When is the Delaware LLC annual report due?

It is not due, because it does not exist. Delaware LLCs file no annual report and no information statement. What is due on June 1 is the annual LLC tax under Delaware law, a flat $400 plus $100 per registered series, and it covers the calendar year that has already closed. The March 1 deadline you may have read about belongs to Delaware corporations, which do file an annual report alongside their franchise tax. The June 30 deadline belongs to foreign corporations registered in Delaware. Neither applies to an LLC.

What happens if I miss the June 1 payment?

Under Delaware law, a flat $200 is added and becomes part of the tax, then 1.5% interest per month runs on the combined figure, with a part month counted as a whole one. A missed $400 payment is $600 immediately. The LLC also ceases to be in good standing the moment the payment is late. The Secretary of State will not accept almost any further filing for it and will not issue a certificate of good standing, and it cannot maintain an action in a Delaware court, pending or new, until restored. After three months in arrears the Attorney General may ask the Court of Chancery to bar it from transacting business anywhere. Paying the arrears restores good standing automatically. No filing is needed unless the certificate of formation has already been cancelled at the three-year mark, in which case the cure is a Certificate of Revival, at $220 plus all arrears.

Do I need a Delaware registered agent if my LLC operates in another state?

Yes. Delaware law requires every Delaware LLC to maintain a registered agent with a Delaware business address at all times, regardless of where the business actually trades. If you have no Delaware presence, that means a commercial agent, typically $50 to $300 a year. That agent is also how the state reaches you. Delaware law also requires the Secretary of State to mail the annual tax statement at least 60 days before June 1 addressed to the LLC in care of its Delaware registered agent, so a lapsed or unmonitored agent is the most common route to a missed payment. And it is on top of, not instead of, your home state's requirements: operating in another state generally means registering there as a foreign LLC and paying that state's fees and reports too.

How does Delaware's cost compare with forming in my home state?

The up-front difference is small and the recurring one is large. Delaware's $110 Certificate of Formation ranks 28th of 50, close to the $122 average. Its $400 annual tax ranks 46th of 50: only California at $810, Massachusetts at $520 and Rhode Island at $450 charge more each year, Tennessee matches it at a minimum, and the median state charges $45. Counting formation plus one year's tax, Delaware comes to $510 against a $232 national average, which is $278 more, and ranks 46th of 50. That comparison also understates it if you operate elsewhere, because forming in Delaware while trading in another state usually means paying both: Delaware's tax and agent, plus the home state's foreign registration, its annual report and its own fees.

Do I need an attorney to stay compliant in Delaware?

For the tax itself, no. There is no report to prepare and no form to complete. Paying it means looking up your Delaware file number on corp.delaware.gov and settling $400 by card or ACH, which takes minutes. Where Delaware genuinely rewards professional drafting is the operating agreement. The Delaware LLC Act permits an agreement to restrict or eliminate default fiduciary duties to a degree most states do not allow, which is powerful when it is deliberate and hazardous when it is copied from a template. This page is general information about Delaware's statutes and filing requirements, not legal or tax advice.

Compliance · DE

Delaware LLC Annual Compliance Requirements (2026)

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

First-Year Total$510

Annual Ongoing$400/yr

vs National Avg+ $277.87

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 19, 2026

Delaware's compliance calendar is shorter than almost any other state's, and more expensive. There is no LLC annual report. The Division of Corporations says so directly: LLCs, LPs and GPs "are not required to file Annual Franchise Tax reports" and "there is no requirement to file an Annual Report." No member list, no address confirmation, no form of any kind. Nearly every guide that describes a Delaware LLC annual report has borrowed the rules that govern a Delaware corporation, which does file one, in March, at a different price.

What replaces it is a single payment. Under Delaware law, every domestic and foreign Delaware LLC owes a flat annual tax, currently $400, plus $100 for each registered series. It does not scale with revenue, assets or activity, and there is no proration, so an LLC formed on December 28 owes the same as one formed in January. The law makes it due on June 1 following the close of the calendar year, which means the payment you make each June settles the year that has already ended.

The cost is what makes Delaware unusual rather than the paperwork. At $110 to file the Certificate of Formation, Delaware's up-front fee is unremarkable, 28th of the 50 states. Its $400 recurring charge is not: only California ($810), Massachusetts ($520) and Rhode Island ($450) ask more each year, and Tennessee matches it at a minimum. Counting the formation fee plus one year's tax, Delaware's $510 sits $278 above the $232 national average and ranks 46th of 50.

