What entity should your ABA practice use in New York?

Is ABA a licensed profession in New York, and under which agency

Yes, and in the way that matters most for entity law. New York licenses behavior analysts and certifies behavior analyst assistants under Article 167 of the Education Law, administered by the State Education Department's Office of the Professions under the Board of Regents, the same structure that governs medicine, psychology, social work, and every other Title VIII profession. That placement is the whole story. In New York, a Title VIII profession may be practiced through an entity only if the entity is a professional one, and the Education Department, not a business-licensing agency, supervises the entity. One exemption is worth knowing: persons employed by programs licensed, certified, operated, or funded by OPWDD, OCFS, or OMH may perform the duties of a licensed behavior analyst without the license, an authorization originally set to expire July 1, 2025, and extended to July 1, 2030 by Chapter 168 of the Laws of 2025, signed June 26, 2025. It is an employment exemption for agency programs, not an entity exemption, and it does not reach a private practice. The license itself is covered on the New York licensing and credentialing page.

The entity menu: what an ABA practice can use

New York's menu for a licensed profession has two entries, and the standard LLC is not one of them. The professional service limited liability company under Article 12 of the LLC Law and the professional service corporation under Article 15 of the Business Corporation Law are the only forms through which Article 167 practice may be rendered by an entity.

Can a behavior analyst form the professional entity

Yes, and only a behavior analyst can. One or more professionals authorized to render the service may form a PLLC for the purpose of rendering it (LLC Law § 1203(a)), and for applied behavior analysis every member must be licensed or certified under Article 167 (§ 1207(b)). Two details in that language are easy to miss. First, "licensed or certified" means a certified behavior analyst assistant may be a member alongside a licensed behavior analyst; the statute does not confine membership to LBAs. Second, membership is tied to active practice: a member must be a professional "who is or has been engaged in the practice of such profession in such limited liability company" or who will be within thirty days of admission (§ 1207(a)(1)). A passive licensee-investor who never practices in the company is outside the definition. The PC works the same way under the Business Corporation Law.

Who is allowed to own it

Only Article 167 licensees and certificate holders who practice in the company. That rule is reinforced by a second one that closes the usual workaround: "No member of a professional service limited liability company shall enter into a voting trust agreement, proxy or any other type of agreement vesting in another person, other than another member of such limited liability company or professional who would be eligible to become a member of such limited liability company, the authority to exercise voting power of any or all of the membership interests," and any such arrangement "shall be void" (§ 1207(c)). A non-licensee therefore cannot own the PLLC, cannot own it through an intermediate entity, and cannot hold its votes by contract. What a non-licensee can do is own the management company that provides the PLLC's administrative services, holds its real estate and systems, employs its non-clinical staff, and receives a fixed fair-market-value fee. Because Article 12 subjects the PLLC to Regents discipline in the same manner as an individual licensee (§ 1203(d)), an arrangement that gives the management company de facto control is not a business-law problem; it is a professional-misconduct exposure for the licensed members.

Where the two archetypes split

In most states the diagnostics archetype is the strict one and ABA-only is open. In New York both are strict, and they are strict separately. An ABA-only practice needs an Article 167 PLLC owned by behavior analysts. A practice that adds an in-house psychologist for diagnostic evaluations cannot put the psychologist in that PLLC, because membership is limited to Article 167 licensees and certificate holders, and cannot put the behavior analysts in a psychology PLLC, because that one is limited to Article 153 licensees. New York permits multi-profession PLLCs only among the professions the statute specifically pairs, and applied behavior analysis is paired with none of them. The diagnostics archetype in New York is therefore two professional entities, one for each profession, each owned only by its own licensees, both served by one management company. The two-entity structure is not a design preference; it is the only structure the statute permits. Practices that grew by hiring a psychologist into an existing ABA PLLC, or that formed one "behavioral health" entity for both, are the ones counsel most often has to unwind.

The certificate of authority, publication, and Regents supervision

Forming a New York PLLC is a two-agency process. The articles of organization must state the profession to be practiced, list every original member and manager with their license numbers and residence addresses, and have attached a certificate issued by the licensing authority certifying that each proposed member and manager is authorized to practice the profession (LLC Law § 1203(b)). In practice that certificate is the Education Department's Certificate of Authority (Form PLS709) issued by the Office of the Professions' Corporations Unit, obtained first and filed with the Department of State together with the articles. Within 120 days after the articles take effect, the PLLC must publish a copy or notice in two newspapers designated by the county clerk, once a week for six successive weeks, and file a certificate of publication with the Department of State; failure suspends the company's authority to carry on business until it complies. Once formed, the PLLC is "under the supervision of the regents of the university of the state of New York," subject to disciplinary proceedings and penalties, with its articles subject to suspension, revocation, or annulment for cause in the same manner as an individual license (§ 1203(d)). That is the enforcement lever behind every rule on this page.

