Pennsylvania LLC vs Virginia LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Pennsylvania.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Virginia charges $100 to organize, $25 under Pennsylvania, and then a $50 annual registration fee rather than a report, $43 more each year than Pennsylvania's $7. The mechanics are unusual: the SCC assesses the fee and notifies you two months ahead, and you cannot pay before being assessed, so there is no way to settle it early and forget it. Miss it and a $25 penalty runs, then cancellation on the last day of the third month after the due date. A Pennsylvania owner adds $250 to register.
Based in Virginia? Read Virginia LLC vs Pennsylvania LLC →
Compare Pennsylvania LLC vs Virginia 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 | Pennsylvania | Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $125 | $100 |
| Processing Time | 2 to 4 days | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $7 | $50 |
| Annual Report Due | September 30 | Last day of anniversary month |
| State Income Tax | Yes | 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 | $250 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Pennsylvania LLC cost and Virginia LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Pennsylvania anonymous LLC guide and Virginia anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Pennsylvania vs Virginia
| Factor | Pennsylvania | Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 57.1% (#1 of 51) | 48.8% (#35 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +6.5% YoY (#12 of 51 by volume) | +12.6% YoY (#14 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: Pennsylvania vs Virginia
Pennsylvania
Virginia
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
Pennsylvania charges $125 to form an LLC, while Virginia charges $100. Virginia is $25 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Virginia but operate in Pennsylvania, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania (a $250 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Virginia (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Virginia route at roughly $500, versus $125 for simply forming in Pennsylvania. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Pennsylvania publishes a standard turnaround (2 to 4 days), while Virginia publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: Pennsylvania vs Virginia
Both Pennsylvania and Virginia 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 Virginia doesn't change what a Pennsylvania-based owner pays. Pennsylvania levies a flat 3.07% personal income tax. Neither state imposes a separate franchise or privilege tax on LLCs beyond standard filing fees.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Virginia allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Virginia's Articles of Organization require only a registered agent (no members or managers), and Virginia LLCs file no information-bearing annual report (just a $50 annual registration fee), so owner names stay off public filings. One avoidable exposure: Virginia law requires your articles to state the registered agent's qualification, and one permitted qualification is that the agent is a member or manager of the LLC, so selecting it names that person. Using a commercial agent or a Virginia State Bar member avoids it. Pennsylvania doesn't offer that same privacy. Pennsylvania's annual report names at least one governor (a member or manager with management responsibility). 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 Virginia LLC as a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania, that Pennsylvania registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Pennsylvania.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Pennsylvania LLCs file an annual report ($7, due September 30), and Virginia LLCs file an annual report ($50, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Virginia while operating in Pennsylvania, you maintain filings in both states, Virginia's report plus Pennsylvania's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Virginia registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Virginia route to roughly $207 a year, versus about $7 to keep a domestic Pennsylvania LLC in good standing.
When Virginia Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Virginia makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Pennsylvania puts owner or manager information on public filings and Virginia doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Pennsylvania still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Virginia, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Virginia in the near future. For a typical small business based in Pennsylvania, none of these usually apply. Registering a Virginia LLC to do business back home means $250 in Pennsylvania foreign-registration fees, on top of Virginia's $100 formation fee, while Pennsylvania's own annual report runs $7 a year and is due September 30. 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.
- Pennsylvania law: Act 122 of 2022 (annual report replacing decennial report)
- Virginia statute: Va. Code s.13.1-1011(A)(3) (registered agent qualification in articles)
- pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/businessPennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations: business entity filings
- pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/fees-and-paymentsPennsylvania LLC filing fees
- scc.virginia.gov/businesses/Virginia State Corporation Commission: business entity filings
- scc.virginia.gov/businesses/forms-and-fees/virginia-limited-liability-companies/Virginia 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.