How this is calculated
- Year-1 total = the one-time state filing fee, plus your first report or franchise-tax obligation if our default assumption is that it falls due in your first 12 months, plus registered-agent cost, plus a publication cost if your state requires it. Annual report/franchise obligations are assumed due in Year 1; biennial ones are assumed to first come due in Year 2 (so they are not added to the Year-1 number, but are counted in the 5-year total). Actual due dates depend on your state and the month you file — verify against your Secretary of State.
- 5-year total = the filing fee (once) + the report/franchise fee times how many times it recurs in a 5-year window (annual → 5 times, biennial → 2 times, none → 0) + registered agent × 5 years if you choose commercial + the one-time publication cost if applicable. Flat mandatory taxes that are billed every year regardless of income — California's $800 minimum franchise tax and Delaware's $300 flat tax — are treated as annual and counted 5 times.
- What's excluded on purpose. Revenue-dependent or conditional taxes are not added to either total because they depend on your business's income, not on the state alone — for example California's graduated LLC fee above $250K in gross receipts, Texas's franchise (margin) tax above the $2.65M revenue threshold, New York's IT-204-LL fee tiered by income, Tennessee's Franchise & Excise tax, and gross-receipts style taxes in DC, NH, OH, OR, and WA. These are flagged in the franchise-tax and other-costs columns of the table below instead of silently added to your total.
Publication cost assumptions: New York uses a $1,450 (NYC/major metro) or $450 (upstate/smaller county) newspaper estimate plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. Arizona uses $0 if your statutory agent is in Maricopa or Pima County (exempt), or a $90 typical estimate otherwise. Nebraska uses a flat ~$227 typical estimate. All three are estimates — your actual county's newspaper rates will vary.
Estimates only — verify against your state's Secretary of State before filing. Fees change; this data is current as of July 2026 and was cross-checked across at least two independent sources per state, with primary state-source confirmation for California, New York, Texas, Florida, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nevada, Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, and Nebraska. This is not legal or tax advice.
All 50 states + DC — full fee table
Every jurisdiction, sourced from the same dataset the calculator above uses. "Report fee" is the standard annual or biennial filing; "franchise/privilege tax" and "other recurring costs" are separate obligations layered on top, some of which are conditional on revenue (see the note in each cell).
| state | filing fee | report fee | franchise / privilege tax | other recurring costs |
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Frequently asked questions
Which state is cheapest to form an LLC in?
Montana has the lowest initial filing fee at $35. But Missouri and New Mexico charge only $50 to file and require no annual or biennial report at all, which makes them arguably the cheapest states to own an LLC in long-term, not just to form one in.
Do I need a registered agent?
Yes — every state requires an LLC to name a registered agent with a physical street address in the formation state. You can be your own registered agent for $0 if you have a qualifying address and are reliably available during business hours, or pay a commercial registered agent service, typically $100 to $300 a year.
What is a publication requirement?
New York, Arizona, and Nebraska require a newly formed LLC to publish a notice of formation in local newspapers, then file proof of publication. Cost depends heavily on the county — as little as $0 in exempt Arizona counties, or over $1,500 in some New York City boroughs.
Does this include the cost of a lawyer or formation service?
No. This calculator estimates only mandatory government costs: the state filing fee, recurring report or franchise fees, registered agent cost, and publication cost where required. It does not include an attorney, a paid formation service such as LegalZoom or Incfile, or an operating agreement — an EIN itself is always free directly from the IRS.
This calculator is an educational estimate, not legal or tax advice, and not a substitute for your state's official fee schedule. Fees, thresholds, and requirements change; verify current figures with your Secretary of State (or equivalent agency) before filing. No liability is accepted for decisions made from these results.