LLC Annual Reports and Ongoing Compliance
Forming the LLC is one afternoon. Keeping it alive is a short list of recurring obligations that owners miss every year. Here is the complete list, what each one costs, and what happens if it slips.
On this page
The full recurring list
| Obligation | Who requires it | Typical rhythm |
|---|---|---|
| Annual or biennial report | Your state of formation | Yearly in most states, every two years in some, none in a few |
| State LLC tax or franchise tax | Some states (California and Texas are the big ones) | Yearly |
| Registered agent renewal | Your agent, if you hired one | Yearly |
| Business license and permit renewals | City, county, and state agencies for your industry | Usually yearly |
| Tax filings | IRS and your state | Yearly, plus payroll and sales tax rhythms if they apply |
| Internal records | Your own operating agreement | As things change: members, addresses, managers |
Notice what is not on the list: a federal beneficial ownership filing. As of November 2026, US-formed LLCs are exempt from FinCEN's BOI reporting under the final rule published August 14, 2026. A lawsuit filed October 27, 2026 by 20 states and DC is challenging that exemption. We track it on the BOI status tracker, and the tracker is where to check before paying anyone to file anything.
Annual and biennial reports, explained
An annual report is your state's way of confirming your LLC still exists and its public information is current: business address, members or managers in some states, and registered agent. It is usually a short online form and a fee. The trap is that the rules are different everywhere. Indiana wants a business entity report every two years by the end of the anniversary month, for $31 online. Illinois wants a report every year before the anniversary month, for $75. Florida uses a fixed window, January 1 to May 1, with a $400 late fee after May 1. Texas skips the report entirely and runs compliance through its franchise tax instead. California wants a Statement of Information every two years plus an $800 annual tax. Every one of those figures is verified against the state's own site on our state pages.
The fee column matters less than the calendar column. A report you know about costs $31 to $150. A report you discover late can cost several hundred in penalties, or the LLC itself.
What happens when you miss
- Late fees. Many states add a penalty on top of the report fee. Florida's $400 annual report late fee is the famous one.
- Loss of good standing. A delinquent LLC can lose the ability to get a certificate of good standing, which banks, lenders, and clients ask for. Contracts and financing stall.
- Administrative dissolution. Keep missing and the state dissolves the LLC itself. The liability shield goes with it, the name becomes available to others, and reinstating usually costs more than every report you skipped, combined.
- Registered agent resignation. If your agent is unpaid, the agent resigns with the state, and now your official contact address is dead too. This is how small misses cascade.
A simple system that works
When you form the LLC, do three things. First, write down every recurring date from your state's page on this site, with the fee next to it. Second, set two reminders per obligation, one 30 days out and one 7 days out. Third, keep the email address on file with your state and your agent current, because every reminder in the system goes there. Owners do not miss reports because the forms are hard. They miss them because the date lived in a welcome email from two years ago.
General Information Only
LLCForming publishes general information about forming and running an LLC. It is not legal, tax, or accounting advice, and it does not create an attorney or advisor relationship. Rules vary by state and by your situation. For a decision that matters, talk to a licensed attorney or tax professional in your state.