North Carolina Corporation Annual Report
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.
What North Carolina requires
Business Corporation Annual Report
| Frequency | every year |
| Due | By the 15th day of the 4th month following the close of the corporation's fiscal year (April 15 for calendar-year corporations) |
| Fee | $25 |
| Form | Business Corporation Annual Report (filed with the NC Secretary of State; no numbered form) |
North Carolina 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.
| Period | State filing charges |
|---|---|
| Incorporation | $125 |
| Each year after (report, annualized) | $25 |
| Five-year equivalent (annualized) | $250 |
That ranks North Carolina 26th cheapest of 49 states on five-year corporate filing charges.
North Carolina corporation vs North Carolina 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 | $125 | $125 |
| Report cadence | Every year | Every year |
| Report fee | $25 | $200 |
| Entity-level tax on the LLC side | — | Franchise Tax (only LLCs that elect corporate tax treatment) |
Both entities cost $125 to file in North Carolina, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.
Full North Carolina LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained
State taxes a North Carolina corporation pays
Corporate income tax
| Applies | Yes |
| Rate | 2.00% flat for tax year 2026 (down from 2.25% in 2025; statutorily phasing down toward 0% in future years) |
Franchise or gross-receipts tax
NC franchise (privilege) tax applies to both C and S corporations at $1.50 per $1,000 of the corporation's tax base with a $200 minimum; for tax years 2025 forward the tax on the first $1,000,000 of base is capped at $500 (holding companies capped at $150,000).
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 North Carolinalevies — 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: CD-405 (C-Corporation Tax Return)
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
This page covers the recurring report a for-profit corporation files with North Carolina. Every figure was checked against North Carolina'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://www.ncdor.gov/taxes-forms/corporate-income-franchise-tax/corporate-income-and-franchise-tax-rates
- https://www.sosnc.gov/forms/by_title/_Business_Registration
- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_55/GS_55-1-22.html
- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_55/GS_55-16-22.html
- https://www.ncdor.gov/taxes-forms/corporate-income-franchise-tax/corporate-tax-forms-and-instructions