South Carolina LLC vs New Jersey LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in South Carolina.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
New Jersey's Certificate of Formation is $100, cut from $125 by a New Jersey law effective July 1, 2026, and its published fee schedule reflects the new figure. The $75 Annual Report falls on the last day of your formation month each year. Beyond that, an LLC with more than two owners and New Jersey source income owes a Partnership Filing Fee of $150 per owner, capped at $250,000, plus half the next year's fee in advance; single-member and two-owner LLCs owe none of it. South Carolina's charge is $110 at formation and $110 for a foreign certificate, with nothing in between.
Based in New Jersey? Read New Jersey LLC vs South Carolina LLC →
Compare South Carolina LLC vs New Jersey 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 | South Carolina | New Jersey |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $110 | $100 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | None | $75 |
| Annual Report Due | None required | Anniversary month |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $110 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: South Carolina LLC cost and New Jersey LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: South Carolina anonymous LLC guide and New Jersey anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: South Carolina vs New Jersey
| Factor | South Carolina | New Jersey |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 55.9% (#2 of 51) | 50.5% (#29 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +14.7% YoY (#19 of 51 by volume) | +12.2% YoY (#9 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: South Carolina vs New Jersey
South Carolina
New Jersey
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
South Carolina charges $110 to form an LLC, while New Jersey charges $100. New Jersey is $10 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in New Jersey but operate in South Carolina, you must also register as a foreign LLC in South Carolina (a $110 filing) and maintain a registered agent in New Jersey (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the New Jersey route at roughly $360, versus $110 for simply forming in South Carolina. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither South Carolina nor New Jersey publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.
Taxes: South Carolina vs New Jersey
Both South Carolina and New Jersey 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 New Jersey doesn't change what a South Carolina-based owner pays. New Jersey levies a graduated Gross Income Tax on individuals, with a top rate of 10.75% (rate in effect since 2018 per NJ Division of Taxation); LLC pass-through income is taxed to members. LLCs classified as partnerships with more than two owners and NJ-source income owe an annual partnership filing fee of $150 per owner (capped at $250,000); LLCs electing corporate taxation are subject to the Corporation Business Tax instead. Otherwise no franchise tax beyond the $75 annual report.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither South Carolina nor New Jersey offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. The Certificate of Formation requires only the name and registered agent/office, but under New Jersey law the annual report must include 'the name and addresses of the managing members or managers,' so management identities become public each year. Business owners who prioritize privacy typically form a holding company in a state like Wyoming or New Mexico instead. 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.
Annual Maintenance Costs
South Carolina LLCs file no annual report at all, and New Jersey LLCs file an annual report ($75, due in the anniversary month). If you form in New Jersey while operating in South Carolina, you maintain filings in both states, New Jersey's report, though South Carolina asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a New Jersey registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the New Jersey route to roughly $225 a year, versus about $0 to keep a domestic South Carolina LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: LLCs classified as partnerships with more than two owners and NJ-source income owe an annual partnership filing fee of $150 per owner (capped at $250,000); LLCs electing corporate taxation are subject to the Corporation Business Tax instead. Otherwise no franchise tax beyond the $75 annual report.
When New Jersey Actually Makes Sense
Forming in New Jersey makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in New Jersey, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to New Jersey in the near future. For a typical small business based in South Carolina, none of these usually apply. Registering a New Jersey LLC to do business back home means $110 in South Carolina foreign-registration fees, on top of New Jersey's $100 formation fee, while South Carolina itself never asks for an annual report at all. Trading South Carolina's no-annual-report status for New Jersey's filing calendar is a step backwards for most owners. 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.
- New Jersey law: P.L.2026, c.24 (filing fee change)
- New Jersey statute: N.J.S. 42:2C-18 (certificate of formation)
- New Jersey statute: N.J.S. 42:2C-26 (annual report contents)
- sos.sc.gov/online-filings/business-entitiesSouth Carolina Secretary of State: business entity filings
- scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.phpSouth Carolina LLC filing fees
- nj.gov/treasury/revenue/New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services: business entity filings
- nj.gov/treasury/revenue/fees.shtmlNew Jersey 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.