Your Idaho LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Idaho, which charges no recurring state filing fee, though the LLC keeps whatever obligations Idaho attaches to it, 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, 32 cost more in year-one registration than Idaho's own first-year total of $100, 7 cost less, and 8 cost the same. 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 Idaho
When the Annual Report is due. Before the end of the month in which the LLC's certificate of organization became effective (the anniversary month), each year; the report must be received by the close of business on the final day of that month
Every Idaho fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Idaho.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Idaho’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 ($100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $650 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $650 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $400 more |
| Colorado | $100 | $25/yr | the same |
| Iowa | $100 | $15/yr | the same |
| Maryland | $100 | $300/yr | the same |
| Nebraska | $100 | $12.50/yr | the same |
| New Hampshire | $100 | $100/yr | the same |
| New Mexico | $100 | None | the same |
| Virginia | $100 | $50/yr | the same |
| Wisconsin | $100 | $25/yr | the same |
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 Idaho's own costs
Our notes, from Idaho's published fee schedules and statutes.
Idaho charges $100 for an LLC certificate of organization under Idaho Code 30-21-214(b)(16), but a mailed paper form triggers the $20 manual-data-entry surcharge in subsection (f), making the paper price $120. The annual report is expressly 'No fee' (30-21-214(b)(7)) yet still mandatory. It is due before the end of the LLC's anniversary month each year. Optional speed costs $40 for filing evidence within eight working hours or $100 for same-day service on filings submitted before 1:00 p.m. Mountain time. A certificate of existence is $10 and reinstatement after administrative dissolution is $30.
A free annual report can still cost you the LLC. Idaho charges $0 for the annual report, so there is no invoice to prompt you, but the secretary of state can begin administrative dissolution once the anniversary-month deadline passes, and getting the LLC back costs $30 plus a new filing.
$20 paper surcharge on top of the $100 fee. Idaho Code 30-21-214(f) adds a $20 manual-data-entry surcharge to any form not produced by the state's e-filing system, so mailing the certificate of organization costs $120 instead of $100.
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.