How much is the Iowa corporation biennial report?

$45, filed every two years. It is filed as the Biennial Report. Averaged out that is $22.50 a year.

Why does Iowa only ask for a report every two years?

Iowa is one of 7 states on a biennial corporate cycle; 41 states require an annual report and 2 require none. The filing is the same, it simply comes around half as often, so compare it against other states on an annualized basis rather than per filing.

Iowa Corporation Biennial Report

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

An Iowa corporation files the Biennial Report every two years and pays $45, which averages $22.50 a year. Biennial report due between January 1 and April 1 of the filing year (every two years)

Filing for an LLC instead? See the Iowa LLC annual report.

Iowa corporation annual report requirements: Iowa files a biennial corporate report for $45. Iowa imposes a corporate income tax. — The report fee shown is the state filing charge only; income or franchise tax, where owed, is covered separately on this page. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state corporation dataset, compiled from state filing offices and revenue departments, July 2026; any figure we could not confirm is labeled on the page.

Filing cadenceEvery two years

Report fee$45

Averaged per year$22.50

Corporate income taxYes

What Iowa requires

Biennial Report

Frequency	every two years
Due	Biennial report due between January 1 and April 1 of the filing year (every two years)
Fee	$45
Form	Biennial Report

Iowa is one of 7 states on a biennial corporate reporting cycle , which works out to $22.50 a year once averaged, the number to use when comparing against annual-filing states. Nationally, 41 states require an annual corporate report, 7 require one every two years, and 2 require none.

What the filings cost over five years

State filing charges only, incorporation plus five years of reporting, annualized. Because this state reports every two years, the yearly figure is the fee halved; a biennial filer actually writes two or three cheques over five years, not five. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded, because both depend on income or net worth.

Period	State filing charges
Incorporation	$50
Each year after (report, annualized)	$22.50
Five-year equivalent (annualized)	$162.50

That ranks Iowa 13th cheapest of 49 states on five-year corporate filing charges.

Iowa corporation vs Iowa 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	$50
Report cadence	Every two years	Every two years
Report fee	$45	$30

Both entities cost $50 to file in Iowa, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.

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

State taxes an Iowa corporation pays

Corporate income tax

Applies	Yes
Rate	Graduated: 5.5% on income up to $100,000; 7.1% on income over $100,000 (Iowa DOR published rate for tax years beginning on/after Jan 1, 2024; reduces automatically toward a flat 5.5% as net corporate receipts exceed $700M)

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

No franchise tax on general business corporations. Iowa imposes a franchise tax only on financial institutions (banks and savings & loans).

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 Iowa levies, 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: IA 1120 (Iowa Corporation Income Tax Return)

Frequently Asked Questions

: $45, filed every two years. It is filed as the Biennial Report. Averaged out that is $22.50 a year.
: Biennial report due between January 1 and April 1 of the filing year (every two years).
: Iowa is one of 7 states on a biennial corporate cycle; 41 states require an annual report and 2 require none. The filing is the same, it simply comes around half as often, so compare it against other states on an annualized basis rather than per filing.

Where these numbers come from

This page covers the recurring report a for-profit corporation files with Iowa. Every figure was checked against Iowa'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:

https://revenue.iowa.gov/taxes/tax-guidance/business-income-tax/iowa-corporate-income-tax-rates
https://revenue.iowa.gov/forms
https://revenue.iowa.gov/businesses/corporation-income-tax
Iowa statute: Iowa Code ch. 422, Division V (franchise tax on financial institutions)

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It describes rules that can differ from state to state, and fees, rates, forms and deadlines can change after we review them. It cannot tell you what applies to your own business: that turns on where the business is formed, where it operates and how it is taxed. Confirm anything you rely on with the state or federal agency concerned, or with a licensed attorney or CPA, before you act on it.

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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.

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