People pay it for the Court of Chancery, a business court that sits without juries before judges who do nothing else, and for an LLC Act that lets an operating agreement depart from default fiduciary duties further than most states allow. Whether that is worth $400 a year depends entirely on whether you will ever use it. For a single-member LLC operating wholly in another state, it usually is not, and the home state's own filing will still be required on top.

Stat card for Delaware LLC compliance costs: $510 in unavoidable first-year charges and $400 a year after that, +$277.87 against the $232.13 national first-year average. Delaware requires no periodic report at all. — First-year total bundles the state filing fee with any report or entity tax due in year one; the recurring figure is what Delaware costs every year after that. Source: Delaware's published filing requirements and fee schedule, verified July 2026; national average from MyStateLLC's 50-state compliance dataset.

Annual Filing Requirements

Due: None required

Fee: $400 flat annual LLC tax, due June 1 for the prior calendar year

Frequency: None required

How: Pay online at corp.delaware.gov. There is no report form to complete.

Full Delaware compliance guide →

Registered Agent Requirements

Delaware law requires every Delaware LLC to keep a registered agent with a Delaware business address at all times, whether or not the business trades here. The agent matters more in Delaware than in most states, because there is no annual report to remind you of anything: Delaware law has the Secretary of State mail the annual tax statement at least 60 days before June 1 to the LLC in care of that agent, so a lapsed or unmonitored agent is the usual route to a missed payment, a $200 penalty and loss of good standing.

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 Delaware registered agent requirements set out what Delaware itself asks.

Registered agent services for Delaware 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 →

Delaware Registered Agent Requirements →

Late Filing Penalties

Penalty: $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month

A flat $200 is added to the tax and becomes part of it, and 1.5% monthly interest starts running on the combined amount. A missed $400 payment is $600 before any interest. Under Delaware law, the LLC also ceases to be in good standing, which means the Secretary of State will not accept further filings for it and will not issue a certificate of good standing.

Delaware Late Fee Guide →

Delaware-Specific Compliance Considerations

There is no annual report, and no Form 1

Delaware LLCs file nothing annually. The Division of Corporations publishes sixteen LLC forms covering formation, amendment, change of agent, revival and cancellation, and none of them is an annual report; Delaware does not assign form numbers to LLC filings at all. A "Form 1", "Form LLC-1" or "Form DLLC" for a Delaware LLC does not exist. The obligation is a payment under Delaware law, not a filing.

The June 1 payment is for the year before

Delaware law makes the tax "due and payable on the first day of June following the close of the calendar year." A Delaware bill raised the rate from $300 to $400 effective January 1, 2026, so calendar year 2026 is the first year taxed at $400 and the first $400 payment falls due June 1, 2027. The payment collected on June 1, 2026 covered calendar year 2025 at $300. Delaware has not published a notice naming the first payment year, so treat that timing as the reading the statute supports rather than an express state statement.

Late costs $200 plus 1.5% a month, and three years is fatal

Delaware law adds a one-time $200 to the tax, and then charges 1.5% interest per month, or part of a month, on the combined amount. A missed $400 payment is $600 before interest. The LLC ceases to be in good standing immediately, which blocks all filings and any certificate of good standing. After three years of non-payment Delaware law cancels the certificate of formation outright, effective on the third anniversary of the due date.

Falling behind does not cost you the liability shield

This is worth stating because the opposite claim is widespread. Delaware law provides that a member or manager is not liable for the LLC's debts "solely by reason of" unpaid tax or loss of good standing, and it provides that non-payment does not impair any contract, deed, mortgage, security interest or lien, nor prevent the LLC from defending a suit. What you do lose is the ability to make filings, obtain certificates, or maintain an action in a Delaware court until you are current.

No publication requirement

Unlike New York or Arizona, Delaware requires no newspaper notice of formation. No publication fee appears on the Division's fee schedule or in Delaware's LLC Act.

The Court of Chancery, and what it is actually for

Delaware's Court of Chancery hears business disputes without juries, before judges who specialise in them, which is the substantive reason sophisticated and investor-backed entities incorporate here. It is a benefit you draw on in litigation and in financing diligence. It does nothing for a business that never has either, which is why forming in Delaware while operating elsewhere usually just adds a $400 tax and a foreign qualification to the home state's own requirements.

