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.
Here is a breakdown of the 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 and 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 including LLC (), C corporation, , , etc.
formation services will also help with your , , annual or 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!
FundsNet requires Contributors, Writers and Authors to use Primary Sources to source and cite their work. These Sources include White Papers, Government Information & Data, Original Reporting and Interviews from Industry Experts. Reputable Publishers are also sourced and cited where appropriate. Learn more about the standards we follow in producing Accurate, Unbiased and Researched Content in our editorial policy.
SBA.gov "Register with State Agencies" Page 1. April 7, 2021
IRS.gov "Limited Liability Company (LLC)" Page 1 . April 7, 2021