Your Virginia LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Virginia, 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, 17 cost more in year-one registration than Virginia's own first-year total of $150, 23 cost less, and 7 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 Virginia
When the Annual Report is due. "Your due date is the last day of the month your business was organized or registered" (SCC). Code of Virginia § 13.1-1062 states it as "on or before the last day of the twelfth month next succeeding the month in which it was organized, established, or registered, and by such date in each year thereafter."
Every Virginia fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Virginia.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Virginia’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 ($150) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $600 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $600 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $350 more |
| Vermont | $155 | $45/yr | $5 more |
| Alabama | $150 | None | the same |
| Arizona | $150 | None | the same |
| Illinois | $150 | $75/yr | the same |
| Louisiana | $150 | $30/yr | the same |
| Rhode Island | $150 | $450/yr | the same |
| West Virginia | $150 | $25/yr | the same |
| Wyoming | $150 | from $60/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 Virginia's own costs
Our notes, from Virginia's published fee schedules and statutes.
Virginia charges $100 to file Articles of Organization (form LLC1011) and $50 a year as an annual registration fee - note that Virginia LLCs pay a registration fee rather than filing an annual report. The fee is due on the last day of the month in which the LLC was organized, the SCC assesses it and notifies you two months ahead, and you cannot pay before being assessed. Missing it adds a $25 penalty and, if still unpaid, the LLC is cancelled on the last day of the third month after the due date; reinstatement then costs $100 plus the unpaid fees. Optional costs are a $10 120-day name reservation, a $25 amendment or name change, and expedited review at $50 (next day) or $200 (same day) for online filings only.
You cannot pay the annual registration fee early. The SCC assesses the $50 fee and sends notice two months before the due date, and states "you may not pay your fee prior to being assessed." There is no way to pay ahead and forget about it.
Three months late means cancellation, not just a penalty. After the $25 late penalty, an unpaid Virginia LLC is cancelled on the last day of the third month following the due date. Reinstatement costs $100 plus every unpaid fee.
Expedited service does not work on paper. Next Day ($50) and Same Day ($200) review are available only for filings submitted online through CIS; the SCC states "You may not expedite a paper submission," expedite fees are nonrefundable, and a resubmission needs a new expedite fee.
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.