The LLC Fee Change Wire

Not a fee change — Utah fees are unchanged. But Chapter 93 of the 2026 General Session repealed the Model Registered Agents Act at Title 16 Chapter 17 and the Revised Uniform LLC Act at Title 48 Chapter 3a, re-enacting both inside the new Title 16 Chapter 1a, and renamed Title 16 from Corporations to Business Entities. One rule did change: the old allowance for a rural route box number in place of a street address is gone. Every guide written before October 2026 now cites sections that no longer exist.

Forming a New Jersey LLC now costs $100, and so does registering an out-of-state LLC there. We missed the cut for almost three months: our New Jersey pages said the bill had not passed. Our August fee-accuracy report also wrongly counted another site's correct $100 as an error; that report now carries a correction.

A correction to our figures, not a new fee. State law adds a $2 handling charge to any fee paid electronically, so an online filer pays $102 to form and $102 for each annual report. We had shown the $100 base.

A consistency fix. We already counted North Carolina's $3 electronic filing fee in the $203 annual report; it applies to online formation too, so online formation is $128. Paying by bank transfer instead of card makes each $1 cheaper.

A correction to our figures. Filing through Alabama.gov costs $208 in total, the $200 state and county fee plus an $8 portal fee. By mail it is $200.

A correction to our figures. West Virginia charges a $1 online processing fee on all online filings, so forming online costs $101 and the annual report $26.

A correction to our figures. Filing the LLC annual report online adds a $2.50 enhanced access fee. The online surcharge on formation is not published, so formation stays at $150.

A correction to our figures. The Nebraska.gov portal charges at least $2 on top of the $100 statutory online fee. A new state filing system due by the end of 2026 will change the online fees again; we will update when it launches.

A correction to our own figures, not a new state fee. Massachusetts lists $500 for both the Certificate of Organization and the Annual Report, but filing online or by fax adds a $20 expedite fee, so the online total is $520 each. Our table publishes online rates and had shown the mail price. Massachusetts is now $520 to form and $520 a year, which also moves the top of the national filing-fee range from $500 to $520.

The old flat $25 expedite no longer exists. Texas now runs tiered Texas Express service: $50 for two to three business days, $500 next-day and $750 same-day, each charged per document on top of that document's own filing fee. Same-day and next-day must be requested in person or by email before your courier arrives. Most published guides still quote the retired $25.

A new veteran-owned business — formed in Texas on or after 1 January 2022 and owned 100% by honorably discharged veterans — pays no formation filing fee and no franchise tax, and files no Public Information Report, for five years. That benefit was legislated to end on 1 January 2026. House Bill 346 repealed the sunset, so it continues. Any guide written from pre-2025 sources is telling veterans a live benefit has expired.

LLCs that registered for tax years beginning between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2024 skipped the $800 annual tax in year one. That window has closed: an LLC formed today owes the $800 in its first year, due by the 15th day of the 4th month after registering. A great many guides still promise a free first year. One genuine exception survives — cancel within a year of organising using Short Form Cancellation LLC-4/8 and the first-year tax does not apply.

Delaware's flat annual tax on LLCs rose by a third. The timing catches people out: the payment due 1 June 2026 was for tax year 2025 and stayed at $300, so the first $400 bill lands on 1 June 2027. The late penalty is unchanged at $200 plus 1.5% a month. We had this wrong ourselves at $300 and corrected it — the error is disclosed in our fee audit.

Two corrections in one. Online formation costs $100, not the $110 that applies to paper filings — a distinction most guides flatten. And the annual registration is now $60 in total: the $50 fee plus a $10 service charge Georgia added in September 2025. We had quoted the paper price and misplaced the service charge; both are fixed.

From tax year 2024, Alabama exempts the Business Privilege Tax where the amount due is $100 or less, which covers the minimum-tax small LLCs the tax used to catch — no tax, and no return to file. Only corporations still file the Secretary of State annual report. Every national guide we audited was still telling readers to budget $50 to $165 a year for it, two years on.

One of the largest state fee cuts in the country, and one of the least noticed. Kansas dropped formation from $160 to $85 online, and the report moved to a biennial $90. When we audited five of the biggest national fee guides months later, four still quoted the old $160.

For decades Pennsylvania asked LLCs to file once every ten years. Since January 2025 every LLC files an annual report by 30 September for $7. The transition carries a grace period — no penalties for 2025 and 2026 — but from the 2027 report onward, sustained non-filing leads to administrative dissolution about six months after the deadline. Any guide still describing a decennial report is describing a filing that no longer exists.

A small increase that is easy to miss and widely mis-stated: the annual report is $70, not the $60 several guides still print. It is due by the last day of your formation-anniversary month, and new LLCs owe a separate Initial Report within 120 days of forming.

Montana waives the $20 annual report fee for LLCs that file by 15 April, and has renewed the waiver every year since 2024 — currently through 2027. File late and it is $35. Worth budgeting $20 a year anyway: a waiver renewed annually is a waiver that can lapse annually.