Is Arkansas an expensive state to incorporate in?

On the filing fee alone, Arkansas is the 3rd cheapest of 49 states to incorporate in. Filing fees across the states run from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas — a one-off charge that is usually dwarfed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax, which is where the real long-run difference between states sits.

Is it cheaper to form an LLC or a corporation in Arkansas?

An LLC is cheaper to file in Arkansas — $45 against $50 for a corporation, a $5 difference on a one-off charge.

Does Arkansas tax corporate income?

Graduated (tax years beginning on/after 1/1/2024): 1% on the first $3,000; 2% on the next $3,000; 3% on the next $5,000; 4.3% on net income over $11,000. Filed on Form AR1100CT, due the 15th day of the 4th month (April 15 for calendar-year filers).

Incorporation · AR

How to Form a Corporation in Arkansas

By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.

Incorporating in Arkansas costs $50 to file the Articles of Incorporation (domestic for-profit corporation), filed with the Secretary of State's Business & Commercial Services Division. $50 by paper/PDF. After that the corporation files every year and pays $150. First-year state filing charges come to $200.

Filing fee$50

Report cadenceEvery year

First-year filings$200

Corporate income taxYes

What you file in Arkansas

Incorporation filing

Document	Articles of Incorporation (domestic for-profit corporation), filed with the Secretary of State's Business & Commercial Services Division. $50 by paper/PDF
Fee	$50
Recurring report	Annual Franchise Tax Report – Corporation (filed with the Secretary of State; this filing serves as Arkansas's combined annual report and franchise tax) — every year, $150
First report due	May 1 each year

Sourcing note: $45 if filed online. No public form number is assigned.

This page covers the state filing and the charges that follow it. For the procedural side — name availability, registered agent, bylaws and the federal EIN — see the formation guide and how to get an EIN, both of which apply to corporations as well as LLCs.

What it costs to incorporate and stay filed

State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded — both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure would be true for every corporation.

Charge	Amount	How often
Articles of Incorporation (domestic for-profit corporation), filed with the Secretary of State's Business & Commercial Services Division. $50 by paper/PDF	$50	One time
Annual Franchise Tax Report – Corporation (filed with the Secretary of State; this filing serves as Arkansas's combined annual report and franchise tax)	$150	Every year
First-year state filing charges	$200	—
Five-year state filing charges	$800	—

Arkansas is the 3rd cheapest of 49 states on the incorporation filing fee alone. Nationally the fee runs from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas, averaging $113.06. It is a one-off charge, so over five years it is usually outweighed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax.

States that are cheaper to incorporate in

State	Filing fee	Difference
Montana	$35	$15
Kentucky	$40	$10

A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you actually operate in Arkansas. Every state sets its own threshold for what counts as transacting business, and where that threshold is met an out-of-state corporation is generally required to register as a foreign corporation — which would mean fees in both states rather than one. Whether it applies to you depends on facts this page cannot see, so check foreign qualification in Arkansas before incorporating elsewhere to save on the filing fee.

Arkansas corporation vs Arkansas LLC

State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.

	Corporation	LLC
Formation filing fee	$50	$45
Report cadence	Every year	Every year
Report fee	$150	$150
Entity-level tax on the LLC side	—	Arkansas Franchise Tax

An LLC is $5 cheaper to file here. That is a one-off charge, so it should not decide the entity type on its own.

Full Arkansas LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

State taxes a Arkansas corporation pays

Corporate income tax

Applies	Yes
Rate	Graduated (tax years beginning on/after 1/1/2024): 1% on the first $3,000; 2% on the next $3,000; 3% on the next $5,000; 4.3% on net income over $11,000. Filed on Form AR1100CT, due the 15th day of the 4th month (April 15 for calendar-year filers).

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

Arkansas levies an annual franchise tax, administered by the Secretary of State and due May 1. Stock corporations pay 0.3% (.003) of the outstanding capital stock apportioned to Arkansas, with a minimum of $150; corporations without authorized stock pay a flat $300. LLCs pay a flat $150. The franchise tax filing is the same as Arkansas's annual report.

What these totals leave out: the filing-charge figures on this page are what you pay the business filing office. They exclude corporate income tax and any franchise or gross-receipts tax, because both depend on income, net worth or receipts. The section above sets out what Arkansaslevies — or that it levies neither. Where a state's franchise tax carries a flat minimum, that minimum is an unavoidable annual cost these totals do not include, and over five years it can be the larger number.

C-corp return: Form AR1100CT (Arkansas Corporation Income Tax Return), due the 15th day of the 4th month (April 15)

Electing S-corporation status in Arkansas

Arkansas follows the federal S election. Full Arkansas S-corporation election guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

: $50 to file the Articles of Incorporation (domestic for-profit corporation), filed with the Secretary of State's Business & Commercial Services Division. $50 by paper/PDF. Adding the first report brings the first-year state filing charges to $200.
: On the filing fee alone, Arkansas is the 3rd cheapest of 49 states to incorporate in. Filing fees across the states run from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas — a one-off charge that is usually dwarfed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax, which is where the real long-run difference between states sits.
: An LLC is cheaper to file in Arkansas — $45 against $50 for a corporation, a $5 difference on a one-off charge.
: Graduated (tax years beginning on/after 1/1/2024): 1% on the first $3,000; 2% on the next $3,000; 3% on the next $5,000; 4.3% on net income over $11,000. Filed on Form AR1100CT, due the 15th day of the 4th month (April 15 for calendar-year filers).

Where these numbers come from

This page covers the state filing required to incorporate in Arkansas and the charges that follow it. Every figure was checked against Arkansas's own published sources on July 29, 2026— the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.

Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.

Primary sources: