Your North Dakota LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in North Dakota, which charges $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, 15 cost more in year-one registration than North Dakota's own first-year total of $185, 31 cost less, and 1 costs 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 North Dakota
When the Annual Report is due. Before November sixteenth of each year (i.e. on or before November 15)
Every North Dakota fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in North Dakota.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to North Dakota’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 ($185) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $565 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $565 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $315 more |
| Delaware | $200 | $400/yr | $15 more |
| Minnesota | $185 | None | the same |
| Washington | at least $180 | $70/yr | not comparable, this is a floor |
| Vermont | $155 | $45/yr | $30 less |
| Alabama | $150 | None | $35 less |
| Arizona | $150 | None | $35 less |
| Illinois | $150 | $75/yr | $35 less |
| Louisiana | $150 | $30/yr | $35 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 North Dakota's own costs
Our notes, from North Dakota's published fee schedules and statutes.
North Dakota's $135 filing fee for Articles of Organization is the highest of these five states, and the same $135 applies to a foreign LLC certificate of authority and to reinstatement (NDCC 10-32.1-92). The annual report is $50, due before November 16 each year, and NDCC 10-32.1-92(25)(a) adds a separate $50 late fee - so a late report costs $100. A certificate of good standing is $15 plus a $5 records-search charge ($20 total) and a name reservation is $10. There is no franchise or privilege tax on LLCs, so $50 a year is the full ongoing state cost of a compliant North Dakota LLC.
The annual report deadline is November 15, not the spring date most states use. NDCC 10-32.1-89(3) requires the report before November 16. Note also that Farm/Ranch LLCs and ALF LLCs have an April 15 deadline instead, so the correct date depends on which LLC type you registered.
The $50 late fee doubles the report cost. NDCC 10-32.1-92(25)(a)(1) charges an additional $50 for an annual report filed after November 15, so the report goes from $50 to $100 the day after the deadline.
Termination happens by operation of law, not by a hearing. Under NDCC 10-32.1-90(1)(b) an LLC that has not filed its report and fees within six months after the November 16 deadline ceases to exist automatically, and the Secretary of State's determination is final. Reinstatement then costs $135.
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.