LLC Cost to Start or Form a New Limited Liability Company

Most likely you have come to this page because you are needing to form your LLC and get your business going and you aren’t quite sure how much it will cost to form your LLC. 

If you are wondering what the LLC Cost to Start or Form a New Limited Liability Company is, keep on reading.

You will be happy to hear that the up-front costs of starting an LLC aren’t exorbitant, but depending on your state, they can range anywhere from $50 – several hundred dollars. 

If you want to know how much to budget for your LLC formation, then you have come to the right place. 

In this guide, we will go over formation costs by State and ongoing compliance fees like annual reports, franchise taxes, and more. 

By the end of this article, you will have a better idea of the costs involved with starting and maintaining an LLC. 

Note: If you need help starting your LLC and want to make sure it is done correctly, you may want to consider using an LLC formation service.

Some of them are free + state fee while others cost a little more and take care of all of your legal paperwork and annual filings so you don’t have to miss a deadline. 

Checkout the best LLC formation services here. 

LLC Cost to Start or Form a New Limited Liability Company

Startup Cost to Form an LLC

Whether you like it or not, there are fees to form an LLC. 

Each state has their own LLC formation Fee, even if you go the DIY route and file your own documents directly with the IRS, you still have to pay the state fee. 

The most affordable option is to figure out the formation process on your own and just pay the state fee. 

However, missing a step or doing something incorrectly could end up costing much more. 

So if the DIY route doesn’t sound like the route you want to take, you may want to hire an LLC formation service or lawyer to guide you through the process. 

While these options do cost more, especially hiring a lawyer, some LLC formation services offer really affordable formation packages – you can read more on that here!

In any state, the primary cost associate with forming an LLC is the filing fee for the Articles or Organization. 

Here is the filing fee you should expect for the Articles of Organization by state. 

LLC Filing Fees by State:

Alabama: $100 (plus $50 minimum probate judge fee)

Alaska: $250

Arizona: $50

Arkansas: $45

California: $70

Colorado: $50

Connecticut: $120

Delaware: $90

District of Columbia: $220

Florida: $100 (plus $25 registered agent fee)

Georgia: $100

Hawaii: $50

Idaho: $100

Illinois: $150

Indiana: $100

Iowa: $50

Kansas: $165

Kentucky: $40

Louisiana: $100

Maine: $175

Maryland: $100 (plus 3% service fee)

Massachusetts: $500

Michigan: $50

Minnesota: $135

Mississippi: $50

Missouri: $50

Montana: $70

Nebraska: $100 (plus $5 per page)

Nevada: $75

New Hampshire: $100

New Jersey: $125

New Mexico: $50

New York: $200

North Carolina: $125

North Dakota: $135

Ohio: $99

Oklahoma: $100

Oregon: $100

Pennsylvania: $125

Rhode Island: $150

South Carolina: $110

South Dakota: $150

Tennessee: $300 (plus $50 per member, if you have more than six members)

Texas: $300

Utah: $70

Vermont: $125

Virginia: $100

Washington: $180

West Virginia: $100

Wisconsin: $130

Wyoming: $100

Arizona, Nebraska, and New York require that you also publish proof of your LLC formation to a local newspaper. 

Your business will not be official until your ad is live in an approved publication, which is an additional cost on top of the State Fee listed above. 

Maintaining an LLC

Unfortunately, you can’t just simply form your LLC and pay the one time state fee. 

Just like a car, your LLC needs maintenance and has certain deadlines that need to be met to keep it alive and well. 

Most states have some type of reporting or maintenance fees that you will need to address in order to keep your business in good standing. 

The most common is the annual report filing which is a yearly document that keeps the state up-to-date on your business formation. 

Many states also have a franchise tax which is levied against your company’s annual net worth. 

Furthermore, changes to your LLC like a new registered agent, new address, new LLC name and so on need to be reported and filed which often generate a fee. 

Again, each state is unique and so in the next section we are going to estimate what you should budget annually for the items we just talked about. 

