How do I file my Connecticut LLC annual report online?

File through the Connecticut Secretary of the State's Business Services portal at business.ct.gov/business-services. The older portal.ct.gov/sots address redirects there. Connecticut law requires the report to be delivered by electronic transmission, so online is the normal route, with paper available only under an exemption granted by the Secretary of the State. Log in, open your LLC by its business ID, and confirm the principal office address, mailing address, registered agent name and address, and the names and addresses of your managers or members. The fee is $80, paid during submission, and the portal confirms the filing immediately. The window is the same for every Connecticut LLC: after January 1 and before April 1, so March 31 is the last day, regardless of the month you formed the company. If your LLC was formed this calendar year, your first report is not due until that window next year. Save the confirmation with your records, since the annual report is what keeps your LLC eligible for a certificate of legal existence and good standing.

Can I serve as my own registered agent for my Connecticut LLC?

Yes. You can act as your own registered agent for a Connecticut LLC if you have a Connecticut street address, not a P.O. box, and are there during business hours to accept service of process. Consider what that means in practice. Lawsuits, state notices, and tax correspondence come to you personally, and a summons that is delivered but not acted on can turn into a default judgment. Your address also becomes part of the public record, which matters if you work from home. Connecticut's $120 Certificate of Organization fee already covers the appointment of your registered agent at formation, and changing agents later is a separate filing with the Secretary of the State. Many owners hire a commercial registered agent service, typically around $125 a year, for reliable receipt of documents, a business address on the public record, and someone tracking the January to March report window. If you cannot count on being at a Connecticut address during business hours, use a service.

What are the total first-year costs for starting an LLC in Connecticut?

About $200 in state fees. The Certificate of Organization is $120 under Connecticut law, the same amount whether you file online or on paper, and that fee includes appointment of your registered agent. The $80 annual report follows, and the timing matters: Connecticut law puts the first report in the window after January 1 and before April 1 of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC was formed, so an LLC formed in 2026 pays $120 in 2026 and its first $80 report between January 1 and March 31, 2027. That $200 total sits about $32 below the national average, though 28 states are cheaper still. Optional extras are real but avoidable: 24-hour expedited service is $50 per transaction and online only, a name reservation is $60, a certified copy is $55, a certificate of existence is $50, and a commercial registered agent runs around $125 a year. There is no publication requirement and, since a Connecticut law repealed the Business Entity Tax, no separate entity-level tax to budget for. File at business.ct.gov/business-services and set a reminder for the January to March window.

Compliance · CT

Connecticut LLC Annual Compliance Requirements (2026)

Everything your Connecticut LLC must do to stay in good standing, annual report deadlines, registered agent rules, and state-specific obligations.

First-Year Total$200

Annual Ongoing$80/yr

vs National Avg- $32.13

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 19, 2026

Connecticut is an inexpensive state to keep an LLC in, and the compliance calendar has exactly one recurring date on it. The Certificate of Organization costs $120, a figure fixed by Connecticut law that already includes appointment of your registered agent and is identical online or on paper. After that the LLC owes an $80 annual report each year, filed after January 1 and before April 1, which makes March 31 the last day. First-year state cost is therefore $200, about $32 below the national average, though 28 states are still cheaper than Connecticut on that measure. The bigger cost change is one that has already happened. Connecticut's old $250 biennial Business Entity Tax was ended by a Connecticut law for tax periods beginning after December 31, 2018, so for most LLCs the $80 report is now the only recurring Secretary of the State charge. There is no publication requirement and no franchise tax on a default-classified LLC. Location is part of the appeal: Connecticut sits between New York and Boston, and Hartford's insurance cluster and the state's financial services and biotechnology employers give small companies a deep local market. Two mechanics are worth knowing before your first filing. The report must be filed electronically unless the Secretary of the State grants an exemption, and Connecticut charges no late fee at all, which means the penalty for drifting is forfeiture rather than a bill.

