Foreign LLC Registration Fees by State (2026)

Fact-checked by the LegalGlass editorial team against primary sources · Published Aug 20, 2026 · Last updated Aug 20, 2026

Operating an LLC outside the state that formed it means registering as a foreign LLC. This table compares registration fees, required home-state proof, and agencies across all 50 states.

2 states charge nothing at all (Maryland, Washington).

All 49 states compared

Every figure below is drawn from that state's own page on this site, where it is cited to the state agency that publishes it. Click a state to see the source and the full requirement.

How to read this table

State fee schedules are set by statute or by agency rule and change on their own timetables, which is why a figure that is correct in one filing year may not be correct in the next. Where a state does not publish a figure for a column, the cell reads "Not listed" rather than carrying a guess. Confirm the current amount with the linked agency before you file.

Use this data

This table is published as an open dataset under CC BY 4.0. The machine-readable version is at /foreign-llc-registration-fees-by-state/data.json. Attribution to LegalGlass with a link to this page is all we ask.

Common questions

Which state has the lowest foreign registration fee?

South Carolina has the lowest foreign registration fee at $10 among the 44 states that publish one. Filing where the fee is lowest is rarely worth it on its own: an LLC formed outside the state it actually operates in usually has to register there as a foreign LLC too, which means paying both.

Which state has the highest foreign registration fee?

Texas, at $750. The spread between the highest and lowest state is 75x, which is wide enough that the fee is worth checking before you file, but small enough that it is rarely the deciding factor.

Is the foreign registration fee the only cost?

No. The filing fee is a one-off. Most states also charge a recurring annual report or franchise tax, and some require a name reservation, a publication notice, or a registered agent fee. The state pages linked in the table list the recurring costs alongside the one-off ones.

How current are these figures?

Every figure was checked against the publishing agency and last reviewed on Aug 20, 2026. State fee schedules change by statute or agency rule on their own timetables, so confirm the current amount with the linked agency before you file. Where a state does not publish a figure, the cell reads "Not listed" rather than carrying an estimate.

Can I reuse this table?

Yes. It is published under CC BY 4.0, with a machine-readable copy at the data.json URL on this page. Attribution to LegalGlass with a link back is the only condition.

Why these numbers differ so much

There is no federal business registry, so each state sets its own fees, forms, and deadlines by statute. States that treat registration as cost recovery tend to charge modestly; states that treat it as a revenue line, or that fold a franchise tax into the same filing, charge more. A few states subsidise formation deliberately to attract filings. None of that makes a high-fee state a worse place to form: the recurring cost, the tax treatment, and whether you would also owe foreign registration where you actually operate all matter more than the one-off filing fee.

Where to form if you operate in one state

If your business has employees, an office, or customers in a single state, forming in that state is almost always the cheaper answer regardless of what this table says. Forming elsewhere to chase a lower fee generally means registering as a foreign LLC in your home state anyway, so you pay both the formation fee and the foreign registration fee, and you maintain a registered agent in two states. The comparison below is most useful when the business genuinely operates across state lines.

Sources

Each row links to the state page that carries its full citation. The agency sources aggregated here are:

• Alabama — https://www.sos.alabama.gov/business-services/business-entities/limited-liability-companies
• Alabama — https://revenue.alabama.gov/business-license/
• Alaska — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/corporations/limitedliabilitycompanies.aspx
• Arizona — https://azcc.gov/corporations/forms
• Arizona — https://www.azleg.gov/ars/29/03101.htm
• Arkansas — https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/business-commercial-services/business-entity-filing-type/limited-liability-company
• Arkansas — https://www.arkansas.gov/business/taxes-and-fees/
• Arkansas — https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/income-tax/individual-income-tax/
• Arkansas — https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/limited-liability-company-llc
• California — https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/forms/llc-forms
• California — https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/types/limited-liability-company/index.html
• California — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=17708.02.&lawCode=CORP
• Colorado — https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/businessHome.html
• Colorado — https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-7/corporations-and-associations/article-90/part-8/section-7-90-803/
• Colorado — https://tax.colorado.gov/sales-tax
• Connecticut — https://portal.ct.gov/SOTS/Business-Services/Business-Registration/Limited-Liability-Companies
• Connecticut — https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_613.htm
• Delaware — https://corp.delaware.gov/howtoform/
• Florida — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2023/605.0902
• Florida — http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0605/0605.html
• Georgia — https://sos.ga.gov/page/limited-liability-companies-llcs
• Hawaii — https://cca.hawaii.gov/breg/registration/fllc/
• Hawaii — https://tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/get/
• Hawaii — https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/limited_liability_company_(llc)

State, county, and city are three different layers

A "business licence" is rarely one document. Most states operate three layers at once: a statewide registration or licence that some states require and others do not; a local licence issued by the city or county where the business physically operates; and a professional or occupational licence tied to what the business actually does, issued by a state board. A business can be fully compliant at the state layer and still be unlicensed at the city layer, which is the most common way small businesses end up operating without the permits they need. The table above answers the state layer only. The state pages it links to cover the local and professional layers for that state, including which agency issues each one.

Related comparisons

LLC Filing Fees by State · LLC Annual Report Deadlines by State (2026) · Registered Agent Requirements by State (2026) · LLC Dissolution Fees by State (2026) · DBA Filing Fees by State (2026) · Business License Requirements by State (2026)

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