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

: It is not due, because it does not exist. Delaware LLCs file no annual report and no information statement. What is due on June 1 is the annual LLC tax under Delaware law, a flat $400 plus $100 per registered series, and it covers the calendar year that has already closed. The March 1 deadline you may have read about belongs to Delaware corporations, which do file an annual report alongside their franchise tax. The June 30 deadline belongs to foreign corporations registered in Delaware. Neither applies to an LLC.
: Under Delaware law, a flat $200 is added and becomes part of the tax, then 1.5% interest per month runs on the combined figure, with a part month counted as a whole one. A missed $400 payment is $600 immediately. The LLC also ceases to be in good standing the moment the payment is late. The Secretary of State will not accept almost any further filing for it and will not issue a certificate of good standing, and it cannot maintain an action in a Delaware court, pending or new, until restored. After three months in arrears the Attorney General may ask the Court of Chancery to bar it from transacting business anywhere. Paying the arrears restores good standing automatically. No filing is needed unless the certificate of formation has already been cancelled at the three-year mark, in which case the cure is a Certificate of Revival, at $220 plus all arrears.
: Yes. Delaware law requires every Delaware LLC to maintain a registered agent with a Delaware business address at all times, regardless of where the business actually trades. If you have no Delaware presence, that means a commercial agent, typically $50 to $300 a year. That agent is also how the state reaches you. Delaware law also requires the Secretary of State to mail the annual tax statement at least 60 days before June 1 addressed to the LLC in care of its Delaware registered agent, so a lapsed or unmonitored agent is the most common route to a missed payment. And it is on top of, not instead of, your home state's requirements: operating in another state generally means registering there as a foreign LLC and paying that state's fees and reports too.
: The up-front difference is small and the recurring one is large. Delaware's $110 Certificate of Formation ranks 28th of 50, close to the $122 average. Its $400 annual tax ranks 46th of 50: only California at $810, Massachusetts at $520 and Rhode Island at $450 charge more each year, Tennessee matches it at a minimum, and the median state charges $45. Counting formation plus one year's tax, Delaware comes to $510 against a $232 national average, which is $278 more, and ranks 46th of 50. That comparison also understates it if you operate elsewhere, because forming in Delaware while trading in another state usually means paying both: Delaware's tax and agent, plus the home state's foreign registration, its annual report and its own fees.
: For the tax itself, no. There is no report to prepare and no form to complete. Paying it means looking up your Delaware file number on corp.delaware.gov and settling $400 by card or ACH, which takes minutes. Where Delaware genuinely rewards professional drafting is the operating agreement. The Delaware LLC Act permits an agreement to restrict or eliminate default fiduciary duties to a degree most states do not allow, which is powerful when it is deliberate and hazardous when it is copied from a template. This page is general information about Delaware's statutes and filing requirements, not legal or tax advice.

Sources

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

Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-1107(d) (annual tax statement)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(b) (tax on registered series)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(k) (certificates refused)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-104 (registered agent)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(d) (annual tax statement)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(e) (late payment penalty)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(c) (interest on unpaid tax)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(h) (loss of good standing)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(k) (filings and certificates refused)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-1107(b) (annual LLC tax)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(c) (tax due date)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-1107 (annual LLC tax)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-1107(c) (tax due date)
Delaware law: HB 400 (85 Del. Laws c. 273, § 23) (tax rate increase)
Delaware statute: § 18-1108(a) (cancellation for non-payment)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(n) (no personal liability)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(m) (contracts and defense preserved)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(k) and (l) (effects of lost good standing)
Delaware statute: 8 Del. C. § 502(a) (corporate annual report)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. § 18-1107(e) (late payment penalty)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(l) (bar on bringing suits)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(j) (Attorney General injunction)
Delaware statute: § 18-1107(i) (restoring good standing)
Delaware statute: § 18-1109 (certificate of revival)
Delaware statute: 6 Del. C. ch. 18, subch. XI (fees and miscellaneous)
corp.delaware.govDelaware Division of Corporations: business entity filings
delcode.delaware.gov/title6/c018/sc11/Delaware statute: Annual LLC Tax
corp.delaware.gov/alt-entitytaxinstructions/Delaware agency guidance: Annual LLC Tax

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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.