How Much Does an LLC Cost in New Jersey?
By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services 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 New Jersey
New Jersey charges a flat $125 basic filing fee for a domestic LLC's public records filing, the same amount online or on paper, and $125 again for a foreign entity registration. Every LLC then files an Annual Report for $75, due on the last day of its formation anniversary month. Certified copies are $25 each and a short-form standing certificate is $50 ($100 long form). An LLC with more than two owners and New Jersey source income additionally owes the $150-per-owner Partnership Filing Fee, capped at $250,000, plus a prepayment of half that amount toward the next year.
New Jersey LLC fee breakdown
| Cost | Amount | How often | Charged by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Records Filing for New Business Entity (Certificate of Formation) | $125 | One time | New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services |
| Annual Report | $75 | Every year | New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services |
| Required state cost, first year | $200 | — | — |
| Partnership Filing Fee — does not apply to a standard New Jersey LLC | $150 | Only if it applies | Division of Taxation |
| Registered agent service (optional) | $50–$300 | Every year | Commercial provider |
| Expedited processing (optional) — Expedited (8.5 business hours, LLC/LLP) $25, Same day $50, 2-hour $500, 1-hour $1,000 | $25+ | One time | New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services |
| Name reservation (optional) | $50 | One time | New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services |
| Certificate of good standing (optional) | $50 | Per copy | New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services |
The Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services charges one $125 basic filing fee for all domestic entities except non-profits, regardless of whether the filing is submitted online or on paper.
Partnership Filing Fee: $150 for each individual, trust, estate or entity (including any pass-through entity) that owns a partnership interest, up to a maximum of $250,000. Owed only by an entity that has MORE THAN TWO owners and New Jersey source income or loss. The entity must also prepay one-half of the current year's fee toward the following year. Investment clubs are exempt; nonprofit owners are not exempt. Single-member LLCs and two-owner LLCs do not owe it.
Why the Partnership Filing Fee is not in the total: Owed only by an entity with more than two owners and New Jersey source income or loss, at $150 per owner — so a single-member or two-member LLC owes nothing.
The New Jersey Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act contains no newspaper publication requirement for LLC formation.
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.
New Jersey 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) | $200 | $325 |
| Each year after | $75 | $200 |
| Five-year total | $500 | $1,125 |
Is New Jersey expensive compared with other states?
New Jersey ranks 30th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost — $34.53 below the $234.53 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 35th.
A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you live and operate in New Jersey. Doing business here with an out-of-state LLC generally means registering it as a foreign LLC in New Jersey anyway — paying both states. See foreign qualification in New Jersey before forming elsewhere to save on fees.
New Jersey filing deadline and late penalties
Annual Report
| Frequency | every year |
| Due | Due every year on the last day of the month in which the business formation was completed |
| Fee | $75 |
No separate late-filing penalty amount is published; the consequence is administrative rather than monetary.
Business.NJ.gov states that "failure to file can result in the revocation of your business"; the State does not publish a specific number of missed years before revocation on that page.
Full New Jersey annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator
Cost traps specific to New Jersey
The State's own fee page is out of date
The live DORES fee schedule at nj.gov/treasury/revenue/fees.shtml still displays $100 for a domestic LLC Certificate of Formation and $100 for a foreign Certificate of Registration. The controlling amount is $125, set by N.J.S. 42:2C-93 as amended by P.L. 2019, c.149 and printed in DORES's own current filing instructions.
The $150-per-owner fee surprises multi-member LLCs
An LLC with three or more owners and New Jersey source income owes $150 per owner (max $250,000) on Form NJ-1065, and must also prepay one-half of that fee toward next year — so a five-member LLC's first bill is $750 plus a $375 prepayment, not $750.
Anniversary-month annual report, not a calendar deadline
The $75 Annual Report is due on the last day of the month in which the LLC was formed, so the deadline differs for every entity and failure to file can lead to revocation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
Every fee above was checked against New Jersey's own published sources on July 29, 2026 — the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services 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 Public Records Filing for New Business Entity (Certificate of Formation) 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:
- https://www.nj.gov/treasury/revenue/pdf/NJ_Public_Records_Filing.pdf
- https://www.nj.gov/treasury/revenue/fees.shtml
- https://pub.njleg.gov/bills/2018/AL19/149_.HTM
- https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/pubs/tb/tb55.pdf
- https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/businesses/partnerships/index.shtml
- https://business.nj.gov/pages/filings-and-accounting