Stat card for Connecticut LLC compliance costs: $200 in unavoidable first-year charges and $80 a year after that, −$32.13 against the $232.13 national first-year average. Its annual report costs $80. — First-year total bundles the state filing fee with any report or entity tax due in year one; the recurring figure is what Connecticut costs every year after that. Source: Connecticut's published filing requirements and fee schedule, verified July 2026; national average from MyStateLLC's 50-state compliance dataset.

Annual Report Requirements

Due: March 31

Fee: $80

Frequency: annual

How: Online or mail

Full Connecticut Annual Report Guide →

Registered Agent Requirements

What Connecticut requires of an LLC registered agent, what the role costs, and how to decide between serving yourself and hiring a service.

Before you compare paid services: in most states the LLC's owner, or another individual who qualifies, may serve as its registered agent themselves, generally subject to that state's rules on keeping a street address in the state and being available there during normal business hours. A paid service is one way to meet the requirement and not the only one. The Connecticut registered agent requirements set out what Connecticut itself asks.

Registered agent services for Connecticut LLCs

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This list is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and every claim below is about the services listed here rather than the whole market.

Northwest Registered Agent$125/yr renewal
Best for: Privacy-focused owners and anyone who just needs an agent, not a formation bundle
Bizee$149/yr renewal
Best for: A free first year on every plan, renewing at $149/yr, if you're comfortable with the BBB caveat
ZenBusiness$199/yr renewal
Best for: First-time founders forming a new LLC who want phone, email and chat support
LegalZoom$249/yr renewal
Best for: Complex structures that want attorney consultations, which come with LegalZoom's Pro and Premium formation plans rather than this renewal price

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Annual renewal is each provider's own standard published rate. Check the current terms at each provider before you buy. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is in our full formation services review →

Connecticut Registered Agent Requirements →

Late Filing Penalties

Penalty: No monetary late fee. Under Connecticut law, an LLC more than one year in default may be sent notice that its rights and powers are prima facie forfeited

Connecticut Late Fee Guide →

Connecticut-Specific Compliance Considerations

A January 1 to March 31 Filing Window

Connecticut's annual report is due after January 1 and before April 1 of each calendar year, so March 31 is the last day, and the same window applies to every LLC no matter what month it was formed. The fee is $80. Under Connecticut law the first report is due in that window in the year following the calendar year the LLC was formed, so an LLC formed in 2026 files nothing in 2026 and its first $80 report between January 1 and March 31, 2027.

No Late Fee, but Forfeiture Is Real

Neither the statute nor the Secretary of the State's fee schedule provides any late fee, so a report filed late still costs $80. What non-filing costs is standing. Under Connecticut law, once an LLC is more than one year in default the Secretary may send notice that its rights and powers are prima facie forfeited, and if the report is not filed within three months of that notice the Secretary files a certificate of dissolution by forfeiture. A Certificate of Reinstatement then costs $120 on top of the missed reports.

Electronic Filing Is the Default

Connecticut law requires the annual report to be delivered by electronic transmission, and the Secretary of the State's Business Services portal at business.ct.gov handles both formation and the annual report. Paper filing is available only if the Secretary grants an exemption for lack of capability or other good cause. Optional 24-hour expedited service is $50 per transaction and works only on filings submitted online.

No Publication Requirement

Unlike some northeastern states, Connecticut does not require an LLC to publish a formation notice in a newspaper. No publication or newspaper-notice fee appears in Connecticut's fee law or on the Secretary of the State's fee schedule, so there is no added cost at formation.

