Arkansas LLC Cost (2026)

By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the Arkansas Secretary of State fee schedule

In Arkansas, the first-year state cost of an LLC is $195, before any registered-agent service. Forming an LLC in Arkansas costs $45 to file the Certificate of Organization for a Domestic Limited Liability Company with the state, the Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report costs $150 every year.
Bar chart of LLC costs in Arkansas: $195 in unavoidable state charges in the first year and $150 a year after that. Arkansas charges $150 for its annual report.
The recurring figure covers the annual report plus any flat state entity tax. Source: Arkansas's published filing fee schedule, verified July 2026.
Certificate of Organization for a Domestic Limited Liability Company$45
Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report$150
First-year state cost$195
Five-year state cost$795

How much does it cost to form an LLC in Arkansas?

Arkansas has one of the cheapest formation fees in the country - $45 online or $50 on paper for the Certificate of Organization (form LL-01) - but every LLC then owes a flat $150 franchise tax every year, so year two onward costs more than three times as much as forming. The franchise tax report doubles as the annual report and is due May 1; paying online adds a $5.00 credit-card processing fee for a $155 total. Name reservation (form RN-06) is $22.50 online or $25 on paper, and foreign LLC registration (FL-01) is $270 online or $300 on paper. A Certificate of Good Standing is $25.00, the same price online or by mail, with a $3.00 processing fee added when you buy it online. The separate Certificate of Existence is $15.00, and certified copies are $0.50 per page plus a $5.00 certification fee.

Which fees does an Arkansas LLC pay, and how often?

CostAmountHow oftenCharged by
Certificate of Organization for a Domestic Limited Liability Company (LL-01)$45One timeArkansas Secretary of State
Same filing, submitted on paper$50One timeArkansas Secretary of State
Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report$150Every yearArkansas Secretary of State
Required state cost, first year$195N/AN/A
Registered agent service (optional)$50 to $300Every yearCommercial provider
Name reservation (optional)$22.50One timeArkansas Secretary of State
Certificate of good standing (optional)$25Per copyArkansas Secretary of State

Filing online costs $45; the identical filing by mail or in person costs $50.

Arkansas Franchise Tax: Flat $150 for every LLC regardless of size or income; the annual report and the tax are a single filing.

Arkansas law forms the company on delivery of a certificate of organization to the Secretary of State and imposes no newspaper publication step.

Registered agent is listed separately because it is a commercial service, not a state charge. Commercial registered-agent services, not a state charge. Range and $125 midpoint match the assumption used by /tools/llc-true-cost. Most states let you serve as your own registered agent at no cost if you have a physical in-state address. Run your own numbers in the true-cost calculator. For what formation services charge on top of these state fees, see the best LLC services in Arkansas.

Next steps for an LLC in Arkansas

What does an Arkansas LLC cost over five years?

State charges only in the first column; the second adds a registered-agent service at the $125/yr market midpoint.

PeriodState cost onlyWith registered agent
Year 1 (formation + first filing)$195$320
Each year after$150/yr$275/yr
Five-year total$795$1,420

First filing timing: Each report covers the preceding calendar year - the 2026 form is captioned "For the year ending 12/31/2025" - so an LLC organized in 2026 files its first franchise tax report by May 1, 2027. The Secretary of State does not state this first-year timing explicitly.

Is Arkansas expensive compared with other states?

Arkansas ranks 28th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost , $37.16 below the $232.16 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 41st.

Cheaper stateFirst-year costYou would save
Montana$35$160
Arizona$50$145
Missouri$50$145

A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you live and operate in Arkansas. Doing business here with an out-of-state LLC generally means registering it as a foreign LLC in Arkansas anyway. Paying both states. See foreign qualification in Arkansas before forming elsewhere to save on fees.

When is the Arkansas filing deadline, and what happens if you miss it?

Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report

Frequencyevery year
DueOn or before May 1 for the preceding calendar year; the report must be received by close of business May 1 or carry a USPS postmark no later than midnight May 1 (postage meter dates are not accepted)
Fee$150
Late penalty$25

Late filing adds a $25 penalty plus interest of 0.000274 per day applied to the tax-plus-penalty total.

Failure to pay franchise tax can result in revocation of the authority to do business; the tax keeps accruing after revocation until the entity is dissolved, withdrawn or merged, and Arkansas law bars any further BCS filings while franchise tax is unpaid.

Full Arkansas annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator

What cost traps are specific to Arkansas?

$150 flat franchise tax dwarfs the $45 filing fee

Every Arkansas LLC owes $150 a year no matter how little it earns, and paying online adds $5.00, so recurring state cost is roughly 3.4 times the cost of forming.

Unpaid franchise tax freezes all other filings

Under Arkansas law the Secretary of State will not accept any further BCS filings from an entity with unpaid franchise tax, and the tax keeps accruing after revocation until you formally dissolve.

Paper filing costs $5 more at every step

Formation is $45 online versus $50 by mail, and amendments, name reservations and fictitious-name filings are $22.50 online versus $25 by mail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do these numbers come from?

Every fee above was checked against Arkansas's own published sources on July 29, 2026 , the Arkansas Secretary of State fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state-level tax applies, the state tax authority. Commercial formation-service pages were not used.

The first-year total is the Certificate of Organization for a Domestic Limited Liability Company fee plus the first year of any recurring state charge. Where a state's first report is not due until the following year, that is noted above. The five-year total is the filing fee plus five years of recurring charges, which avoids the timing question entirely. Registered-agent service is excluded from all state figures.

Sources

8 documents

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

Related guides

LLC true cost calculatorModel your own five-year total, including registered agent →All 50 states comparedFiling fees, annual fees, and year-1 totals side by side →How to form an LLCWhat the filing fee actually buys, step by step →Annual report deadline calculatorEnter your formation date for your exact deadline →Foreign LLC registrationWhy forming in a cheaper state usually costs more, not less →
← All 50 states compared

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Edmond Hui

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.

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