Your Kansas LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Kansas, which charges $45 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, 25 cost more in year-one registration than Kansas's own first-year total of $130, and 22 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 Kansas
When the Biennial Report is due. April 15 of the LLC's respective odd or even year (for-profit entities)
Every Kansas fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Kansas.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Kansas’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 ($130) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $620 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $620 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $370 more |
| Alabama | $150 | None | $20 more |
| Arizona | $150 | None | $20 more |
| Illinois | $150 | $75/yr | $20 more |
| Louisiana | $150 | $30/yr | $20 more |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50/yr | $5 more |
| Florida | $125 | $138.75/yr | $5 less |
| New Jersey | $125 | $75/yr | $5 less |
| Connecticut | $120 | $80/yr | $10 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 Kansas's own costs
Our notes, from Kansas's published fee schedules and statutes.
Kansas is one of the cheapest states to start and keep an LLC after the Secretary of State's 2026 fee overhaul, the first comprehensive fee update since 2008: Articles of Organization are $85 online and $90 paper, aligning LLC formation with the $90 corporate fee. Kansas is also unusual in charging its periodic report only every two years, $90 online or $110 paper, tied to whether the LLC was formed in an odd or even year. There is no Kansas franchise tax for tax year 2011 and after, so the biennial report is the only recurring state charge. The real cost risk is forfeiture: reinstatement is $35 plus an $85 penalty plus $110 for each missed report, up to $670.
Biennial report costs more than forming the LLC. The information report is $90 online or $110 on paper, more than the $85 online formation fee, and it is easy to forget because it is only due every other year.
Report year depends on your formation year. An LLC organized in an even year does not owe its first information report until April 15 of the next even year, so a company formed in early 2026 has nothing due until April 15, 2028. Which is exactly how owners lose track of it.
Forfeiture is far more expensive than the report. After the three-month delinquency window the entity forfeits and can file nothing else with the Secretary of State; Form RL reinstatement costs $35 plus an $85 penalty plus $110 per past-due report, up to $670.
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.