Massachusetts Corporation Annual Report

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

A Massachusetts corporation files the Annual Report every year and pays $125. Must ARRIVE at the Corporations Division (not merely be postmarked) within two and one-half months after the close of the corporation's fiscal year, March 15 for a calendar-year corporation

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

Massachusetts corporation annual report requirements: Massachusetts files an annual corporate report for $125. Massachusetts 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 year
Report fee$125
Corporate income taxYes

What Massachusetts requires

Annual Report

Frequencyevery year
DueMust ARRIVE at the Corporations Division (not merely be postmarked) within two and one-half months after the close of the corporation's fiscal year, March 15 for a calendar-year corporation
Fee$125
FormAnnual Report for Domestic and Foreign Corporations, no form number assigned

Massachusetts is one of 41 states on an annual corporate reporting cycle. 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. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded, because both depend on income or net worth.

PeriodState filing charges
Incorporation$275
Each year after (report, annualized)$125
Five-year equivalent (annualized)$900

That ranks Massachusetts 46th cheapest of 49 states on five-year corporate filing charges.

Massachusetts corporation vs Massachusetts 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.

 CorporationLLC
Formation filing fee$275$520
Report cadenceEvery yearEvery year
Report fee$125$520

Worth noticing: a corporation is $245 cheaper to file here than an LLC. That is the exception nationally. Corporations are the cheaper filing in only 14 of the 50 states, the two entities cost the same in 26, and the LLC is cheaper in 10.

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

State taxes a Massachusetts corporation pays

Corporate income tax

AppliesYes
RateMassachusetts has no separate 'corporate income tax'; corporations pay a single corporate excise whose income measure is 8.0% of net income for tax years beginning on or after 1/1/2012. S corporations pay 0% on the income measure unless total receipts reach $6M (see the Massachusetts S-corporation guide).
Minimum tax$456

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

The Massachusetts corporate excise has TWO measures: (1) an income measure of 8.0% of net income and (2) a non-income measure of $2.60 per $1,000 of taxable Massachusetts tangible property or taxable net worth. A corporation may never pay less than the $456 minimum excise, and Massachusetts law makes no provision for prorating it, a corporation operating at a loss still owes $456.

The $456 minimum tax is deliberately left out of the filing-charge totals on this page. A minimum tax is owed to the state tax authority on a tax return, not to the business filing office, but unlike an income-based tax it is a floor, so treat it as a recurring cost of keeping the corporation alive here.

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 Massachusetts 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: Form 355, Business/Manufacturing Corporation Excise Return (Form 355U for combined reporting; Form 355SBC for qualifying small business corporations)

Frequently Asked Questions

Where these numbers come from

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

  1. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/general-information/corporations-filing-fees.htm
  2. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/download/Fee_Schedule.pdf
  3. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/filing-by-subject/corporations/corporations-domestic.htm
  4. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter63/Section39
  5. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter63/Section32D
  6. https://www.mass.gov/lists/2025-massachusetts-corporate-excise-tax-forms-and-instructions
  7. Massachusetts statute: M.G.L. c. 156D, s. 2.02 (articles of organization)
  8. Massachusetts regulation: 950 CMR 113.16 (articles of organization filing)
  9. Massachusetts statute: M.G.L. c. 156D, s. 16.22 (corporation annual report)
  10. Massachusetts regulation: 950 CMR 113.57 (corporation annual report filing)
  11. Massachusetts statute: M.G.L. c. 63, s. 39 (corporate excise)
  12. Massachusetts statute: M.G.L. c. 63, s. 32D (S corporation income measure)
  13. Massachusetts statute: M.G.L. c. 63, s. 39(a)(2) (corporate excise income measure)

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.

Related guides

Corporation fees by stateAll 50 states ranked by filing fee, report cadence and corporate income tax →LLC annual report complianceThe LLC side: deadlines and fees for all 50 states →Deadline calculatorEnter your formation date for your exact filing deadline →S-corp election by stateWhich states follow IRS Form 2553, and the two that tax you anyway →LLC vs. C-CorpTax and liability differences explained →
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Edmond Hui

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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