Additional Annual Costs by State

Alabama: $100 minimum annual franchise tax

Alaska: $100 biennial report

Arizona: No fee

Arkansas: $150 annual report

California: $20 biennial report, plus $800 minimum annual franchise tax

Colorado: $10 annual report

Connecticut: $20 annual report, plus $250 biennial business entity tax

Delaware: $300 annual tax

District of Columbia: $300 biennial report

Florida: $138.75 annual report

Georgia: $50 annual report

Hawaii: $15 annual report

Idaho: No fee

Illinois: $75 annual report

Indiana: $30 biennial report

Iowa: $60 biennial report

Kansas: $55 annual report

Kentucky: $15 annual report, plus $175 minimum annual limited liability entity tax

Louisiana: $30 annual report

Maine: $85 annual report

Maryland: $300 annual report

Massachusetts: $500 annual report

Michigan: $25 annual report

Minnesota: No fee

Mississippi: No fee

Missouri: No fee

Montana: $20 annual report

Nebraska: $10 biennial report

Nevada: $150 annual report, plus $200 business license fee

New Hampshire: $100 annual report

New Jersey: $50 annual report

New Mexico: No fee

New York: $9 biennial report, plus $25 minimum annual LLC filing fee

North Carolina: $200 annual report

North Dakota: $50 annual report

Ohio: No fee

Oklahoma: $25 annual report

Oregon: $100 annual report

Pennsylvania: $70 decennial report

Rhode Island: $50 annual report

South Carolina: No fee

South Dakota: $50 annual report

Tennessee: $300 minimum annual report (plus $50 per member, if you have more than six members), plus $100 minimum franchise tax

Texas: Annual franchise tax (varies depending on net surplus)

Utah: $20 annual report

Vermont: $35 annual report

Virginia: $50 annual report

Washington: $60 annual report

West Virginia: $25 annual report

Wisconsin: $25 annual report

Wyoming: $25 minimum annual report

Cost & Benefits of Hiring an LLC Formation Service

If you have a little bit of flexibility in your budget or you know that the DIY route is not for you, then we strongly recommend hiring an LLC Formation Service. 

An LLC formation service will make sure everything gets filed properly and expediently and they will make sure that all of your annual maintenance deadlines are not missed. 

LLC formation services specialize in just that, forming businesses. 

They streamline the process for you and are there to answer questions, fix mistakes, and help with legal advice and needs. 

Many of them even take care of your yearly maintenance and filings for you and offer registered agent service as well. 

They can form any business entity including LLC (limited liability company), C corporation, S corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.

Business formation services will also help with your operating agreement, registered agent service, annual filing or annual fee payments processing, and some of them offer online legal services as well.

Here are three popular LLC formation service options to give you an idea of what they offer: 

ZenBusiness

$39

ZenBusiness is one of the most affordable options and a great value. 

They are a little smaller and newer than the other two mentioned below, but have excellent customer reviews and overall features. 

Northwest Registered Agent

$225

Northwest Registered Agent also included a year of registered agent service with any LLC formation package. They also offer premium customer support that is unmatched to their competitors. 

If you anticipate questions or more complex LLC formation, they are the top choice. You definitely get what you pay for and more with Northwest. 

Northwest is our best overall value option.

IncFile 

$0 + State Fee

IncFile will form your LLC for free and include a full year of registered agent service with any LLC formation package. 

IncFile is at the top of our list of the best LLC formation services, year after year. 

If you decide to go the DIY route and form your own LLC but need help with the Annual Reporting, checkout the following services: 

MyCompany Works

For $49, MyCompanyWorks will make sure you don’t miss a deadline. They are the most affordable annual report service out there adn they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. 

Harbor Compliance

Their price varies depending on the service package that you choose, but their fully-managed services take care of everything so you don’t have to. 

And if you want it all done for you, LLC formation and Annual Reporintg, then you may want to look into MyCorporation: 

MyCorporation

For $99 MyCorporation will form your LLC and also include a full year of their managed annual report service. 

You can find a complete list of the best business formation service providers here.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully you now have an idea of how much to budget for the formation of your LLC as well as some resources to help you get started. 

You can see that the fees don’t necessarily cost and arm and a leg, you just want to make sure that your LLC is set up correctly and that your annual reporting is done properly and on time. 

To avoid missed deadline, due dates, and compounding late fees, you may want to consider just handing this all over to an LLC formation service. 

They are equipped with the knowledge needed to get you from A-Z and they take all of the guesswork out of the process. 

Now that you know the LLC Cost to Start or Form a New Limited Liability Company, you can form your business and start growing!