Start in MinnesotaFree, plain-language guidance on forming and running a business in Minnesota — what the statutes actually default to, what you must file, and what it costs.https://www.startinminnesota.com/en-usIn Minnesota construction, your subcontractor is an employee unless all 14 boxes are checkedhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/construction-contractor-fourteen-factors/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/construction-contractor-fourteen-factors/Minn. Stat. § 181.723 starts from the presumption that the worker is an employee, and the escape route requires every one of fourteen conditions. Misclassification runs to $10,000 per worker.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationEarned sick and safe time starts at your first employee, not your fiftiethhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/earned-sick-and-safe-time/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/earned-sick-and-safe-time/One hour for every 30 worked, 48 hours a year, 80 hours banked. The definition of "employer" is a person who has one or more employees.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationThe most expensive sentence in chapter 322C is one nobody readshttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/equal-shares-is-the-default/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/equal-shares-is-the-default/Minnesota LLC distributions default to equal shares among members — not to ownership percentage. The gap between what founders assume and what the statute says is where the disputes live.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTPractice notesMinnesota has three filing lanes, and the $20 premium buys more than speedhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/filing-lanes-and-the-twenty-dollar-premium/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/filing-lanes-and-the-twenty-dollar-premium/Mail, online, and the St. Paul counter carry different prices and different outcomes. For most filings the difference is exactly $20.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTFiling practiceMinnesota's minimum wage is $11.41, and the small-employer rate is gonehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minimum-wage-2026/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minimum-wage-2026/One statewide rate for every employer since January 1, 2025 — no more large/small distinction. Minneapolis and St. Paul set their own, higher.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationMinnesota's data privacy law exempts small businesses — from most of it, not all of ithttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-consumer-data-privacy-act/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-consumer-data-privacy-act/The thresholds are high enough that most new businesses fall outside chapter 325M. But the one duty that survives the small-business exclusion applies to everyone, and it has teeth.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationMinnesota now forms 20 LLCs for every corporationhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-formation-trends/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-formation-trends/The Secretary of State's own filing statistics show new business corporations down 68 percent from their 2002 peak while LLC formations hit a record 64,484 in 2025 — and 2026 is running ahead of that.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTFiling practiceMinnesota Paid Leave is live, and it applies to employers with one employeehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-paid-leave-2026/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/minnesota-paid-leave-2026/Premiums started in 2026 at 0.7 percent of wages. There is no small-business exemption — only a reduced rate for employers with 30 or fewer employees.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationCalling someone a contractor when they are not is its own violationhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/misclassification-is-not-just-a-construction-problem/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/misclassification-is-not-just-a-construction-problem/Minn. Stat. § 181.722 reaches every industry, not just construction — and it separately penalizes making the worker sign the paperwork that misclassifies them.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationMinnesota voided noncompetes — but not the three agreements people confuse with themhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/noncompetes-are-void-in-minnesota/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/noncompetes-are-void-in-minnesota/Minn. Stat. § 181.988 makes employee noncompetes void and unenforceable, with only two narrow exceptions. Nondisclosure, trade secret, and nonsolicitation agreements are expressly untouched.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationTwo Minnesota entity types pay a renewal fee every year. Most pay nothing.https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/the-renewal-fee-that-never-goes-away/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/the-renewal-fee-that-never-goes-away/LLPs and out-of-state corporations carry a permanent annual filing cost that LLCs and Minnesota corporations do not — and it rarely shows up in the Delaware-versus-Minnesota comparison.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTFiling practiceMinnesota makes you hand every new employee a signed written noticehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/wage-theft-notice/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/wage-theft-notice/Not a handbook, not an offer letter — a specific notice with statutory contents, signed by the employee, kept by you, and provided in their language on request.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationGoing without workers' compensation costs $1,000 per employee per weekhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/news/workers-compensation-is-mandatory/https://www.startinminnesota.com/news/workers-compensation-is-mandatory/Minnesota requires nearly every employer to insure. The penalty is assessed per employee, per week of noncompliance, and a willful failure is a gross misdemeanor.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTLaw & regulationAnnual renewal is free, mandatory, and the easiest thing to lose a company overhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/annual-renewal/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/annual-renewal/Most Minnesota entities pay $0 to renew. Miss it anyway and the Secretary of State dissolves you — then reinstatement costs money, and after six years it cannot be done online at all.