How Much Does an LLC Cost in Hawaii?
By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division fee schedule
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.
What you actually pay in Hawaii
Hawaii's Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) cost $50, plus a $1.00 State Archives fee, with optional expedited review for $25. The recurring cost is unusually low: $12.50 to file the annual report online (the paper fee is $15.00), due by the end of the calendar quarter containing the LLC's registration date. The real cost driver is tax, not filings — Hawaii's General Excise Tax runs 4% of gross income (4.5% on Oahu with the county surcharge) and the GET license itself costs a one-time $20.
Hawaii LLC fee breakdown
| Cost | Amount | How often | Charged by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) | $50 | One time | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division |
| Annual Report | $12.50 | Every year | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division |
| Required state cost, first year | $62.50 | — | — |
| Registered agent service (optional) | $50–$300 | Every year | Commercial provider |
| Expedited processing (optional) — Expedited review $25 | $25+ | One time | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division |
| Name reservation (optional) | $10 | One time | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division |
| Certificate of good standing (optional) | $5 | Per copy | Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division |
The $50 filing fee is the same online and by mail; BREG also collects a separate $1.00 State Archives preservation fee on permanent records.
General Excise Tax (GET): Not a flat entity tax: GET is 4% of gross income for most activities (0.5% for wholesaling/manufacturing), plus a 0.5% Oahu county surcharge in effect January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2030. There is a one-time $20 fee to obtain the GET license.
DCCA's domestic LLC registration instructions and fee schedule list no newspaper publication step or fee.
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.
Hawaii 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.
| Period | State cost only | With registered agent |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (formation + first filing) | $62.50 | $187.50 |
| Each year after | $12.50 | $137.50 |
| Five-year total | $112.50 | $737.50 |
First filing timing: An entity registered during the same year in which an annual report would otherwise be due is not required to file a report for that year, so the first annual report is due in the entity's registration quarter of the following year.
Is Hawaii expensive compared with other states?
Hawaii ranks 6th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost — $172.03 below the $234.53 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 13th.
A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you live and operate in Hawaii. Doing business here with an out-of-state LLC generally means registering it as a foreign LLC in Hawaii anyway — paying both states. See foreign qualification in Hawaii before forming elsewhere to save on fees.
Hawaii filing deadline and late penalties
Annual Report
| Frequency | every year |
| Due | By the end of the calendar quarter in which the LLC's registration date falls: registration date Jan 1–Mar 31 → due March 31; Apr 1–Jun 30 → due June 30; Jul 1–Sep 30 → due September 30; Oct 1–Dec 31 → due December 31, each year |
| Fee | $12.50 |
| Late penalty | $10 |
DCCA assesses a $10.00 late fee per year delinquent, payable with the online filing.
An LLC that stops filing can be administratively terminated; BREG's fee schedule lists an 'Application for Reinstatement for Administratively Terminated Limited Liability Company' at $25.00 ($25.00 expedited). The statutory number of missed reports before termination was not confirmed from a primary source in this pass.
Full Hawaii annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator
Cost traps specific to Hawaii
GET is charged on gross receipts, not profit
Hawaii's General Excise Tax is 4% of gross income statewide plus a 0.5% Oahu surcharge, so an LLC with revenue but no profit still owes GET — a far bigger annual cost than the $12.50 annual report.
Annual report deadline follows your registration quarter
The report is not due on a single statewide date: an LLC registered in August must file by September 30 every year, and DCCA adds a $10 late fee for each year delinquent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
Every fee above was checked against Hawaii's own published sources on July 29, 2026 — the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division 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 Articles of Organization 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.
Primary sources: