Annual report cost, state by state.
Every state wants to hear from your entity on a schedule, and no two states ask the same way. A different name, a different deadline, a different charge for an LLC than for a corporation, and in at least one state no report at all. The filing itself is routine. The date is what catches people out. Pick your state for both.
Four things that change with your state.
The annual report is the same idea everywhere: tell the state your entity is still here and the details it holds are still true. Everything around that idea is local.
What the filing is called
Most states call it an annual report. Elsewhere it rides along with a franchise tax filing under a name of its own, which is how owners end up convinced their state asks for nothing at all. Your state page names the filing you actually owe.
What the state asks for
What the state charges is not the same for an LLC and a corporation everywhere, and in at least one state LLCs file no report and owe an annual tax instead. Your state page shows which of those cases applies to your entity and when.
When it is due
The due date is set by the state, not by you, and it does not move because the year got busy. The date is the whole game, since the filing itself takes minutes. Each state page carries the deadline and how that state counts it.
What happens when it is late
Miss the date and the state adds a penalty. Keep missing it and the problem stops being paperwork and starts being the standing of the entity itself. Every state page sets out the late penalty there and what follows it.
The filing takes minutes. The deadline is the part that has to be tracked.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers what that state calls the annual report, when it is due, what the state charges an LLC and a corporation, and what happens once the deadline passes. Fifty states and the District of Columbia, one page each.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
You pick your state. We prepare the report from the record we already hold, file it before the deadline, and put the next one on the calendar the same day.
Pick your state
The deadline, the name of the filing and what the state asks for all come from the state that holds your entity. Everything on this page starts there.
Check the record
Addresses, officers or members, registered agent. The annual report is the state asking whether what it holds is still true, so this is the moment to notice that it is not.
We file it on time
The report is prepared and submitted to your state before its deadline. You get the filed confirmation for your records rather than a note saying it went out.
Keep the next one
Annual reports come back every year, and the second one is the one people forget. The next deadline goes on the compliance calendar as soon as this one is accepted.
Filing is routine. Remembering is the hard part.
The rest of What it costs.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Corporation cost
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What an LLC costs, state by state
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Trademark cost, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on What it costs.
The questions owners ask before the deadline.
What is an annual report?
It is the periodic filing a state uses to keep its record of your business current: who the registered agent is, where the entity is based, who is behind it. It is not a financial statement and it is not a tax return, though in some states it travels with one. Filing it is what keeps the entity in good standing on the state register.
Why does the cost differ so much by state?
Because each state sets its own charge, its own schedule and its own rules about which entities pay what. Several states charge an LLC and a corporation differently. At least one has LLCs skip the report entirely and pay an annual tax instead. There is no federal annual report and no national rate, so the only figure that matters is your state's.
Do LLCs and corporations pay the same?
Not everywhere. Several states set a different charge for an LLC than for a corporation, and some set different deadlines as well. The entity type on your state page is the one to read: an owner who runs both an LLC and a corporation in the same state can easily end up with two dates and two different amounts to deal with.
What happens if I miss the deadline?
The state applies a late penalty first. If the report stays unfiled after that, the consequences escalate beyond the penalty, and that is what each state page spells out for its own state. The filing itself never gets harder. The position of the entity does, which is why the date rather than the form is the thing worth tracking.
Does every state require an annual report?
Not in the same form. Most states expect a report on a set schedule. In at least one, LLCs file no report at all and pay an annual tax instead, and elsewhere the report is folded into a franchise tax filing with a different name on it. Your state page starts by saying which of those you are dealing with.
Can I file the annual report myself?
Yes. Every state takes the filing directly, and plenty of owners do it themselves for years without incident. What we do sits around it: we hold the record the report is built from, prepare it, file it before the deadline and put the next one on the calendar, so the filing does not depend on anyone remembering it a year later.
Keep going, in order.
What it costs
Every hub in what it costs, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
Get in touch →