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

The Department of State charges $125 to file the Certificate of Organization (DSCB:15-8821) for a domestic LLC. Processing has run two to four days. Optional expedited service is $100 same-day, $300 for 3-hour or $1,000 for 1-hour, but only for documents hand-delivered in Harrisburg. Veteran-owned and reservist-owned small businesses may qualify for a fee exemption under a 2016 Pennsylvania law.

Does a Pennsylvania LLC have to file an annual report?

Yes, starting in 2025. A 2022 Pennsylvania law created an Annual Report (DSCB:15-146) that costs $7 for LLCs, and the LLC filing window runs January 1 through September 30 each year. The long-standing decennial report has been repealed. Your first annual report is due the year after formation, not in your formation year.

When is the Pennsylvania LLC annual report due?

September 30. Domestic and foreign LLCs can file any time from January 1 through September 30 and pay $7. The Department of State mails a notice to the registered office address at least two months before the deadline, but it says failure to receive that notice does not relieve the LLC of the obligation to file.

Pennsylvania LLC Cost (2026)

By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations fee schedule

In Pennsylvania, the first-year state cost of an LLC is $132, before any registered-agent service. Forming an LLC in Pennsylvania costs $125 to file the Certificate of Organization with the state, the Annual Report costs $7 every year.

Bar chart of LLC costs in Pennsylvania: $132 in unavoidable state charges in the first year and $7 a year after that. Pennsylvania charges $7 for its annual report. — The recurring figure covers the annual report plus any flat state entity tax. Source: Pennsylvania's published filing fee schedule, verified July 2026.

Certificate of Organization$125

Annual Report$7

First-year state cost$132

Five-year state cost$160

How much does it cost to form an LLC 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.

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

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
Required state cost, first year	$132	N/A	N/A
Registered agent service (optional)	$50 to $300	Every year	Commercial provider
Expedite and special handling fees in our record: 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 to $1,000, by option	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

A 2016 Pennsylvania law provides a business fee exemption for veteran-owned and reservist-owned small businesses; all Bureau fees are nonrefundable even on rejected filings.

The Department of State states in terms that "No advertising is required when forming a domestic limited liability company", and Pennsylvania's LLC statute requires only the company name and the address of its registered office. Pennsylvania's advertising duty is a CORPORATE one: a business incorporating advertises its intent to file articles of incorporation. It does not reach LLCs.

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 Pennsylvania.

Next steps for an LLC in Pennsylvania

What does a 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/yr	$132/yr
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 17th cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost , $100.16 below the $232.16 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 12th.

Cheaper state	First-year cost	You would save
Montana	$35	$97
Arizona	$50	$82
Missouri	$50	$82

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.

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

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.

A 2022 Pennsylvania law 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

What cost traps are specific to Pennsylvania?

The annual report is new and catches established LLCs off guard

A 2022 Pennsylvania law 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

: The Department of State charges $125 to file the Certificate of Organization (DSCB:15-8821) for a domestic LLC. Processing has run two to four days. Optional expedited service is $100 same-day, $300 for 3-hour or $1,000 for 1-hour, but only for documents hand-delivered in Harrisburg. Veteran-owned and reservist-owned small businesses may qualify for a fee exemption under a 2016 Pennsylvania law.
: Yes, starting in 2025. A 2022 Pennsylvania law created an Annual Report (DSCB:15-146) that costs $7 for LLCs, and the LLC filing window runs January 1 through September 30 each year. The long-standing decennial report has been repealed. Your first annual report is due the year after formation, not in your formation year.
: September 30. Domestic and foreign LLCs can file any time from January 1 through September 30 and pay $7. The Department of State mails a notice to the registered office address at least two months before the deadline, but it says failure to receive that notice does not relieve the LLC of the obligation to file.
: Nothing yet for 2025 and 2026 reports, because Act 122 provides a transition period. Beginning with Annual Reports due in 2027, an entity that fails to file is subject to administrative dissolution six months after the due date, losing its name protection and its ability to obtain a subsistence certificate. Reinstatement costs $35 online or $40 on paper plus $15 for each unpaid annual report.

Where do 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.

Sources

12 documents

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

pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/fees-and-payments
pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/types-of-filings-and-registrations/annual-reports
pa.gov/agencies/dos/programs/business/information-services/expedited-services
pa.gov/agencies/dos/newsroom/department-of-state-alerts-business-owners-about-new-annual-repo
pa.gov/agencies/dos/newsroom/shapiro-admin-maintains-2-to-4-day-processing-time-for-business-
pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/programs/business/forms/offsite-forms/15-8821-Cert-of-Org-Dom-LLC.pdf
pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/resources/business/forms/15-146%20annual%20report%20final%2012.4.2024%20with%20watermark.pdf
Pennsylvania bill: Act 135 of 2016 (veteran and reservist fee exemption)
Pennsylvania bill: Act 122 of 2022 (annual report and administrative dissolution)
Pennsylvania statute: 15 Pa.C.S. 8821 (certificate of organization contents)
Pennsylvania bill: Act 122 of 2022 (annual report replacing decennial report)
Pennsylvania bill: Act 122 of 2022 (annual report)

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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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