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideRunning the businessThe assumed name step almost everyone skipshttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/assumed-name-publication/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/assumed-name-publication/Filing your DBA with the Secretary of State is only half the requirement. Minnesota also makes you publish it in a newspaper — and skipping that can stop your lawsuit cold.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideBefore you fileDeadlock, oppression, and how a Minnesota LLC actually endshttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/dissolution-and-deadlock/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/dissolution-and-deadlock/A 50/50 split with no tiebreaker has one exit, and it runs through a courthouse. Chapter 322C lets a court dissolve for oppressive conduct — or order a buyout instead.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideRunning the businessContractors: the notice you must give before you can ever file a lienhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/mechanics-lien-prelien-notice/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/mechanics-lien-prelien-notice/Minnesota requires specific statutory language, in bold or capitals, in your contract or within ten days. Skip it and you do not have a lien — not a weaker one, none.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideRunning the businessWhat a member can demand to see, and the ten-day clock it startshttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/member-information-rights/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/member-information-rights/Minnesota gives LLC members a statutory right to company information — broad in a member-managed company, conditioned in a manager-managed one, and impossible to unreasonably restrict.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideRunning the businessGetting a name past the Secretary of State is not the same as owning ithttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/naming-your-business/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/naming-your-business/Minnesota asks only whether your name is "distinguishable upon the records." That is a much lower bar than trademark law, and clearing one says nothing about the other.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideBefore you fileWhat Minnesota law does if your operating agreement is silenthttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/operating-agreement-defaults/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/operating-agreement-defaults/Chapter 322C fills every gap you leave — and two of its defaults are the opposite of what most founders assume.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidePapering the dealHow Minnesota owners lose the liability protection they paid forhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/piercing-the-corporate-veil/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/piercing-the-corporate-veil/Filing the entity is not what protects you — behaving as though it exists is. Minnesota courts weigh eight factors, and most of them are bookkeeping.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideRunning the businessLicensed professionals cannot form an ordinary LLC and split it with anyone they likehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/professional-firms/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/professional-firms/Chapter 319B restricts who may own a Minnesota professional firm to a closed list of categories. An improper transfer is void — not voidable.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideForming the entityMinnesota public benefit corporations, and the letters you must put in your namehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/public-benefit-corporations/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/public-benefit-corporations/Chapter 304A lets a for-profit corporation commit to a public purpose. The commitment is real, the name must say "GBC" or "SBC," and missing the annual report is the most expensive filing mistake in Minnesota.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideForming the entityTaking money from friends and family is a securities transactionhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/raising-money-in-minnesota/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/raising-money-in-minnesota/Selling part of your company is regulated whether or not you call it an investment. Minnesota has its own crowdfunding exemption, MNvest, with real dollar limits.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidePapering the dealRegistered office and registered agenthttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/registered-office-and-agent/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/registered-office-and-agent/A P.O. box will not do, the address is public forever, and the consequence of getting it wrong is a judgment you never heard about.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideForming the entityThe filing that tells the world who can sign for your LLChttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/statement-of-authority/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/statement-of-authority/A statement of authority is conclusive in favor of someone who relies on it — and for real estate, a recorded limitation binds everyone. Almost no Minnesota LLC files one.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidePapering the dealWhat each Minnesota entity costs to start — and to keep alivehttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/what-each-entity-costs/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/what-each-entity-costs/The formation fee is the number everyone compares. The recurring cost is the number that actually differs, and for two entity types it never stops.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuideBefore you fileWhen a member leaves, Minnesota does not buy them outhttps://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/when-a-member-leaves/https://www.startinminnesota.com/guides/when-a-member-leaves/Chapter 322C terminates their management rights and converts them to a transferee holding economic rights only. Nobody has to write them a check — and they never go away.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidePapering the deal