Your Maryland LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Maryland, which charges $300 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, 4 cost more in year-one registration than Maryland's own first-year total of $400, and 43 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 Maryland
When the Annual Report is due. April 15th
Every Maryland fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Maryland.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Maryland’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 ($400) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $350 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $350 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $100 more |
| Nevada | $425 | $350/yr | $25 more |
| Alaska | $350 | $50/yr | $50 less |
| Oklahoma | $300 | $25/yr | $100 less |
| Tennessee | at least $300 | from $400/yr | not comparable, this is a floor |
| Oregon | $275 | $100/yr | $125 less |
| Arkansas | $270 | $150/yr | $130 less |
| Maine | $250 | $85/yr | $150 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.
Nevada's figure is the mandatory first-year bundle (filing fee, initial list and state business licence), not the $75 filing fee alone.
What we verified about Maryland's own costs
Our notes, from Maryland's published fee schedules and statutes.
Maryland LLC filings go to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, not the Secretary of State. Articles of Organization are $100, but standard non-expedited review takes 6 to 8 weeks. You pay $50 more for expedited review within 7-10 business days, $325 for same-day online review, or $425 for same-day paper review. The recurring cost is the real story: every domestic and foreign LLC owes a $300 Annual Report (Form 1) by April 15, three times the formation fee, with a 60-day extension to June 15 available on request, requested electronically by April 15 or by paper document by March 15 under Md. Tax-Property § 14-704(c). Filing online through Maryland Business Express adds a 3% service/convenience fee, and a business approved by MarylandSaves can have its Annual Report filing fee waived.
The $300 annual report is triple the formation fee. Maryland charges $100 to form an LLC but $300 every year on Form 1, one of the highest annual charges in the country. Only an SDAT Certified Family Farm pays less ($100), and non-stock corporations pay $0. Ordinary LLCs get no discount.
Six to eight weeks unless you pay to jump the queue. SDAT states standard non-expedited review is 6 to 8 weeks. Expedited review costs $50 and takes 7-10 business days; same-day service costs $325 online or $425 for hand-delivered paper. Budget the expedite fee if you need an EIN or bank account soon.
Late penalty is percentage-based, and non-filing doubles your assessment. A late Form 1 draws an initial penalty of 1/10 of one percent of the county assessment plus 2% interest on that penalty per 30 days. Fail to file at all and SDAT issues an estimated assessment at twice the estimated value of your personal property, then forfeits your Maryland charter.
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.