How Much Does an LLC Cost in Pennsylvania?
By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations 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 Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania charges $125 for the Certificate of Organization (DSCB:15-8821) and, since 2025, $7 every year for the Annual Report (DSCB:15-146), which for LLCs must be filed in the January 1 - September 30 window. Add-ons are comparatively expensive: name reservation $70, a subsistence certificate (Pennsylvania's certificate of good standing) $40, and certified copies $55 plus $3 per page. Expedited service costs $100 same-day, $300 for 3-hour or $1,000 for 1-hour, and is only available for documents hand-delivered in Harrisburg. Regular filings cannot be paid by credit card at all — check or money order only, with cards accepted for expedited services only.
Pennsylvania LLC fee breakdown
| Cost | Amount | How often | Charged by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Organization (DSCB:15-8821) | $125 | One time | Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations |
| Annual Report | $7 | Every year | Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations |
| Required state cost, first year | $132 | — | — |
| Registered agent service (optional) | $50–$300 | Every year | Commercial provider |
| Expedited processing (optional) — Same-day (received before 10:00 a.m.) $100, 3-hour (received before 2:00 p.m.) $300, 1-hour (received before 4:00 p.m.) $1,000 | $100+ | One time | Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations |
| Name reservation (optional) | $70 | One time | Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations |
| Certificate of good standing (optional) | $40 | Per copy | Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations |
Act 135 of 2016 provides a business fee exemption for veteran-owned and reservist-owned small businesses; all Bureau fees are nonrefundable even on rejected filings.
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.
Pennsylvania 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) | $132 | $257 |
| Each year after | $7 | $132 |
| Five-year total | $160 | $785 |
First filing timing: No annual report is due in the calendar year the LLC is formed. The Department of State states: "A company's first annual report is due the year following its formation in Pennsylvania or its initial foreign registration."
Is Pennsylvania expensive compared with other states?
Pennsylvania ranks 19th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost — $102.53 below the $234.53 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 12th.
A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you live and operate in Pennsylvania. Doing business here with an out-of-state LLC generally means registering it as a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania anyway — paying both states. See foreign qualification in Pennsylvania before forming elsewhere to save on fees.
Pennsylvania filing deadline and late penalties
Annual Report
| Frequency | every year |
| Due | September 30 (the LLC filing window is January 1 - September 30) |
| Fee | $7 |
There is no monetary late penalty, but reinstatement after administrative dissolution costs $35 electronically or $40 on paper, plus $15 for each annual report not previously paid.
Act 122 of 2022 built in a transition period: beginning with Annual Reports due in 2027, an association that fails to file in the 2027 calendar year is subject to administrative dissolution/termination/cancellation six months after the report's due date. Once dissolution is filed the association cannot obtain a subsistence certificate and its name becomes available for other associations to use.
Full Pennsylvania annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator
Cost traps specific to Pennsylvania
The annual report is new and catches established LLCs off guard
Act 122 of 2022 repealed Pennsylvania's long-standing decennial report and replaced it with a $7 annual report beginning in calendar year 2025, so an LLC formed years ago that only ever expected a once-a-decade filing now has a September 30 deadline every single year.
Dissolution risk starts with the 2027 report
The Department of State grants a transition period, but associations that fail to file the Annual Report due in 2027 face administrative dissolution six months after the due date, after which the LLC loses the protection of its name and cannot obtain a subsistence certificate.
No credit cards for ordinary filings
The Bureau of Corporations accepts only check or money order for regular filings — cash and credit cards are refused, and cards are accepted for expedited services only — so a $125 Certificate of Organization sent by mail needs a commercially pre-printed, signed check less than six months old.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
Every fee above was checked against Pennsylvania's own published sources on July 29, 2026 — the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations 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 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.pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/fees-and-payments
- https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/types-of-filings-and-registrations/annual-reports
- https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/information-services/expedited-services
- https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/newsroom/department-of-state-alerts-business-owners-about-new-annual-repo
- https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/newsroom/shapiro-admin-maintains-2-to-4-day-processing-time-for-business-
- https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/programs/business/forms/offsite-forms/15-8821-Cert-of-Org-Dom-LLC.pdf
- https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/resources/business/forms/15-146%20annual%20report%20final%2012.4.2024%20with%20watermark.pdf