Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Missouri than Washington?

Missouri's filing fee is lower ($50 vs $200), but that's not the full picture: operating in Washington means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($180) and paying a Missouri registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $380 for the Missouri route versus $200 for forming in Washington.

Can I form my Washington business in Missouri?

Yes. Any Washington business can form its LLC in Missouri. But if the business operates in Washington, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($180 minimum filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Missouri, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Missouri have better asset protection than Washington?

Missouri offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while Washington doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.

State Comparison

Washington LLC vs Missouri LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in Washington.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

Missouri asks $50 online and requires no annual report of any kind, so its whole recurring cost can be nothing, $50 over five years against $550 in Washington. Filing the LLC-1 on paper instead costs $105, and the Secretary of State's own FAQ frames online filing as a $55 saving. Washington inverts that: paper is the cheap channel at $180 against $200, because the $20 online processing fee attaches to formation but not to the $70 report. Missouri also keeps members off the public filing. None of that removes the $200 Washington charges to register an out-of-state LLC operating here.

Based in Missouri? Read Missouri LLC vs Washington LLC →

Compare Washington 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: October 5, 2026

If your business is based in Washington, a Washington LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Missouri LLC run from Washington generally must also register in Washington as a foreign LLC (a filing fee of at least $180). If your business is based in Missouri, a Missouri LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Washington LLC run from Missouri generally must also register in Missouri as a foreign LLC (Missouri's $105 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A Washington LLC runs $270 in year one and $70/yr after; a Missouri LLC runs $50 and $0/yr. See the full breakdown below.

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Factor	Washington	Missouri
Filing Fee	$180 by mail, $200 online ($20 online surcharge)	$50
Processing Time	Within 15 business days (paper)	Usually instant (online)
Annual Report Fee	$70	None
Annual Report Due	Last day of anniversary month	None required
State Income Tax	None through 2027; 9.90% above $1M from 2028	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	$180 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: Washington LLC cost and Missouri LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Washington anonymous LLC guide and Missouri anonymous LLC guide.

Business Climate: Washington vs Missouri

Factor	Washington	Missouri
5-year business survival rate	42.2% (#51 of 51)	42.9% (#49 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	-25.5% YoY (#15 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)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: Washington vs Missouri

State A

State B

Washington

Formation fee$200

Annual report fee$70

State entity taxNone

Report dueLast day of anniversary month

Processing timeWithin 15 business days (paper)

Late penalty$25

Missouri

✓ Cheaper Upfront✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$50

Annual report feeNo report required

State entity taxNone

Report dueNone required

Processing timeUsually instant (online)

Late penaltyNo report to file late

Total Cost

Washington

Missouri

1 Year

$270

$50

3 Years

$410

$50

5 Years

$550

$50

Will you operate outside your home state?

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

Washington charges $200 to form an LLC, while Missouri charges $50. Missouri is $150 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Missouri but operate in Washington, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Washington (a $180 minimum 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 $380, versus $200 for simply forming in Washington. Both states publish a standard turnaround, Washington (within 15 business days, paper) and Missouri (usually instant, online), though a published figure is a norm, not a guarantee.

Taxes: Washington vs Missouri

Washington has no personal income tax through 2027 (from 2028 it taxes individuals at 9.90% on income above a $1,000,000 standard deduction), while Missouri taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a Washington-based owner gets the same Washington income-tax treatment either way. Forming in Missouri adds no tax advantage. 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. Washington imposes the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax on gross receipts.

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. Washington doesn't offer that same privacy. Washington's report records the LLC's governors (members/managers) on the public record. 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 Washington, that Washington registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Washington.

Annual Maintenance Costs

Washington LLCs file an annual report ($70, due in the anniversary month), and Missouri LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Missouri while operating in Washington, you maintain filings in both states, Missouri asks for no report, but Washington 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 $220 a year, versus about $70 to keep a domestic Washington LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Washington imposes the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax on gross receipts.

When Missouri Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Missouri makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Washington puts owner or manager information on public filings and Missouri doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Washington 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 and accept taking on Missouri's personal income tax, which Washington doesn't levy through 2027 (from 2028 it taxes individuals at 9.90% on income above a $1,000,000 standard deduction). For a typical small business based in Washington, none of these usually apply. Registering a Missouri LLC to do business back home means at least $180 in Washington foreign-registration fees, on top of Missouri's $50 formation fee, while Washington's own annual report runs $70 a year and is due in the anniversary month. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Missouri's filing fee is lower ($50 vs $200), but that's not the full picture: operating in Washington means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($180) and paying a Missouri registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $380 for the Missouri route versus $200 for forming in Washington.
: Yes. Any Washington business can form its LLC in Missouri. But if the business operates in Washington, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($180 minimum filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Missouri, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Missouri offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while Washington doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a Washington-based business, Washington: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Missouri is worth considering only if you actually do business there or want an anonymous holding company there. For a Missouri-based business, the same reasoning points to Missouri.
: Both states publish a standard turnaround, Washington (within 15 business days, paper) and Missouri (usually instant, online), though a published figure is a norm, not a guarantee. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Missouri while operating in Washington means you're not fully set up until the Washington foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in Washington versus Missouri, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — Washington and Missouri side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

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More State Comparisons

Washington vs Montana →Washington vs Nebraska →Washington vs Nevada →Washington vs Delaware →Missouri vs Delaware →

Washington LLC Guide →Missouri LLC Guide →

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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.wa.gov/corporations-charities/business-entities/limited-liability-company-llc-professional-llc-pllc-filing-resource-pageWashington Secretary of State: business entity filings
sos.wa.gov/corporations-charities/frequently-asked-questions-faqs/fee-scheduleexpedited-serviceWashington 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.