Does this fit you?
- Your business is an LLC or corporation formed or registered with a state.
- You are not sure whether your state expects a report or fee each year.
What it could be worth
Nothing here lowers a tax bill. Knowing the state's date keeps the business in good standing with the state.
How it works
A state can ask a business it formed or registered for a periodic report, a fee, or both. What it asks, and when, is set by each state, and changes from state to state.
SBA guidance, not a tax rule: “Some states require you to provide reports soon after registering depending on your business structure.”
Where to find it. IRS.gov, State government websites: “Visit the state websites below and find information on doing business in the state, taxation, links for employers, and more.” That page links each state's own website, where its business filing office explains its requirement.
A business registered in more than one state looks up each one. SBA guidance, not a tax rule: “Foreign qualified businesses typically need to pay taxes and annual report fees in both their state of formation and states where they’re foreign qualified.”
This guide states no state's rule. GHL can help find the right page for your state; the state's own website is the source.
Sources
What you would do
- List each state the business is formed or registered in.
- Open the IRS page that links each state's website, and find that state's business filing office.
- Write down what it asks, any fee, and the date.
- Put each date on the business's calendar.
Usually a week or two — mostly things you can start yourself.
What usually goes wrong
- Assuming the federal return covers the state. A state's own report or fee is separate.
- Taking a state's requirement from a third-party reminder letter. The state's own website is the source.
- Forgetting a state where the business registered to work, not only the one where it was formed.
Common questions
Does every state ask for an annual report?
Each state sets its own rule, so the answer is on that state's own website. GHL can help you find the page.
A company wrote offering to file our annual report for a fee. Is that from the state?
Check the state's own website, reached from the IRS page that links each state, to see what the state itself asks and charges before answering any letter.
Read next
Keeping it alive
A position is not finished when it is set up. This is what it needs each year to still be there when it matters.
- Confirm it still applies — circumstances change more often than the law does.
- Put the date in the calendar. This one closes at the year end and cannot be added at tax preparation.
- Ask GHL what changed for 2027. Figures move every year and rules move most years.