How much does it cost to start an LLC in Kansas?

The Kansas Secretary of State charges $85 to file Articles of Organization online and $90 to file the paper Form DL. Online filings are processed within minutes and you can print the certified copy immediately. There is no separate expedited service to buy, and no publication requirement.

Does a Kansas LLC file an annual report?

No. Kansas switched to biennial filing on January 1, 2024. LLCs file an Information Report every two years, due April 15 of the odd or even year matching the year the business was formed. The fee is $90 online or $110 by paper.

Is there a franchise tax on a Kansas LLC?

No. The Kansas Department of Revenue states there is no Kansas franchise tax for tax year 2011 and after. The biennial $90 Information Report is the only recurring Secretary of State charge for a Kansas LLC.

Kansas LLC Cost (2026)

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

In Kansas, the first-year state cost of an LLC is $130, before any registered-agent service. Forming an LLC in Kansas costs $85 to file the Articles of Organization with the state, the Information Report costs $90 every two years.

Bar chart of LLC costs in Kansas: $130 in unavoidable state charges in the first year and $45 a year after that. Kansas charges $90 for its biennial report. — The recurring figure covers the biennial report plus any flat state entity tax. Source: Kansas's published filing fee schedule, verified July 2026.

Articles of Organization$85

Information Report$90

First-year state cost$130

Five-year state cost$310

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

Kansas is one of the cheapest states to start and keep an LLC after the Secretary of State's 2026 fee overhaul, the first comprehensive fee update since 2008: Articles of Organization are $85 online and $90 paper, aligning LLC formation with the $90 corporate fee. Kansas is also unusual in charging its periodic report only every two years, $90 online or $110 paper, tied to whether the LLC was formed in an odd or even year. There is no Kansas franchise tax for tax year 2011 and after, so the biennial report is the only recurring state charge. The real cost risk is forfeiture: reinstatement is $35 plus an $85 penalty plus $110 for each missed report, up to $670.

Which fees does a Kansas LLC pay, and how often?

Cost	Amount	How often	Charged by
Articles of Organization (DL)	$85	One time	Kansas Secretary of State
Same filing, submitted on paper	$90	One time	Kansas Secretary of State
Information Report	$90	Every 2 years	Kansas Secretary of State
Required state cost, first year	$130	N/A	N/A
Registered agent service (optional)	$50 to $300	Every year	Commercial provider
Name reservation (optional)	$35	One time	Kansas Secretary of State

Form DL states $85 online and $90 paper; the $5 gap is the technology communication fee that K.A.R. 7-16-2 charges on paper formation filings but waives online.

: Kansas imposes no franchise tax: "There is no Kansas franchise tax for tax year 2011 and after."

The Secretary of State's Articles of Organization instructions (Form DL) list no newspaper-publication step for forming a Kansas LLC.

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 Kansas.

Next steps for an LLC in Kansas

What does a Kansas 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)	$130	$255
Each year after	$45/yr	$170/yr
Five-year total	$310	$935

First filing timing: Businesses forming in even years file in each succeeding even year and businesses forming in odd years file in each succeeding odd year, so an LLC organized in 2026 owes its first information report by April 15, 2028.

Is Kansas expensive compared with other states?

Kansas ranks 16th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost , $102.16 below the $232.16 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 25th.

Cheaper state	First-year cost	You would save
Montana	$35	$95
Arizona	$50	$80
Missouri	$50	$80

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

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

Information Report

Frequency	every two years
Due	April 15 of the LLC's respective odd or even year (for-profit entities)
Fee	$90
Late penalty	$10

K.A.R. 7-16-1 sets a $10 biennial report penalty; a three-month delinquency period after April 15 lets the report still be filed, during which the entity is limited in what other documents it may file.

Once the three-month delinquency interval passes the business forfeits and cannot file any other document with the Secretary of State until reinstated; reinstatement (Form RL, Rev. 6/12/26) costs a $35 filing fee plus an $85 forfeiture penalty plus $110 per past-due information report, up to $670 for five reports.

Full Kansas annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator

What cost traps are specific to Kansas?

Biennial report costs more than forming the LLC

The information report is $90 online or $110 on paper, more than the $85 online formation fee, and it is easy to forget because it is only due every other year.

Report year depends on your formation year

An LLC organized in an even year does not owe its first information report until April 15 of the next even year, so a company formed in early 2026 has nothing due until April 15, 2028. Which is exactly how owners lose track of it.

Forfeiture is far more expensive than the report

After the three-month delinquency window the entity forfeits and can file nothing else with the Secretary of State; Form RL reinstatement costs $35 plus an $85 penalty plus $110 per past-due report, up to $670.

Frequently Asked Questions

: The Kansas Secretary of State charges $85 to file Articles of Organization online and $90 to file the paper Form DL. Online filings are processed within minutes and you can print the certified copy immediately. There is no separate expedited service to buy, and no publication requirement.
: No. Kansas switched to biennial filing on January 1, 2024. LLCs file an Information Report every two years, due April 15 of the odd or even year matching the year the business was formed. The fee is $90 online or $110 by paper.
: No. The Kansas Department of Revenue states there is no Kansas franchise tax for tax year 2011 and after. The biennial $90 Information Report is the only recurring Secretary of State charge for a Kansas LLC.
: You get a three-month delinquency period after April 15 to file. After that the LLC forfeits and cannot file any other document with the Secretary of State until reinstated. Reinstatement on Form RL costs $35 plus an $85 penalty plus $110 per past-due report, up to $670 for five reports.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every fee above was checked against Kansas's own published sources on July 29, 2026 , the Kansas 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 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.

Sources

10 documents

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

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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.

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