LLC filing fees by state (2026)

Every state advertises a filing fee. Almost none of them lead with the number that actually matters. Forming an LLC costs between $35 and $500 to file, depending on the state — but that’s a one-time charge. The cost that follows you every year for as long as the company exists is the recurring one: an annual report, a biennial report, or a franchise tax. This page lists both, for all 50 states and DC, pulled from official 2026 sources.

Form in the state where you do business

Before the table: the single most important rule on this page. Form in the state where you do business. Choosing a “cheap” state for a company you actually run somewhere else means registering as a foreign LLC in the state where you operate — so you pay both states’ formation fees and both states’ recurring fees, and save nothing. The comparison below is for deciding among states you could genuinely call home (you’re remote, you haven’t picked a state yet, or you’re comparing your own state to the alternatives), or simply for understanding what your state already charges.

Every state’s LLC cost (2026)

Figures are the online-filing fees from each state’s official Secretary of State / Division of Corporations and Department of Revenue — for example Wyoming’s Business Division — current for 2026. “Recurring” is the dominant ongoing state fee; some states layer additional taxes (see notes). FilingDesk’s own flat $99 service fee is separate and is the same in every state.

Annual report, biennial report, or franchise tax — what’s the difference?

The “Recurring type” column above isn’t just labeling — it changes how often you have to think about this at all.

• Annual report. The most common structure (Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Wyoming, and most of the table). You file — and usually pay — every single year, on a date the state sets by anniversary month or a fixed calendar date.
• Biennial report. Only every two years (Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New York, DC). Easy to underestimate how easy it is to forget, precisely because it comes around half as often.
• Franchise tax. Charged for the privilege of operating as a business in the state, independent of an information filing — sometimes flat (Delaware’s $400, Rhode Island’s $400 minimum), sometimes revenue-based (Texas’s margin tax, California’s $800 minimum plus gross-receipts fee), sometimes blended with a report requirement (Kentucky’s LLET, Tennessee’s franchise/excise regime).

None of these are better or worse in the abstract — a $400 flat franchise tax and a $200 annual report both cost real money every year. What matters is knowing which one your state charges and calendaring it the same day your LLC is approved, not waiting for a reminder that may never come.

The cheapest states to form an LLC

Montana

$35

cheapest formation fee

Kentucky

$40

second cheapest

Arkansas

$45

third cheapest

By upfront filing fee, the lowest are Montana ($35), Kentucky ($40), and Arkansas ($45) — but the lowest filing fee isn’t always the cheapest to actually own once annual reports and franchise taxes are counted. Kentucky, for instance, pairs its low $40 formation fee with a recurring Limited Liability Entity Tax that changes the long-run math. See the full ranked breakdown, including the states with no recurring fee at all, in cheapest state to form an LLC.

The states with no recurring LLC fee

A handful of states charge nothing to keep an LLC active year to year: Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina. (New Mexico’s 2023 legislature considered a $20 triennial report — the bill died in committee, so there is still no recurring filing.) For a holding company or an entity you want to keep alive cheaply, these are worth knowing about — the ongoing state cost is effectively zero (you still handle federal taxes as applicable).

The expensive ones — and the hidden costs

The sticker-shock states aren’t always the ones with a high filing fee. Some of the priciest LLCs to own look perfectly reasonable to form:

• California — $70 to form, but an $800 minimum annual franchise tax owed to the Franchise Tax Board every year regardless of income, plus a tiered gross-receipts fee (starting at $900) once California income passes $250,000. The most expensive state to operate an LLC in for most businesses.
• Massachusetts — $500 to form and $500 a year, the highest straightforward combination on the table.
• Delaware — a flat $400 annual tax (raised from $300 by HB 400 for tax year 2026), with no annual report to go with it.
• Tennessee — $300 to form plus a franchise/excise regime that scales with the business.

These are the numbers the “starting at $49” formation ads leave out. For the full state-by-state decision, see our guide to the best state to form an LLC.

Why “cheap state” rarely means what it sounds like

It’s tempting to read this table top to bottom and pick whatever state sits at the bottom of the recurring-fee column. That works only if your business has no physical footprint anywhere else — no office, no employees, no inventory, nothing that counts as “doing business” in your actual home state.

The moment it does, forming in a low-fee state doesn’t replace your home state’s requirements — it adds a foreign LLC registration on top of them. You’d file (and pay) to form in the cheap state, then file (and pay) again to register as a foreign entity where you actually operate, and then owe both states’ recurring fees every year after that. A Wyoming LLC running a business physically based in California still owes California’s $800 franchise tax — Wyoming’s low $60/yr annual report doesn’t offset it, it just adds a second bill.

The exception is genuinely location-independent businesses — consulting, SaaS, e-commerce with no fixed physical presence — where “home state” is a real choice rather than a fixed fact. That’s the specific case our Wyoming LLC guide and best state to form an LLC breakdown are written for.

Calculate your own all-in cost

The table shows state fees; your real Year-1 and Year-2 total also depends on a registered agent and any add-ons. Our LLC cost calculator adds it up for any state, and our state guides — Wyoming, Florida, Delaware, California, Texas — walk through each one in detail.

Where FilingDesk fits

Once you know your state’s real number — formation fee plus the recurring one, not just the headline figure — the paperwork itself is the part FilingDesk exists to remove. We file your LLC for a flat $99 plus your state’s fee, with the state cost passed through at cost — no markup, no tiers, no surprise Year-2 renewal, and no separate charge to auto-file the annual report or franchise filing when it comes due. We’re live in Wyoming ($199 all-in), Florida ($224), and Delaware ($209) and expanding. Whatever state you choose, the number you see on this page is the number you pay. Start yours.

FilingDesk is not a law firm or an accounting firm and does not provide legal or tax advice. State fees change; we track them, but confirm current figures with your state before relying on them for a filing.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Wyoming Secretary of State - Business Division (representative official source; each state's figures come from its own SOS/DOR)
• Delaware Division of Corporations - annual tax (HB 400, $400 for TY2026)
• California Franchise Tax Board - LLC $800 tax and fee

This guide is general information, not legal advice. FilingDesk is not a law firm.