Foreign LLC Annual Report Rules by State — Explainer

Matrix explainer. Coverage: whether each state requires a recurring report from a foreign-registered LLC, the fee, filing frequency and due date, franchise-tax notes, and late penalties. 51 jurisdictions (50 states + DC). Source matrix: foreign-llc-annual-report-rules-by-state. Row verification dates span 2026-05 to 2026-07 (disputed cells re-verified against official sources 2026-07-16); verify against the linked state source before relying on a figure. Not legal advice.

Short answer

Registering an LLC as a foreign entity in another state is not a one-time event — in 43 of 51 jurisdictions, it puts the LLC on that state's recurring report cycle, usually the same report a domestic LLC files. The fee for staying compliant runs from $0 (Idaho, Minnesota) to $520 (Massachusetts), and the deadline may be tied to your registration anniversary or to a fixed calendar date, depending on the state. Eight states require no report from foreign LLCs at all — but “no report” rarely means “nothing owed.”

What this matrix tracks

• Requirement — whether the state requires an annual or periodic report from a foreign-registered LLC
• Fee, frequency, and due date — what the filing costs, how often it recurs, and when it lands
• Franchise tax — where a state layers a tax obligation on top of (or instead of) the report
• Late fee — the published penalty for missing the deadline

Key findings

• Massachusetts is the expensive outlier at $520 per year. Nevada follows at $350 (its annual list also names managers and members — a privacy point, not just a fee). Delaware charges $300 with a $200 late penalty, and DC charges $300 on a biennial cycle.
• Tennessee prices by headcount. The fee is $50 per member with a $300 minimum and $3,000 maximum — the same formula it applies at registration, so multi-member LLCs keep paying for size every year.
• The cheap tier is genuinely cheap. Idaho and Minnesota charge $0 for an on-time filing; New York's Biennial Statement is $9 flat; Hawaii and Kentucky are $15.
• Six states run biennial cycles — Alaska, California, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, New York — and Pennsylvania has completed its transition: the old decennial report was repealed at the start of 2023 (Act 122 of 2022), and an annual report is required beginning with calendar 2025 — $7 for LLCs, due by September 30, filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
• California's report is $20, but the real cost is the $800 annual franchise tax that applies to LLCs regardless of the report — the classic example of the report fee understating the state's true carrying cost.
• Late fees cluster low but spike high. Many states charge $25–$50; Florida's is $400, California's $250, Alaska's $247.50, Nevada's $175.

“No report required” rarely means nothing is due

Eight states — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas — publish no recurring report requirement for foreign LLCs. Read those rows carefully: Arkansas still collects an annual franchise tax (with a $25 late fee); Texas expects a no-tax-due franchise report and a Public Information Report even when the tax owed is zero; Alabama captures entity information through tax filings instead. New Mexico is the notable true zero — no annual or biennial report for LLCs, domestic or foreign. The absence of a report is a difference in paperwork channel, not necessarily in obligation.

Anniversary deadlines vs calendar deadlines

The most common due date is the LLC's own registration anniversary month (Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, and others), which staggers compliance per-entity. A large second group uses fixed calendar dates that hit every registered entity at once: Florida by May 1 (with that $400 late fee), Delaware LLCs by June 1, Maryland, Kansas, Mississippi, and Montana by April 15, North Dakota by November 15. An LLC registered in several states almost certainly has deadlines on both systems — which is exactly how foreign registrations quietly lapse.

How these numbers are sourced

Each row binds to the state's official source page, recorded per row, and reflects the matrix's per-row verification dates (2026-05 through 2026-07-16). Fee schedules and due-date rules change on legislative cycles — several rows carry notes flagging in-flight changes — so treat this as the structured starting point and confirm the current figure at the linked source. Full method at /about/methodology/; source taxonomy at /about/source-registry/.

What the matrix does not prove

• Does not determine whether an LLC needs to be foreign-registered in a state in the first place — the “transacting business” threshold is out of scope here.
• Does not compute total carrying cost per state: franchise taxes (California's $800, Arkansas's annual tax), registered-agent fees, and business-license renewals stack on top of the report fee.
• Does not track what happens after revocation — reinstatement fees and windows are a separate matrix.
• Does not guarantee currency as of your filing date; per-row verification dates run 2026-05 through 2026-07-16.

Not legal advice

Multi-state compliance interacts with tax nexus and enforcement practice in ways a fee table does not measure. This page is structured reference, not counsel. Confirm against the state source before you rely on a number.

See also: Foreign LLC Annual Report Rules by State (matrix) · Foreign LLC Registration Fees by State — Explainer · What is an annual report? · What is foreign qualification?