Rhode Island LLC vs Missouri LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Rhode Island.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Missouri has no annual report and no franchise tax, so after the filing fee the state charges nothing recurring, against $450 a year in Rhode Island. The formation fee depends entirely on the channel: $50 online but $105 on paper, a $55 gap the Secretary of State advertises itself, where Rhode Island is $150 either way. Missouri also keeps members off the public record. What it cannot do is remove Rhode Island's $150 foreign registration or the $400 charge that follows it.
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Compare Rhode Island LLC vs Missouri 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 | Rhode Island | Missouri |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $150 | $50 |
| Processing Time | Within 2 business days | Usually instant (online) |
| Annual Report Fee | $50 | None |
| Annual Report Due | May 1 (window opens Feb 1) | None required |
| 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 | $150 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Rhode Island LLC cost and Missouri LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Rhode Island anonymous LLC guide and Missouri anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Rhode Island vs Missouri
| Factor | Rhode Island | Missouri |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 48.1% (#38 of 51) | 42.9% (#49 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +10.9% YoY (#49 of 51 by volume) | +24.6% YoY (#17 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: Rhode Island vs Missouri
Rhode Island
Missouri
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
Rhode Island charges $150 to form an LLC, while Missouri charges $50. Missouri is $100 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Missouri but operate in Rhode Island, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Rhode Island (a $150 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Missouri (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Missouri route at roughly $350, versus $150 for simply forming in Rhode Island. Both states publish a standard turnaround, Rhode Island (within 2 business days) and Missouri (usually instant, online), though a published figure is a norm, not a guarantee.
Taxes: Rhode Island vs Missouri
Both Rhode Island and Missouri 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 Missouri doesn't change what a Rhode Island-based owner pays. Missouri levies a graduated individual income tax with a top rate of 4.7% for 2026, confirmed by the Department of Revenue's 2026 withholding tax formula. Neither state imposes a separate franchise or privilege tax on LLCs beyond standard filing fees.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Missouri allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. The Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) require only the registered agent's and organizer(s)' names (organizers need not be members, managers, or owners) plus a member-managed/manager-managed checkbox with no names, and the Secretary of State's FAQ confirms LLCs file no annual report, so no routine public filing ever lists members or managers. Rhode Island doesn't offer that same privacy. Rhode Island's foreign application and annual report disclose the LLC's members or managers. 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 Missouri LLC as a foreign LLC in Rhode Island, that Rhode Island registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Rhode Island.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Rhode Island LLCs file an annual report ($50, due May 1 (window opens Feb 1)), and Missouri LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Missouri while operating in Rhode Island, you maintain filings in both states, Missouri asks for no report, but Rhode Island still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Missouri registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Missouri route to roughly $200 a year, versus about $450 to keep a domestic Rhode Island LLC in good standing.
When Missouri Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Missouri makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Rhode Island puts owner or manager information on public filings and Missouri doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Rhode Island still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Missouri, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Missouri in the near future. For a typical small business based in Rhode Island, none of these usually apply. Registering a Missouri LLC to do business back home means $150 in Rhode Island foreign-registration fees, on top of Missouri's $50 formation fee, while Rhode Island's own annual report runs $50 a year and is due May 1 (window opens Feb 1). 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.ri.gov/divisions/business-servicesRhode Island Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sos.ri.gov/divisions/business-services/business-basics/costs-and-feesRhode Island LLC filing fees
- sos.mo.gov/business/corporationsMissouri Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sos.mo.gov/CMSImages/Business/fees.pdfMissouri 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.