Florida LLC vs Ohio LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Florida.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Ohio files no periodic report, so the $99 Articles of Organization are the only Secretary of State money that ever changes hands, against $125 and then $138.75 a year in Florida. Ohio also allows an LLC without members named on the public filing. The Commercial Activity Tax is worth checking rather than fearing: it applies at 0.26% of taxable gross receipts above a $6 million annual exclusion, and a business below that line files no return. Florida charges $125 to admit the Ohio LLC as a foreign one.
Based in Ohio? Read Ohio LLC vs Florida LLC →
Compare Florida LLC vs Ohio LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.
By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 23, 2026
Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.
Compare LLC formation services →Or by state: Best LLC services in Florida, Best LLC services in Ohio
Ready to file? Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.
Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
| Factor | Florida | Ohio |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $125 | $99 |
| Processing Time | Live queue, not fixed | 3 to 7 business days (paper) |
| Annual Report Fee | $138.75 | None |
| Annual Report Due | May 1 | None required |
| State Income Tax | No | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | Yes |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $125 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Florida LLC cost and Ohio LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Florida anonymous LLC guide and Ohio anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Florida vs Ohio
| Factor | Florida | Ohio |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 49.5% (#34 of 51) | 54.4% (#8 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +15.5% YoY (#1 of 51 by volume) | +16.1% YoY (#8 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: Florida vs Ohio
Florida
Ohio
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.
Filing Fees & Formation Costs
Florida charges $125 to form an LLC, while Ohio charges $99. Ohio is $26 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Ohio but operate in Florida, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Florida (a $125 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Ohio (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Ohio route at roughly $374, versus $125 for simply forming in Florida. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Ohio publishes a standard turnaround (3 to 7 business days, paper), while Florida posts a rolling queue of the dates it's currently working through rather than a turnaround, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: Florida vs Ohio
Florida has no personal income tax, while Ohio taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a Florida-based owner keeps Florida's no-income-tax benefit either way. Forming in Ohio adds no tax advantage. Ohio levies a personal income tax, but the Business Income Deduction exempts the first $250,000 and taxes business income above it at a flat 3%. Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) applies only to taxable gross receipts above $6 million (0.26%); smaller businesses owe no CAT.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Ohio allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Ohio's Articles of Organization require only the organizer and statutory agent (no members/managers), and Ohio LLCs file no annual report. Florida doesn't offer that same privacy. An authorized person signs the Articles, and the annual report lists managers/authorized members on Sunbiz, so management is a public record. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. One important caveat: if you register your Ohio LLC as a foreign LLC in Florida, that Florida registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Florida.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Florida LLCs file an annual report ($138.75, due May 1), and Ohio LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Ohio while operating in Florida, you maintain filings in both states, Ohio asks for no report, but Florida still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay an Ohio registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Ohio route to roughly $288.75 a year, versus about $138.75 to keep a domestic Florida LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) applies only to taxable gross receipts above $6 million (0.26%); smaller businesses owe no CAT.
When Ohio Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Ohio makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Florida puts owner or manager information on public filings and Ohio doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Florida still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Ohio, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Ohio in the near future and accept taking on Ohio's personal income tax, which Florida doesn't levy. For a typical small business based in Florida, none of these usually apply. Registering an Ohio LLC to do business back home means $125 in Florida foreign-registration fees, on top of Ohio's $99 formation fee, while Florida's own annual report runs $138.75 a year and is due May 1. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to form your LLC?
Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.
Compare LLC formation services →Or by state: Best LLC services in Florida, Best LLC services in Ohio
Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.
Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
More State Comparisons
Embed this comparison, free
Add the Florida vs Ohio cost calculator to any page. Works in WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, and any HTML site.
<iframe src="https://www.mystatellc.com/tools/compare-states?embed=1&stateA=FL&stateB=OH" width="100%" height="720" frameborder="0" style="border:0;max-width:900px;display:block;margin:0 auto;" title="Florida vs Ohio LLC Cost Comparison" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="text-align:center;font-size:.8125rem;color:#6b7280">Source: <a href="https://www.mystatellc.com/llc/compare/florida-llc-vs-ohio-llc">MyStateLLC, Florida vs Ohio LLC Comparison</a></p>
Sources
Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.
- dos.fl.gov/sunbiz/Florida Secretary of State: business entity filings
- dos.fl.gov/sunbiz/forms/fees/Florida LLC filing fees
- ohiosos.gov/businesses/Ohio Secretary of State: business entity filings
- codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-111.16Ohio LLC filing fees
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.