canonical: https://www.ringkit.com/blog/business-phone-for-a-new-llc A business phone for a new LLC is a line customers can call. It is not the registered agent, not the formation filing, and not the EIN. Those are how the state and the IRS know the company exists. The phone is how a person reaches you. You can set the phone up the same week you file, and you should not publish a number that nobody answers. This is a phone checklist, not legal advice. Formation rules differ by state. For the filing itself, use your state's site or a lawyer. The phone steps below are the same either way. ## The filing and the phone are different jobs The U.S. Small Business Administration describes an LLC as a structure you choose before you register with the state. On its [register-your-business guide](https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/register-your-business), the SBA says an LLC protects personal assets from company debts in most cases, and that LLC members are treated as self-employed for Medicare and Social Security tax. That page is about structure, tax, and registration. It does not assign you a customer phone number. Read it for the filing. Do not treat it as a script for what your receptionist should say about liability or tax. If a caller asks whether the LLC protects them, or how you are taxed, that is a question for you or your accountant. The phone can take a message. ## A registered agent is not the front desk The same SBA page says an LLC needs a registered agent in the state before you file. The agent receives official papers and legal documents, and must be located in that state. Many owners hire a service for that role instead of using their home address. That mailbox is not a ringing phone. Legal mail can sit until someone opens it. A customer who calls the number on your website is not sending service of process. They want hours, a price, or a person. If you print the registered agent's phone on the site, callers reach the agent, not you. Keep three lines of contact separate: - The registered agent, for official papers. - The address you actually want on the website, if it is different. - The phone number you want customers to dial. Write those down before you order a number. Mixing them is how a new LLC ends up with a website that looks finished and a phone that rings in the wrong place. ## What the phone should do on day one Pick the number customers will dial. Two honest options: - A new local number that you publish everywhere. - Your existing mobile, forwarded to the receptionist so you do not have to change the number already on cards and the website. RingKit does not port numbers. The line stays with the carrier that has it. You forward calls to the RingKit number. Forwarding is the reversible option. Porting is a move to another carrier, and it is not what this setup does. The receptionist is an AI. It says so on every call. It answers from a brief you write: hours, services, prices, policies, and the questions you already get. If the brief is empty, it should take a message, not invent an answer. The walk-through of one call is in [what an AI receptionist does](https://www.ringkit.com/blog/what-does-an-ai-receptionist-do). Transfers go to your own team, at numbers you choose. RingKit does not put its own staff on the line. If nobody is free, it takes a message. You get a summary: who called, what they needed, and the next step. Calls are recorded and transcribed for that summary, and a consent notice plays on every call. It will not book a calendar appointment or claim a legal or medical certification. A request for a time can sit in the summary. You confirm it. ## Write the brief before you publish the number Do this before the number appears on Google, the site, or a card. 1. Hours, including what "closed" means. If you take emergency calls, say which ones and which number gets the transfer. 2. The services you actually sell, and the ones you do not. 3. Prices you are willing to say out loud. If a price is "it depends," say what you need from the caller (photos, address, scope) and that you will call back. 4. The city or area you serve. A new LLC often gets calls from outside that area. 5. The legal name and the name you want spoken. If they differ, put both in the brief so the greeting is not a surprise. Then call the number yourself. Ask the five questions you expect in week one. Fix the brief, not the caller. ## Forward it, then prove it If you are keeping an existing number, turn on forwarding with that carrier and point it at the RingKit number. The steps for that choice, including the difference between sending every call and sending only the ones you miss, are in the [forwarding guide](https://www.ringkit.com/blog/forward-business-number-to-ai-receptionist). Test from a second phone. Your own handset can hide a voicemail that answers before the forward. Call once and pick up, once and let it ring, and once while you are already on a call. Write down who answered. The number is $1.99 a month. The AI receptionist is $0.20 a minute while it is on the call. The first 10 seconds of every call are free, then time is billed in 6-second steps. A month with no calls is $1.99 for the number. There is no plan and no seat fee. You top up a wallet (minimum $10), and a payment method is required before the line is active. Current figures are on the [pricing page](https://www.ringkit.com/pricing). ## What to hand a formation service, and what not to A formation website or a registered-agent company may ask for a phone number on the filing. Use a number you control. Do not invent one. Do not use a personal number you are about to stop answering, unless you will forward it. The SBA also says the federal EIN application is free, and tells you not to pay a website that charges a fee for it. Apply with the IRS. A phone vendor is not the IRS, and a phone setup is not an EIN. If a developer is creating the RingKit business for you, the [docs](https://www.ringkit.com/docs) cover the API and MCP. Forwarding the carrier number is still something a person does on the phone. The receptionist cannot file the LLC. --- Try Ringkit: $0.20/min, $1.99/mo per number, no plan. Get started at https://app.ringkit.com/onboard