Your Nebraska LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Nebraska, which charges $12.50 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, 24 cost more in year-one registration than Nebraska's own first-year total of $137.50, and 23 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 Nebraska
When the Biennial Report is due. Between January 1 and April 1 of each odd-numbered year (Neb. Rev. Stat. s 21-125). Neither s 21-125 nor s 21-151 states a June delinquency date; what s 21-151 provides is that the Secretary of State may administratively dissolve a company that does not deliver its biennial report within sixty days after the due date.
Every Nebraska fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Nebraska.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Nebraska’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 ($137.50) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $612.50 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $612.50 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $362.50 more |
| Alabama | $150 | None | $12.50 more |
| Arizona | $150 | None | $12.50 more |
| Illinois | $150 | $75/yr | $12.50 more |
| Louisiana | $150 | $30/yr | $12.50 more |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $450/yr | $12.50 more |
| North Dakota | $135 | $50/yr | $2.50 less |
| Florida | $125 | $138.75/yr | $12.50 less |
| New Jersey | $125 | $75/yr | $12.50 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 Nebraska's own costs
Our notes, from Nebraska's published fee schedules and statutes.
Nebraska's Certificate of Organization is $100 filed electronically and $110 filed in writing under Neb. Rev. Stat. 21-192(1)(a), and the same split applies to the biennial report: $25 electronic, $30 paper. Because the report is biennial - due between January 1 and April 1 of odd-numbered years - the recurring Secretary of State cost averages roughly $12.50 a year, the lowest ongoing paperwork cost of these five states apart from Montana's waived report. The real Nebraska-specific cost is publication: Neb. Rev. Stat. 21-193 requires a notice of organization to run for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper near the LLC's designated office, and the proof-of-publication filing itself costs $30 in-office or $25 online on top of whatever the newspaper charges. Name reservation is $30, records copies are $1 per page, and a certificate with the state seal is $10.
Paper filing costs $10 more on formation and $5 more on every report. Neb. Rev. Stat. 21-192(1)(a) charges $110 in writing versus $100 electronically for the Certificate of Organization, and $30 in writing versus $25 electronically for the biennial report. Filing by mail is a pure penalty with no benefit.
Nebraska is a mandatory-publication state. Neb. Rev. Stat. 21-193 requires a notice of organization published for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper near the LLC's designated office, plus a proof-of-publication filing that costs $30 in-office or $25 online. Newspaper rates are set by the paper, not the state, so this is an unbudgeted cost most formation-fee comparisons omit.
June 16 is the real deadline, and missing it can cost $500. The biennial report is due April 1 of odd-numbered years but becomes delinquent June 16, and the SOS then administratively dissolves the LLC. Reinstatement is $30 if handled promptly but the Application for Late Reinstatement is $500.
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.