Naming the entity

A New York PLLC name "shall end with the words 'Professional Limited Liability Company' or 'Limited Liability Company' or the abbreviation 'P.L.L.C.', 'PLLC', 'L.L.C.' or 'LLC'" (LLC Law § 1212(b)), so the plain LLC designator is permitted and PLLC is not mandatory in the name itself. The Education Department applies its own rules at the certificate-of-authority stage: the name must appropriately describe the profession practiced, must not be false or misleading, and may reference a specialty only with evidence of authority to use it. Clear the name with both the Department of State and the Office of the Professions before filing, because a name the Department of State accepts can still be refused a certificate of authority.

Why choosing the entity is only half the question

Picking the form is one decision. Who may own it, and how outside capital comes in, is the other, and in New York the first decision answers the second: the form is a PLLC or PC, its owners are behavior analysts, and outside capital has exactly one place to live, the management company. The work is not choosing a structure but building the management services agreement so that the fee is fixed at fair market value, the licensed members keep clinical control and their voting power, and nothing in the documents functions as the proxy that § 1207(c) voids. Decide the entity and the ownership together, and have counsel read the management agreement against § 1207(c) line by line.

Read next: Do you need an MSO for your ABA practice in New York?

Tax treatment as a separate layer

Entity form and tax classification are separate choices. A New York PLLC is taxed by default as a sole proprietorship or partnership depending on the number of members and can elect corporate or S-corporation treatment; a PC is a corporation unless it makes an S election. New York City adds its own unincorporated business tax and general corporation tax, which can affect the PLLC-versus-PC choice for a practice based in the five boroughs. Decide the tax layer with a New York tax adviser, and treat the publication cost, which varies sharply by county, as a formation expense rather than a tax.

Multistate practice and foreign qualification

If you operate beyond New York, the New York PLLC is only your home-state piece. To deliver services in another state you generally register there as a foreign entity and meet that state's own ownership and entity rules. A licensee-owned New York PLLC will satisfy most other states, since a structure built for the strictest rule tends to clear the permissive ones, but note the reverse: a permissive-state LLC owned by a non-licensee cannot simply qualify to do business in New York and start delivering ABA, because a foreign entity practicing a Title VIII profession must itself be a foreign professional entity meeting New York's ownership rule. Multistate groups usually standardize on a structure that satisfies the strictest state in the footprint, and New York is often that state. See the practice expansion and sale page for the multistate view.

How this connects to the rest of your compliance stack

Entity choice is one layer. Others interact with it:

• Ownership and outside capital. The PLLC is licensee-owned, so outside capital needs a management company, and the management agreement must survive § 1207(c). See the New York MSO and ownership page.
• Licensing and credentialing. Every member and every clinician must hold the Article 167 license or certificate, and the entity's own authority derives from the Education Department. See licensing and credentialing in New York.
• Payor and Medicaid enrollment. The PLLC and its ownership are disclosed at enrollment and revalidation. See New York Medicaid and the insurance mandate.

Forming the entity in New York: the sequence

1. License the members. Every proposed member and manager holds an Article 167 license or certificate before anything is filed; the Education Department certifies it.
2. Obtain the certificate of authority. Apply to the Office of the Professions' Corporations Unit (Form PLS709) with the proposed articles and member list.
3. File the articles with the Department of State. Articles of organization under § 1203 with the certificate of authority attached, stating the profession and listing the members and managers.
4. File a certified copy with the Education Department and publish. A certified copy of the filed articles goes to the Office of the Professions within 30 days; six weekly publications in two designated newspapers within 120 days, then the certificate of publication with the Department of State.
5. Adopt an operating agreement. Members are Article 167 practitioners only; no proxy or voting agreement in favor of any non-member; clinical control stays with the members.
6. If diagnostics are in-house, form the second professional entity. A separate psychology PLLC owned by the psychologist; neither entity may hold the other's profession.
7. If outside capital is involved, build the management company. Fixed fair-market-value fee, administrative scope only, drafted against § 1207(c). Confirm with New York counsel.

New York entity variables at a glance

Frequently asked questions