Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Hawaii than Wyoming?

Hawaii's filing fee is lower ($50 vs $100), but that's not the full picture: operating in Wyoming means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($150) and paying a Hawaii registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $350 for the Hawaii route versus $100 for forming in Wyoming.

Can I form my Wyoming business in Hawaii?

Yes. Any Wyoming business can form its LLC in Hawaii. But if the business operates in Wyoming, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($150 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Hawaii, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Hawaii have better asset protection than Wyoming?

Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business; Wyoming’s charging-order statute is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.

State Comparison

Wyoming LLC vs Hawaii LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in Wyoming.

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

Hawaii is cheaper on both filings, $50 to form and $12.50 a year for the annual report, timed to the quarter your registration date falls in rather than a statewide date. The cost that matters is the General Excise Tax at 4% of gross income, plus a 0.5% Oahu surcharge, charged on receipts rather than profit, so a Hawaii LLC can owe it in a losing year. Wyoming's $100 filing and $60 minimum license tax carry no such levy. Bringing a Hawaii LLC into Wyoming costs $150.

Based in Hawaii? Read Hawaii LLC vs Wyoming LLC →

Compare Wyoming LLC vs Hawaii 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

If your business is based in Wyoming, a Wyoming LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Hawaii LLC run from Wyoming generally must also register in Wyoming as a foreign LLC (Wyoming's $150 filing fee). If your business is based in Hawaii, a Hawaii LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Wyoming LLC run from Hawaii generally must also register in Hawaii as a foreign LLC (Hawaii's $50 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 Wyoming LLC runs from $160 in year one and from $60/yr after; a Hawaii LLC runs $62.50 and $12.50/yr. See the full breakdown below.

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Factor	Wyoming	Hawaii
Filing Fee	$100	$50
Processing Time	Instant online; up to 15 business days paper	Not published by the state
Annual Report Fee	$60	$12.50 online, $15 by mail
Annual Report Due	First day of anniversary month	Anniversary quarter
State Income Tax	No	Yes
Anonymous LLC	Yes	No
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: Wyoming LLC cost and Hawaii LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Wyoming anonymous LLC guide and Hawaii anonymous LLC guide.

Business Climate: Wyoming vs Hawaii

Factor	Wyoming	Hawaii
5-year business survival rate	47.5% (#42 of 51)	51% (#26 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+13.3% YoY (#22 of 51 by volume)	-7.9% YoY (#44 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: Wyoming vs Hawaii

State A

State B

Wyoming

Formation fee$100

Annual report feefrom $60

State entity taxNone

Report dueFirst day of anniversary month

Processing timeInstant online; up to 15 business days paper

Late penalty$0

Hawaii

✓ Cheaper Upfront✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$50

Annual report fee$12.5

State entity taxNone

Report dueFormation quarter end

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penalty$10

Total Cost

Wyoming

Hawaii

1 Year

from $160

$62.5

3 Years

from $280

$87.5

5 Years

from $400

$112.5

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

Wyoming charges $100 to form an LLC, while Hawaii charges $50. Hawaii is $50 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Hawaii but operate in Wyoming, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Wyoming (a $150 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Hawaii (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Hawaii route at roughly $350, versus $100 for simply forming in Wyoming. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes a standard turnaround (instant online; up to 15 business days paper), while Hawaii publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.

Taxes: Wyoming vs Hawaii

Wyoming has no personal income tax, while Hawaii taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a Wyoming-based owner keeps Wyoming's no-income-tax benefit either way. Forming in Hawaii adds no tax advantage. Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise. Hawaii imposes a General Excise Tax (GET) on business gross receipts.

Privacy & Asset Protection

Wyoming, your home state, actually offers more formation privacy than Hawaii: Wyoming allows anonymous LLC formation, while Hawaii requires owner or manager information on public filings. Hawaii's foreign application and annual report list the names and addresses of each manager or member. 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. Wyoming's charging-order law makes the charging order a creditor's exclusive remedy (including for single-member LLCs) and is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. From a privacy standpoint there's no reason for a Wyoming-based business to form in Hawaii.

Annual Maintenance Costs

Wyoming LLCs file an annual report (at least $60, due in the anniversary month), and Hawaii LLCs file an annual report ($12.50, due in the anniversary quarter). If you form in Hawaii while operating in Wyoming, you maintain filings in both states, Hawaii's report plus Wyoming's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Hawaii registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Hawaii route to roughly $222.50 a year, versus at least $60 to keep a domestic Wyoming LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise. Hawaii imposes a General Excise Tax (GET) on business gross receipts.

When Hawaii Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Hawaii makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Hawaii, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Hawaii in the near future and accept taking on Hawaii's personal income tax, which Wyoming doesn't levy. For a typical small business based in Wyoming, none of these usually apply. Registering a Hawaii LLC to do business back home means $150 in Wyoming foreign-registration fees, on top of Hawaii's $50 formation fee, while Wyoming's own annual report runs at least $60 a year and is due in the anniversary month. Wyoming already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for Hawaii doesn't apply to a Wyoming-based owner. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Hawaii's filing fee is lower ($50 vs $100), but that's not the full picture: operating in Wyoming means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($150) and paying a Hawaii registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $350 for the Hawaii route versus $100 for forming in Wyoming.
: Yes. Any Wyoming business can form its LLC in Hawaii. But if the business operates in Wyoming, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($150 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Hawaii, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business; Wyoming’s charging-order statute is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a Wyoming-based business, Wyoming: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Hawaii is worth considering only if you actually do business there. For a Hawaii-based business, the same reasoning points to Hawaii.
: Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes a standard turnaround (instant online; up to 15 business days paper), while Hawaii publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Hawaii while operating in Wyoming means you're not fully set up until the Wyoming 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 Wyoming versus Hawaii, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — Wyoming and Hawaii 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

Wyoming vs Idaho →Wyoming vs Illinois →Wyoming vs Indiana →Wyoming vs Delaware →Hawaii vs Delaware →

Wyoming LLC Guide →Hawaii 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. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.

Wyoming statute: W.S. 17-29-503 (charging order remedy)
sos.wyo.gov/Business/Default.aspxWyoming Secretary of State: business entity filings
sos.wyo.gov/Business/docs/BusinessFees.pdfWyoming LLC filing fees
cca.hawaii.gov/breg/registration/dllc/Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division: business entity filings
cca.hawaii.gov/breg/registration/dllc/fees/Hawaii 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.