Your Florida LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Florida, which charges $138.75 a year to keep it in good standing, and a state that finds you are doing business there adds its own registration and its own filings on top. Whether your activity counts is decided by that state's own rule, not by this page. Of the 47 other states that have one figure to compare, 8 cost more in year-one registration than Florida's own first-year total of $263.75, and 39 cost less. Tennessee and Washington are outside those figures: Tennessee's fee scales with member count from $300, and Washington's $180 is before back fees, so neither has one figure to compare.
What you keep paying in Florida
When the Annual Report is due. Between January 1 and May 1 of each calendar year (Fla. Stat. § 605.0212(3)); "your payment voucher and check or money order must be postmarked and mailed on or before May 1 to avoid a late fee"
Every Florida fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Florida.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Florida’s own cost line, plus the three dearest to enter. Each figure is that state’s first-year registration cost for an out-of-state LLC, beside what it charges every year after. Whether your activity counts as doing business there depends on the facts, and each state defines it differently.
| State | Year one to register | State charges, each year after | Against your year one ($263.75) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $486.25 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $486.25 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $236.25 more |
| Oregon | $275 | $100/yr | $11.25 more |
| Arkansas | $270 | $150/yr | $6.25 more |
| Maine | $250 | $85/yr | $13.75 less |
| Mississippi | $250 | None | $13.75 less |
| North Carolina | $250 | $200/yr | $13.75 less |
| New York | $250 | from $29.50/yr | $13.75 less |
| Pennsylvania | $250 | $7/yr | $13.75 less |
| Georgia | $235 | $60/yr | $28.75 less |
A state charge of None is not a tax of none. The column is the recurring charge our fee dataset records, and a state that asks for no recurring filing may still levy an entity-level tax that sits outside it.
What we verified about Florida's own costs
Our notes, from Florida's published fee schedules and statutes.
Florida's real LLC formation cost is $125, not $100: the Division of Corporations requires both a $100.00 filing fee and a $25.00 registered agent designation fee, and only reaches its advertised $160.00 "TOTAL" by adding an optional $30.00 certified copy and $5.00 certificate of status. The annual report is $138.75 and jumps to $538.75 the moment it is received after May 1, a flat $400 late fee that Florida applies to LLCs by name, exempting only non-profit corporations. Miss it entirely and the LLC is administratively dissolved on the fourth Friday of September, after which reinstatement costs $100.00 plus every missed annual report fee. Florida sells no expedited service; instead it publishes a live processing queue, which on 07/29/2026 stood at online new-entity filings received 07/24/2026.
$400 late fee applies to LLCs and there is no way to buy it down. Filing the annual report one day after May 1 costs $538.75 instead of $138.75. Florida explicitly names limited liability companies as subject to the $400 late fee; only non-profit corporations are exempt.
The advertised $100 filing fee is really $125. Florida charges a mandatory $25.00 Registered Agent Fee on top of the $100.00 filing fee for every new LLC, so no Florida LLC can be formed for less than $125.00.
Administrative dissolution on the fourth Friday of September. An unfiled annual report leads to administrative dissolution at the close of business on the fourth Friday of September; reinstatement costs $100.00 plus each year's $138.75 report fee, and until you file, Fla. Stat. § 605.0212(6) bars the LLC from maintaining or defending any court action in Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.