State filing fees are just the first layer. This guide breaks down every cost — registered agent, annual reports, franchise taxes, and formation services — state by state for 2026.
By Omer Aydin ·
!LLC Formation Cost: What You Actually Pay in Every State
Most founders see a state filing fee, assume that's the whole bill, and move on. Then the registered agent invoice shows up. Then the annual report. Then, if they picked the wrong state, a franchise tax they never saw coming.
The total cost of forming an LLC isn't one number. It's a stack of numbers spread across time — and some of them only surface after you've already committed to a state. Having spent years in legal practice before building formation tooling, I've watched this pattern repeat more times than I can count. This guide breaks down every layer, state by state, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you file.
Every LLC carries four potential cost layers. Most comparisons only show the first one.
State filing fee — the one-time fee to file Articles of Organization.
Registered agent fee — required in every state; ranges from $0 (if you serve as your own) to $300+/year through a service.
Annual report or franchise tax — recurring fees to keep the LLC in good standing.
Formation service fee — what you pay a service to handle the paperwork, if you use one.
Layers three and four are where founders get hurt. The filing fee is just the entry ticket.
These are the state-mandated fees to file Articles of Organization — paid directly to the state, non-negotiable regardless of which service you use.
| State | Filing Fee | Annual/Biennial Report Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $200 | $50/year | Plus $10 name reservation (optional) |
| Alaska | $250 | $100/biennial | |
| Arizona | $50 | $0 | No annual report required |
| Arkansas | $45 | $150/year | |
| California | $70 | $800/year minimum franchise tax | The $800 minimum applies even with zero revenue |
| Colorado | $50 | $10/year | One of the cheapest ongoing states |
| Connecticut | $120 | $80/year | |
| Delaware | $90 | $300/year franchise tax | Popular for startups; ongoing costs add up |
| Florida | $125 | $138.75/year | |
| Georgia | $100 | $50/year | |
| Hawaii | $50 | $15/year | |
| Idaho | $100 | $0 | No annual report |
| Illinois | $150 | $75/year | |
| Indiana | $95 | $32/biennial | |
| Iowa | $50 | $30/biennial | |
| Kansas | $160 | $55/year | |
| Kentucky | $40 | $15/year | One of the lowest ongoing costs |
| Louisiana | $100 | $35/year | |
| Maine | $175 | $85/year | |
| Maryland | $100 | $300/year | |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $500/year | High on both ends |
| Michigan | $50 | $25/year | |
| Minnesota | $155 | $0 | No annual report |
| Mississippi | $50 | $0 | No annual report |
| Missouri | $50 | $0 | No annual report |
| Montana | $35 | $15/year | Among the cheapest |
| Nebraska | $100 | $13/biennial | |
| Nevada | $75 | $350/year (state business license + annual list) | Marketed as tax-friendly; ongoing costs are real |
| New Hampshire | $100 | $100/year | |
| New Jersey | $125 | $75/year | |
| New Mexico | $50 | $0 | No annual report; often overlooked |
| New York | $200 | $9/biennial + publication requirement | Publication can cost $1,000–$2,000 in NYC |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200/year | |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50/year | |
| Ohio | $99 | $0 | No annual report |
| Oklahoma | $100 | $25/year | |
| Oregon | $100 | $100/year | |
| Pennsylvania | $125 | $7/decade (decennial report) | Very low ongoing cost |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $50/year | |
| South Carolina | $110 | $0 | No annual report |
| South Dakota | $150 | $50/year | |
| Tennessee | $300 | $300/year minimum | High on both ends |
| Texas | $300 | $0 filing fee; franchise tax may apply | Franchise tax kicks in above $2.47M revenue |
| Utah | $54 | $18/year | |
| Vermont | $125 | $35/year | |
| Virginia | $100 | $50/year | |
| Washington | $200 | $60/year | |
| West Virginia | $100 | $25/year | |
| Wisconsin | $130 | $25/year | |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60/year minimum or 0.0002% of assets | Popular for privacy; reasonable ongoing costs |
Note: Fees change. Always verify current amounts on the official state secretary of state website before filing. The figures above reflect 2026 published rates.