The Business Entity Tax Is Gone

Connecticut's former $250 biennial Business Entity Tax no longer exists. The Department of Revenue Services states that a Connecticut law ended the tax for any tax period beginning after December 31, 2018. Older guides that still list it are out of date, and for most Connecticut LLCs the $80 annual report is the only recurring Secretary of the State charge.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because the penalty for missing a deadline can be administrative dissolution of the company.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Nothing is added to the bill. Connecticut charges no late fee on a delinquent LLC annual report, and neither Connecticut's fee law nor the Secretary of the State's fee schedule provides a penalty, so the report still costs $80 whenever you file it. What you lose in the meantime is standing. A delinquent LLC cannot get a certificate of legal existence and good standing, which is the document banks, lenders, landlords, and counterparties routinely ask to see. Left alone, it escalates: under Connecticut law, once an LLC is more than one year in default the Secretary may send electronic notice that the company's rights and powers are prima facie forfeited, and if the report is still not filed within three months of that notice the Secretary files a certificate of dissolution by forfeiture. Restoring a forfeited LLC costs $120 for a Certificate of Reinstatement, plus each $80 report you skipped. File the outstanding report at business.ct.gov/business-services as soon as you notice the gap. Because there is no penalty, catching up costs only the fee itself.
: File through the Connecticut Secretary of the State's Business Services portal at business.ct.gov/business-services. The older portal.ct.gov/sots address redirects there. Connecticut law requires the report to be delivered by electronic transmission, so online is the normal route, with paper available only under an exemption granted by the Secretary of the State. Log in, open your LLC by its business ID, and confirm the principal office address, mailing address, registered agent name and address, and the names and addresses of your managers or members. The fee is $80, paid during submission, and the portal confirms the filing immediately. The window is the same for every Connecticut LLC: after January 1 and before April 1, so March 31 is the last day, regardless of the month you formed the company. If your LLC was formed this calendar year, your first report is not due until that window next year. Save the confirmation with your records, since the annual report is what keeps your LLC eligible for a certificate of legal existence and good standing.
: Yes. You can act as your own registered agent for a Connecticut LLC if you have a Connecticut street address, not a P.O. box, and are there during business hours to accept service of process. Consider what that means in practice. Lawsuits, state notices, and tax correspondence come to you personally, and a summons that is delivered but not acted on can turn into a default judgment. Your address also becomes part of the public record, which matters if you work from home. Connecticut's $120 Certificate of Organization fee already covers the appointment of your registered agent at formation, and changing agents later is a separate filing with the Secretary of the State. Many owners hire a commercial registered agent service, typically around $125 a year, for reliable receipt of documents, a business address on the public record, and someone tracking the January to March report window. If you cannot count on being at a Connecticut address during business hours, use a service.
: About $200 in state fees. The Certificate of Organization is $120 under Connecticut law, the same amount whether you file online or on paper, and that fee includes appointment of your registered agent. The $80 annual report follows, and the timing matters: Connecticut law puts the first report in the window after January 1 and before April 1 of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC was formed, so an LLC formed in 2026 pays $120 in 2026 and its first $80 report between January 1 and March 31, 2027. That $200 total sits about $32 below the national average, though 28 states are cheaper still. Optional extras are real but avoidable: 24-hour expedited service is $50 per transaction and online only, a name reservation is $60, a certified copy is $55, a certificate of existence is $50, and a commercial registered agent runs around $125 a year. There is no publication requirement and, since a Connecticut law repealed the Business Entity Tax, no separate entity-level tax to budget for. File at business.ct.gov/business-services and set a reminder for the January to March window.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Connecticut 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.

Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-247k(a) (electronic filing of annual report)
Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-243u(a)(15)(B) (annual report fee)
Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-267g (dissolution by forfeiture)
Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-243u(a)(3) (certificate of organization fee)
Connecticut law: Public Act 19-117 (Business Entity Tax repeal)
Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-247k(c) (first annual report)
Connecticut statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-243u (LLC filing fees)
Connecticut law: Public Act 19-117 (repeal of Business Entity Tax)
business.ct.gov/business-servicesConnecticut Secretary of State: business entity filings
cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_613a.htmConnecticut statute: Annual Report

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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.