Rhode Island does not offer a professional LLC

What Rhode Island offers instead

How do you form a professional service corporation in Rhode Island instead?

1. 1

   Check the licensing or board step for your profession

   Every officer, director and shareholder must be authorized to practise the profession. Engineering firms must show a current application with the Board of Design Professionals at filing; medicine, land surveying, architecture, landscape architecture and accountancy firms must apply for licensing with the Department of Health or the relevant Department of Business Regulation board.

   Source: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-3 · RI Department of State Form 112

2. 2

   End the name with a corporate designator

   The name must end with "professional corporation", "corporation", "incorporated" or "limited", or "p.c.", "pc", "corp.", "inc." or "ltd.", and be distinguishable from names on file. The profession's regulatory agency may add name requirements.

   Source: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-7 · RI Department of State Form 112

3. 3

   File Form 112 with proof of insurance

   File the Articles of Incorporation for a Professional Service Corporation online or on Form 112, naming the profession to be practised, and pay the filing fee set by the state. At filing you must also file an insurer's certificate showing the professional liability insurance required by § 7-5.1-8; the Department will not certify the articles without it.

   Have LLCity prepare and file it ›

   Source: RI Department of State Form 112 · R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-8 · RI Department of State, Start Your Rhode Island Business

4. 4

   Name a registered agent with a Rhode Island address

   A corporation must continuously maintain a registered office and registered agent in Rhode Island. The agent must be a Rhode Island resident or an entity qualified to do business in the state, at a Rhode Island street address, not a post office box.

   What Rhode Island requires of your agent, and how we serve as it ›

   Source: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-501 · RI Department of State Form 112

5. 5

   File the annual report and keep insurance in force

   File an annual report each calendar year after the year of incorporation, between February 1 and May 1. The insurer must notify the Secretary of State before cancelling the required insurance, and the Secretary of State then informs the regulatory agency.

   Source: RI Department of State Form 112 · R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-8

Steps checked against the sources linked under each one on 12 November 2026.

Does a licensing board have to approve the filing?

Yes, at the point of filing. Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-8(b) the incorporators must file an insurer's certificate of the required professional liability insurance with the Secretary of State when filing, and the Secretary of State will not certify the articles without it. Form 112 adds: an entity practising engineering must show, at filing, a current application with the Department of Business Regulation, Board of Design Professionals; an entity practising medicine must apply for licensing from the Department of Health, Professional Regulation; land surveying, architecture or landscape architecture from the Board of Design Professionals; and accountancy from the Department of Business Regulation, Board of Accountancy.

Which occupations does Rhode Island treat as professional?

An enumerated list. R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.1-2(2): physicians, dentists, attorneys at law, professional engineers, architects, certified and licensed public accountants, veterinarians, chiropractors, podiatrists, registered nurses, optometrists, physical therapists, landscape architects, land surveyors, opticians, physician assistants, psychologists, and midwives or nurse-midwives. Under § 7-5.1-3 a corporation may practise only one of them, with every officer, director and shareholder authorized to practise it, except for three permitted combinations: the listed health-care professions; landscape architects, engineers, architects and land surveyors; and certified and licensed public accountants. Form 112 item 2 asks for the profession to be practised.

Does the agent requirement differ from an ordinary Rhode Island LLC’s?

No. Rhode Island sets no separate agent requirement for a professional entity — it is the same requirement an ordinary Rhode Island LLC files under.

For a corporation the term is registered agent and registered office (R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-501). Form 112 states: "The agent must be a Rhode Island resident or entity qualified to do business in this state. A Rhode Island street address is required, NOT a P.O. Box." The LLC act uses "resident agent" (§ 7-16-11), so the two terms should not be merged in copy.

Why Rhode Island answers this way

Rhode Island has no separate PLLC. The Department of State's registration chart lists Limited Liability Company (chapter 7-16), Business Corporation, Limited Partnership, Limited Liability Limited Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership, Benefit Corporation, Professional Service Corporation (chapter 7-5.1), Professional Service Benefit Corporation, L3C and three cooperative forms, with no professional LLC. However, R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-3.1 provides that an ordinary limited liability company "may render professional services, as defined in § 7-5.1-2, as and to the extent permitted under law or rules and regulations of the applicable regulatory agency", § 7-16-3.2 preserves each professional's liability for their own conduct, and § 7-16-3.3 requires such an LLC to carry liability insurance if reasonably available. The LLC's name follows the ordinary rule in § 7-16-9 ("limited liability company" or "l.l.c."). The Department's page states that Professional Service Corporations and Professional Service Benefit Corporations must show proof of liability insurance on registration. The Form 112 URL is https://docs.sos.ri.gov/documents/BusinessServices/112-articles-of-incorporation-for-a-professional-service.pdf.