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LLC Cost Calculator

Forming an LLC costs a filing fee, but keeping one costs more over time. Annual reports, registered agent fees, a separate tax return and business insurance come back every year whether the business makes money or not.

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Articles of organization or certificate of formation, from your Secretary of State fee schedule.

$

Name reservation, certified copies and newspaper publication where your state requires it.

$

Filing services and lawyers charge their own flat fee on top of the state fee.

$

Business licence, local permit and bank setup. The federal EIN is free from the IRS.

$

The state fee to stay registered. Some states charge a percentage of assets instead.

$

Zero if you are your own agent with a physical address in the state.

$

Bookkeeping and the business return, which an entity has to file separately.

$

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

First-year cost

$750.00

$150.00 to set up plus $600.00 of annual costs

To form the entity
$150.00
Every year after
$600.00
Cost per month
$50.00
Total over 5 years
$3,150.00

Where the money goes

ItemFirst yearEach year after
State filing fee$100.00
Licences and setup$50.00
Accounting and tax filing$600.00
Total$750.00$600.00

Filing fees are paid once. Annual reports, agents, accounting and insurance come back every year whether the business earns anything or not.

Cost over time

YearOne-offRecurringTotalCumulative
Year 1$150.00$600.00$750.00$750.00
Year 2-$600.00$600.00$1,350.00
Year 3-$600.00$600.00$1,950.00
Year 4-$600.00$600.00$2,550.00
Year 5-$600.00$600.00$3,150.00

Compare the cumulative figure with what the liability shield protects. An entity costing $1,000 a year still makes sense when it separates a large business risk from your personal savings.

The state charges no annual report or franchise fee at the values entered, so the recurring cost is mostly accounting and insurance.

Filing fees are set by each state and change often, so this calculator does not guess at them: enter the fees your state publishes and it works out the year-one total, the ongoing annual cost, the monthly equivalent and the cumulative cost over the years you choose.

How this llc cost calculator works

One-off formation costs

The state filing fee for the articles of organization is the unavoidable one. On top of it come name reservation, certified copies and, in a few states, a newspaper publication requirement that can cost hundreds of dollars on its own.

A formation service or an attorney adds a flat fee, a business licence or local permit adds another, and a bank account may need a minimum deposit. The federal employer identification number (EIN) is free when you apply directly with the IRS.

Recurring costs

Most states require an annual or biennial report, and a few charge a franchise tax that can be much larger than the filing fee. Miss it and the state can fine the company or dissolve it administratively, which typically costs more to fix than to comply.

A registered agent is required in every state, and costs nothing if you are willing to be your own agent and have a physical address in the state. Accounting is the quiet one: an entity files its own return, and partnership or S-corporation returns cost more than a sole proprietorship schedule.

What the LLC adds over a sole proprietorship

The comparison is rarely LLC versus nothing, because filing is the only mandatory cost. It is LLC versus sole proprietorship: the entity adds the filing fee, the annual report and possibly a franchise tax, and in exchange it separates business liabilities from personal assets.

Whether that is worth the annual cost depends on what the business can lose. A freelance writer with no inventory or premises has little to shield, while a contractor, a landlord or anyone signing contracts with meaningful risk usually gets the value back quickly.

Costs this calculator leaves out

Tax is not a cost of the entity itself, so income tax, self-employment tax and payroll tax are covered by their own calculators. Legal documents, trademarks, bookkeeping software and accountant fees beyond the annual figure are also up to you.

State tax treatment differs: some states charge an annual minimum tax on LLCs regardless of profit, a few charge a gross receipts tax, and a couple of states charge nothing at all beyond the report. Check your own state department of revenue page before committing.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

A $100 filing fee in a state with no annual report

State filing fee
$100.00
Licences, permits and setup
$50.00
Accounting and tax filing
$600.00

First-year cost

$750.00

$150.00 to set up plus $600.00 of annual costs

To form the entity
$150.00
Every year after
$600.00
Cost per month
$50.00
Total over 5 years
$3,150.00

The whole first year costs $750 and every year after that costs $600: accounting, not the state, is the recurring cost.

The same business in a state charging $300 to file and $150 a year

State filing fee
$300.00
Annual report or franchise fee
$150.00
Registered agent per year
$125.00
Accounting and tax filing
$900.00
Business insurance
$500.00
Years to project
5

First-year cost

$1,975.00

$300.00 to set up plus $1,675.00 of annual costs

To form the entity
$300.00
Every year after
$1,675.00
Cost per month
$139.58
Total over 5 years
$8,675.00

Year one is $1,975 and each year after is $1,675, so the entity costs about $1,500 a year to keep - before any state tax.

Doing the filing yourself with no agent

State filing fee
$125.00
Formation service or attorney
$0.00
Licences, permits and setup
$0.00
Accounting and tax filing
$450.00

First-year cost

$575.00

$125.00 to set up plus $450.00 of annual costs

To form the entity
$125.00
Every year after
$450.00
Cost per month
$37.50
Total over 5 years
$2,375.00

Filing directly with the state and acting as your own registered agent is the cheapest legitimate route; the trade-off is your address on the public record.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to form an LLC?

The state filing fee is the only unavoidable cost and it ranges from about $40 to $500 depending on the state, with a few states charging well over $1,000 when a publication requirement applies. Optional extras are a formation service, a registered agent and legal documents.

What does an LLC cost every year?

An annual report or franchise fee in most states, a registered agent if you do not act as your own, a separate tax return, and insurance if the business needs it. For a simple single-member LLC that is often a few hundred dollars a year, plus $600 to $1,500 for accounting.

Do I need a registered agent?

Every state requires one, and you can usually be your own as long as you have a physical street address in the state and are available during business hours. A commercial agent costs $50 to $300 a year and keeps your home address off the public record.

Is an LLC worth the cost?

It is worth it when the business carries real risk: contracts, premises, employees, inventory or professional liability, especially against a personal net worth worth protecting. When there is little to lose, a sole proprietorship is cheaper and the liability shield rarely gets tested.

Does an LLC save tax?

Not by itself. A single-member LLC is taxed like a sole proprietorship and a multi-member LLC like a partnership unless it elects otherwise. The tax saving people mean usually comes from an S-corporation election, which brings its own payroll and filing costs.

What happens if I miss the annual report?

States typically charge a late fee first and then administratively dissolve the company. Reinstatement usually costs more than the original report, and the business loses the liability protection while it is dissolved.

Assumptions and sources

  • State formation fees, annual report fees and franchise taxes are set by each state and change with legislation, so this calculator takes them as inputs rather than publishing a table that would go stale. Each state Secretary of State business filing page publishes the current schedule.
  • Formation fees shown in the examples are illustrative inputs, not a rate table: the numbers are the ones a user types in.
  • The federal employer identification number is free when applied for directly with the IRS; private sites charge a service fee for the same application.
  • Not included: income tax, self-employment tax and payroll tax (see those calculators), state minimum or gross receipts taxes that depend on revenue, legal and trademark costs, and the cost of a registered agent you decide not to use.

Last reviewed 2026-09-14. This page is an estimate tool, not financial, tax or legal advice.Read the full disclaimer.

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