Iowa LLC vs Illinois LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Iowa.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Illinois charges $150 for articles of organization, three times Iowa's $50, and $400 if the LLC is organized with the ability to establish series. Its $75 annual report falls before the first day of the anniversary month, and lateness adds $100, then another $100 for each further year of delinquency. Illinois also taxes the entity: a partnership-taxed LLC pays 1.5% replacement tax on net Illinois income, with no minimum, so a loss year costs nothing. Iowa charges $30 biennially and $100 to admit an Illinois LLC.
Based in Illinois? Read Illinois LLC vs Iowa LLC →
Compare Iowa LLC vs Illinois 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
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| Factor | Iowa | Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $50 | $150 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $30 (biennial) | $75 |
| Annual Report Due | April 1 (biennial) | Before 1st of anniversary month |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | Yes | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $100 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Iowa LLC cost and Illinois LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Iowa anonymous LLC guide and Illinois anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Iowa vs Illinois
| Factor | Iowa | Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 53.7% (#13 of 51) | 55.6% (#3 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +12.8% YoY (#38 of 51 by volume) | +7.7% YoY (#7 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: Iowa vs Illinois
Iowa
Illinois
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
Iowa charges $50 to form an LLC, while Illinois charges $150. Iowa is $100 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Illinois but operate in Iowa, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Iowa (a $100 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Illinois (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Illinois route at roughly $400, versus $50 for simply forming in Iowa. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Iowa nor Illinois publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.
Taxes: Iowa vs Illinois
Both Iowa and Illinois levy a personal income tax on pass-through business income, and your LLC's profits will be taxed where you live and operate. Forming in Illinois doesn't change what an Iowa-based owner pays. Illinois levies a flat 4.95% personal income tax. Neither state imposes a separate franchise or privilege tax on LLCs beyond standard filing fees.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Iowa, your home state, actually offers more formation privacy than Illinois: Iowa allows anonymous LLC formation, while Illinois requires owner or manager information on public filings. Illinois doesn't permit anonymous LLC formation; management is disclosed on public filings. 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. From a privacy standpoint there's no reason for an Iowa-based business to form in Illinois.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Iowa LLCs file a biennial report ($30, due April 1, every two years), and Illinois LLCs file an annual report ($75, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Illinois while operating in Iowa, you maintain filings in both states, Illinois's report plus Iowa's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay an Illinois registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Illinois route to roughly $255 a year, versus about $30 to keep a domestic Iowa LLC in good standing.
When Illinois Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Illinois makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Illinois, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Illinois in the near future. For a typical small business based in Iowa, none of these usually apply. Registering an Illinois LLC to do business back home means $100 in Iowa foreign-registration fees, on top of Illinois's $150 formation fee, while Iowa's own biennial report runs $30 and is due April 1, every two years. Iowa already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for Illinois doesn't apply to an Iowa-based owner. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.
- sos.iowa.gov/business/formsandfees.htmlIowa Secretary of State: business entity filings
- legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/489.122.pdfIowa LLC filing fees
- ilsos.gov/departments/business-services/limited-liability-companies.htmlIllinois Secretary of State: business entity filings
- ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActName=Limited+Liability+Company+Act.&ActID=2290&ChapterID=65&ChapAct=805+ILCS+180%2F&SeqStart=14450000&SeqEnd=15800000Illinois 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.