California's $70 filing fee looks reasonable until you see the $800 minimum franchise tax sitting behind it — due every year, regardless of revenue. A pre-revenue startup in California owes $800 to the state in year one and every year after that. If you're building in California but don't yet have California customers or employees, there's a real argument for forming in Wyoming or Delaware and registering as a foreign LLC in California only when you actually need to.
New York requires new LLCs to publish a notice of formation in two newspapers for six consecutive weeks. In New York City, that requirement alone can run $1,000 to $2,000 because qualifying publication rates are steep. The $200 filing fee ends up being the smallest line item in your New York LLC budget.
Delaware is the standard recommendation for venture-backed startups, and that reputation is earned — when you're raising institutional capital. But for an LLC with no outside investors, Delaware’s current $400 annual tax is a real recurring cost that may provide no operational benefit. Delaware's advantage is legal infrastructure and investor familiarity, not affordability. Use the state tax comparison dashboard to compare that obligation with annual reports, license fees, and operating-state taxes before defaulting to a formation state.
Nevada gets marketed aggressively as a tax-friendly state. The $75 filing fee sounds appealing until you add the required annual business license ($200) and the annual list of managers ($150), which brings recurring costs to $350/year before you've even added a registered agent. That's not cheap — it's just well-marketed.
Massachusetts charges $500 to file and $500/year to maintain. Tennessee charges $300 to file and $300/year minimum. Unless you're actually operating in one of these states, there's no reason to form there.
Every LLC must maintain a registered agent in its state of formation — a person or company with a physical address in that state who receives legal documents on your behalf.
If you form in your home state and you're comfortable with your address appearing on public record, you can serve as your own registered agent for free. Most founders aren't comfortable with that, which is where registered agent services come in.
Those services typically run $50–$300/year. Some formation services bundle this in; others charge it as a recurring add-on. That distinction matters a lot when you're comparing total costs across providers.
When you use a service to handle filing, you're paying for their work on top of the state fee. Here's how the major options look in 2026:
ZenBusiness — starts at $0 plus state fees for the base plan; registered agent is an add-on.
Bizee — similar structure to ZenBusiness, built for mass-market SMBs.
Doola — starts around $208/year; add-ons can push the total significantly higher.
Stripe Atlas — $500 one-time plus $100/year for registered agent; Delaware only; no AI guidance.
Clerky — $427 for formation; $819 for a plan that includes post-incorporation documents; Delaware C-Corp only.
Firstbase — $399 one-time plus $2,388/year for their compliance stack.
The "free" or low-cost options tend to make their margin on registered agent upsells, expedited filing upgrades, and annual compliance add-ons. By the time you've added what you actually need, the total often exceeds a flat-rate service.
Lovie Formation works differently: formation is a one-time $29, plus your state's filing fee passed through at cost with no markup. Registered agent service — including mail scanning — is priced separately at $79/year ($49/year in Wyoming), and EIN application is available as an optional add-on at checkout. If you're working in Cursor, Claude, Windsurf, or another AI-native tool, you can kick off the entire formation process directly from your IDE through Lovie's MCP integration without opening a separate tab.
The most expensive LLC mistake isn't a high filing fee. It's forming in the wrong state and figuring that out later.
Here's a scenario I've seen play out repeatedly: a founder forms in Delaware because they've heard it's the smart move. They're a solo founder running a service business with no plans to raise venture funding. Now they're paying $300/year in Delaware franchise tax, plus $100–$150/year for a registered agent, plus they need to register as a foreign LLC in their home state — another $50–$200 filing fee and another registered agent on top. The "smart" choice ends up costing two to three times what a home-state LLC would have.
The right state depends on your business type, revenue model, whether you plan to raise institutional capital, and where you actually operate. Delaware makes sense for C-Corps on a VC track. Wyoming makes sense for privacy-conscious founders with no local nexus. For service businesses and solo founders who want simplicity, your home state is usually the right answer.
