Michigan LLC vs Nevada LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Michigan.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Nevada's $75 filing fee is the smallest part of the bill. Nevada law requires a $150 Initial List with the articles and a $200 State Business License at the same time, so year one is $425 against Michigan's $75. Both charges repeat annually with no zero-revenue exemption, making $350 a year against Michigan's $25, or $1,825 against $175 over five. Nevada's lack of a personal income tax does not travel with a Michigan resident, and the Nevada LLC pays $50 to register here.
Based in Nevada? Read Nevada LLC vs Michigan LLC →
Compare Michigan LLC vs Nevada 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 | Michigan | Nevada |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $50 | $75 ($425 with the required initial list and business license) |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Same day (online) |
| Annual Report Fee | $25 | $150 annual list ($350 with the business license renewal) |
| Annual Report Due | February 15 | Anniversary month |
| State Income Tax | Yes | No |
| Anonymous LLC | Yes | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $50 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Michigan LLC cost and Nevada LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Michigan anonymous LLC guide and Nevada anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Michigan vs Nevada
| Factor | Michigan | Nevada |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 55% (#4 of 51) | 47.6% (#41 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +17.3% YoY (#11 of 51 by volume) | +10.8% YoY (#30 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: Michigan vs Nevada
Michigan
Nevada
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
Michigan charges $50 to form an LLC, while Nevada charges $425. Michigan is $375 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Nevada but operate in Michigan, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Michigan (a $50 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Nevada (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Nevada route at roughly $625, versus $50 for simply forming in Michigan. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Nevada publishes a standard turnaround (same day, online), while Michigan publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: Michigan vs Nevada
Nevada has no personal income tax while Michigan does, but forming your LLC in Nevada won't change that. LLC profits pass through to you and are taxed where you live and operate (in Michigan), not where the LLC is registered, so a Nevada LLC offers no income-tax savings for a Michigan-based business. Michigan levies a flat 4.25% individual income tax; Treasury confirmed on April 15, 2026 that the rate remains 4.25% for the 2026 tax year because the statutory rate-reduction trigger wasn't met. Every LLC must hold a State Business License at $200/year (corporations pay $500) and file a $150 Annual List, $350/year total recurring. The Commerce Tax applies only to businesses with Nevada gross revenue over $4 million.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Michigan, your home state, actually offers more formation privacy than Nevada: Michigan allows anonymous LLC formation, while Nevada requires owner or manager information on public filings. Confirmed not anonymous despite marketing: both the domestic Initial/Annual List and the foreign LLC list must state the names, titles, and addresses of all managers or, if none, all managing members, and these lists are public record filed at formation and annually. 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 a Michigan-based business to form in Nevada.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Michigan LLCs file an annual report ($25, due February 15), and Nevada LLCs file an annual report ($150, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Nevada while operating in Michigan, you maintain filings in both states, Nevada's report plus Michigan's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Nevada registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Nevada route to roughly $525 a year, versus about $25 to keep a domestic Michigan LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Every LLC must hold a State Business License at $200/year (corporations pay $500) and file a $150 Annual List, $350/year total recurring. The Commerce Tax applies only to businesses with Nevada gross revenue over $4 million.
When Nevada Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Nevada makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Nevada, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Nevada in the near future, which would also move you out of Michigan's personal income tax. For a typical small business based in Michigan, none of these usually apply. Registering a Nevada LLC to do business back home means $50 in Michigan foreign-registration fees, on top of Nevada's $425 formation fee, while Michigan's own annual report runs $25 a year and is due February 15. Michigan already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for Nevada doesn't apply to a Michigan-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. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.
- Nevada statute: NRS 86.263 (initial list)
- Nevada statute: NRS 76.100 (state business license)
- Nevada statute: NRS 86.263/86.5461 (annual list)
- Nevada statute: NRS 86.263(1) (domestic initial and annual list)
- Nevada statute: NRS 86.5461(1) (foreign LLC annual list)
- Nevada statute: NRS ch. 363C (Commerce Tax)
- michigan.gov/lara/bureau-list/cscl/corpsMichigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations Division: business entity filings
- michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/cscl/Folder6/Filing_Fees.pdfMichigan LLC filing fees
- nvsos.gov/sos/businesses/start-a-business/limited-liability-companyNevada Secretary of State: business entity filings
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.