Every Maryland LLC files Form 1, the combined Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return, with SDAT by April 15. File on time to keep your LLC in good standing.
Maryland LLC annual reports are due April 15 and cost $300 to file. See details below.
Filing the Maryland annual report, with the state's own fee and deadline. Source: Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation.
Annual Report at a Glance
Due Date
April 15
Fee
$300
Filing Method
Online or mail
Late Penalty
No flat late fee. SDAT charges an initial penalty of 1/10 of one percent of the county assessment, plus interest of two percent of that penalty for each 30 days the return is late
Collect your LLC's SDAT Department ID number, federal tax ID number, current resident agent information, principal office address, and member or manager details. Form 1 also covers business personal property, so pull together the cost and acquisition year of any furniture, fixtures, tools, machinery, or equipment your LLC owns in Maryland.
2
Access the Maryland Business Express Portal
Maryland LLC filings go to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), not the Secretary of State. Start from SDAT's business pages at dat.maryland.gov/businesses and open the Maryland Business Express filing system. First-time users create an account before filing.
3
Complete Form 1
Fill out the Annual Report section (business activity, resident agent, principal office, and any changes to your LLC) and then the Business Personal Property Return section. Review every field before you submit, because the personal property figures you report feed the county assessment your local tax bill is based on.
4
Pay the $300 Filing Fee
Every domestic and foreign Maryland LLC owes $300, the same figure charged to stock corporations, limited partnerships, LLPs, and statutory trusts. Paying through Maryland Business Express adds a 3% service and convenience fee on top. A business approved by MarylandSaves can have the Annual Report filing fee waived for that year.
5
Save Your Confirmation
Download and keep the filing confirmation with your business records. You can confirm SDAT has posted the filing by looking your LLC up in SDAT's business entity search. If you need more time, request a 60-day extension, which moves the deadline to June 15. Under Md. Tax-Property § 14-704(c) an electronic request is due on or before April 15 and a paper request on or before March 15.
Ready to file your annual report?
Go directly to the Maryland Secretary of State portal.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because the penalty for missing a deadline can be administrative dissolution of the company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Maryland charges no flat late fee. Instead, SDAT states that an entity filing an annual return postmarked after the April 15 due date "will receive an initial penalty of 1/10 of one percent of the county assessment, plus interest at the rate of two percent of the initial penalty amount for each 30 days or part thereof that the return is late." Because the penalty is calculated from your county assessment rather than a fixed dollar amount, SDAT instructs filers not to prepay any anticipated penalty. SDAT bills for it after the fact. Skipping the filing altogether is far more expensive: SDAT states that entities which fail to file "will receive estimated assessments which will be twice the estimated value of the personal property owned," and that failure to file "will result in forfeiture of the Maryland charter or the right to do business in Maryland." Getting the LLC back requires Articles of Reinstatement, which cost $100, plus $50 more if you want the reinstatement expedited. File Form 1 by April 15, or request the 60-day extension to June 15 electronically on or before that date, or by paper document on or before March 15.
You file with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), not the Secretary of State. Start at dat.maryland.gov/businesses and use the Maryland Business Express online filing system, or submit the paper Form 1 by mail. The fee is $300 either way, though the online portal adds a 3% service and convenience fee to card and electronic payments.
The filing is Form 1, the combined Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return. It asks you to confirm your LLC's resident agent, principal office address, and business activity, and to report the business personal property your LLC owns in Maryland.
Online filing gives you an immediate confirmation you can save for your records. Keep it, because it is your evidence of a timely filing if SDAT's records are ever questioned.
If April 15 is too soon, request a 60-day extension and the deadline moves to June 15. The request is due electronically by April 15, or by paper document by March 15.
$300 a year, paid to the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, due April 15. SDAT's 2026 Form 1 sets that same $300 for every domestic or foreign limited liability company, with no reduced rate for small or inactive LLCs. Filing online through Maryland Business Express adds a 3% service and convenience fee on top of the $300. The one break available to an LLC is the MarylandSaves fee waiver: a business approved by MarylandSaves pays no Annual Report filing fee for that year. At $300, the report costs three times Maryland's $100 formation fee and is the largest recurring state charge most Maryland LLCs face, since Maryland imposes no franchise tax or minimum entity tax on LLCs. Budget for it in early April every year, and remember that the Business Personal Property Return filed with it can generate a separate county personal property tax bill if your LLC owns reportable property.
April 15. SDAT's 2026 Form 1 states that "all domestic and foreign business entities should file their 2026 reports, or request a 60 day extension to file, on or before April 15, 2026." An approved 60-day extension moves the due date to June 15. The April 15 date applies to every Maryland LLC regardless of when it was formed, and SDAT does not publish a separate first-year rule on the form. The filing is Form 1, the combined Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return, and it costs $300 whether you file online through Maryland Business Express or on paper. A return postmarked after April 15 draws an initial penalty of 1/10 of one percent of the county assessment plus interest of two percent of that penalty for each 30 days it is late, so set a calendar reminder for early April and file with time to spare.
No. SDAT requires every domestic and foreign business entity on its records, LLCs included, to file Form 1 each year, whether or not the LLC did any business. There is no small-entity or inactive-entity exemption. What does exist is a fee waiver rather than a filing exemption: a business approved by MarylandSaves pays no Annual Report filing fee for that year but still files the report. The obligation ends only when the entity itself is off SDAT's active rolls, for example after Articles of Dissolution, a merger into another entity, or forfeiture of the charter for non-filing. Note that forfeiture is not a clean exit, because Articles of Reinstatement cost $100, plus $50 more to expedite, and SDAT can issue estimated assessments at twice the estimated value of the personal property owned. If you are unsure of your LLC's current status, look it up in SDAT's business entity search at dat.maryland.gov before assuming you owe nothing.
Sources
Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Maryland 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.
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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.