This is exactly the kind of guidance that gets skipped when you're filling out a static web form. A conversational AI that asks about your business before recommending a state can save you more money than the filing fee itself — which is the whole premise behind how Lovie approaches formation.
Scenario 1: Solo founder, service business, home state (Colorado)
State filing fee: $50. Annual report: $10. Registered agent (service): ~$100. Formation service: varies. Total year one: ~$160–$250.
Scenario 2: Solo founder, Delaware LLC (not raising VC)
Delaware filing fee: $90. Delaware franchise tax: $300. Delaware registered agent: $100–$150. Home state foreign LLC registration: $50–$200. Home state registered agent: $100–$150. Total year one: ~$640–$890.
Scenario 3: Two-person founding team, Delaware C-Corp, VC track
Delaware filing fee: $90. Delaware franchise tax: $300. Registered agent: $100–$150. Formation service with post-incorporation docs: varies widely. Total year one: ~$490–$800+ depending on service.
Scenario 2 is the one that catches founders off guard. They see the $90 Delaware filing fee and don't account for the franchise tax, the registered agent, or the foreign registration back home.
Formation is both a one-time and a recurring expense — but the downstream cost of getting it wrong is much larger than either. Choosing the wrong entity type, the wrong state, or missing an annual report deadline can mean dissolving and reforming, paying back taxes, or losing good standing with investors.
The filing fee is not the number to optimize. The number to optimize is total cost over three years, including registered agent fees, annual reports, and the cost of any mistakes you need to unwind.
A service that charges $0 upfront and $150/year for registered agent, but gives you no guidance on entity type or state, can easily cost you more than a service that charges $29 one-time and asks the right questions before filing. Cheap formation advice is often the most expensive kind.
Kentucky ($40 filing fee, $15/year) and Montana ($35 filing fee, $15/year) have the lowest combined costs. New Mexico ($50 filing fee, no annual report) is also very low if you want minimal ongoing obligations. But cheapest isn't always best — your home state is often the most practical choice if you operate locally.
No. State filing fees are set by the state and are identical regardless of which service you use. A reputable service passes the fee through at cost. Some services mark it up; Lovie passes it through with zero markup.
You need a registered agent in your state of formation. If you register as a foreign LLC in additional states, you need one in each of those states too. This is one of the main reasons forming in a state where you don't operate adds ongoing cost.
Delaware is the right choice if you're forming a C-Corp and planning to raise institutional venture capital. For LLCs, bootstrapped businesses, or founders who aren't on a VC track, Delaware's $300/year franchise tax and dual-state registration costs often make it the wrong choice.
Most states charge a late fee and eventually dissolve your LLC administratively if you don't file. Reinstatement typically costs more than the original annual report fee, and in some states you lose the right to your business name. Ongoing compliance monitoring is one of the most practical reasons to use a formation service rather than going fully DIY.
Not directly. You can dissolve in the original state and reform in a new one, or in some cases do a statutory conversion. Both options involve additional filing fees and paperwork. Getting the state choice right the first time is significantly cheaper than correcting it later.
Filing fees are generally similar across both entity types in most states. The bigger cost difference shows up in ongoing compliance: C-Corps have more formal requirements — board meetings, stock issuance, minutes — and typically need more post-incorporation documents. For founders on a VC track, the C-Corp structure is worth it. For everyone else, the LLC is usually simpler and cheaper to maintain.
---
The real cost of forming an LLC isn't the number on page one of the state's website. It's the full stack over time — in the right state, with the right entity type for where your business is actually going. Get that right and the dollar amount almost doesn't matter. Get it wrong and you'll spend more fixing it than you would have spent doing it correctly from the start.
If you want guidance on entity type and state before you file, Lovie Formation walks you through the decision in a chat interface and handles the filing, EIN, registered agent, and compliance from there — or directly from your IDE if you're already working in an AI-native environment.
Form your company with Lovie — $29 one-time + state fees; registered agent $79/year.
