LLC Formation Cost

Aissam Baidi

Founder and researcher behind llcformationcost.com. I compile the 51-jurisdiction LLC fee dataset directly from each state’s Secretary of State website and IRS publications, refreshing every quarter.

What I do here

I run the data verification cycle for every fee and rule on this site. The work breaks into four parts:

  1. Quarterly state SOS verification. Every 90 days I re-check all 51 jurisdiction (50 states + DC) Secretary of State websites for changes to filing fees, annual report fees, and franchise tax structures. Every change gets logged and pushed to the underlying CSV dataset.
  2. IRS and FinCEN rule monitoring. I track changes to the federal LLC tax rules — entity classification (Form 8832), S-corp election (Form 2553), self-employment tax wage base, and the FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirement. Material changes trigger off-cycle content updates.
  3. Original 50-state cost analyses. I publish the original data study on cheapest/most-expensive LLC states and the franchise tax landscape, all sourced directly from primary state and federal data.
  4. Methodology documentation. Every fact on the site is traceable to a source URL with a lastVerifiedDate. The full methodology is at /methodology.

Why this site exists

When I started researching LLC costs for my own business formation in 2024, I noticed the top results on Google for “LLC cost by state” were all secondary aggregators — none cited the state SOS directly, and many had stale numbers (off by $50-$200 in places). LegalZoom’s guide was the most-cited but written for sales conversion, not for accuracy.

I built llcformationcost.com to be the canonical reference: every number sourced directly to a .gov URL, every fact timestamped with a verification date, and the full underlying dataset published as CC BY 4.0 CSV for anyone to audit or fork. The site exists to be the citation source the next aggregator should use, including Wikipedia, academic researchers, and state legislators benchmarking their own fee policies.

My background

I’m a digital researcher and analyst with 8+ years of experience compiling structured data from public-records sources. My focus areas:

  • US business formation and small-business compliance
  • State and federal regulatory tracking
  • Public-records data normalization

Connect with me on LinkedIn — I respond to founders with formation questions and accept correction submissions to the dataset.

Reviewer pending

The site’s expert reviewer slot — a credentialed CPA or licensed attorney — is open as of 2026-04-25 and being filled before the v1 launch (target close: May 15, 2026). The reviewer’s name, credential, license number where applicable, and review date will appear at the top of every page once the role is filled.

The interim is not a quality compromise: every figure on the site is sourced directly from the state SOS website that charges the fee. The reviewer adds the legal and CPA judgment layer (when does the S-corp election make sense? what counts as nexus?) — not the basic data verification layer (which is mine).

How I source data

For each of the 51 jurisdictions:

  1. Open the state’s official Secretary of State website
  2. Navigate to the LLC formation forms or fee schedule page
  3. Record the current filing fee, annual report fee, expedite options, and franchise tax (where applicable)
  4. Cross-reference against the state Department of Revenue or Comptroller for any tax-related fees
  5. Stamp the entry with lastVerifiedDate and the canonical source URL
  6. Update the master dataset and propagate to all relevant pages

For federal rules: IRS publications, FinCEN guidance, SSA wage base announcements. Same verification process, different primary sources.

The full source list (51 state SOS URLs + 10 federal sources) is on the methodology page.

Conflicts of interest

I do not accept payments from formation services (ZenBusiness, LegalZoom, Northwest, Bizee, Tailor Brands, etc.). When the site discusses these services, the analysis is independent and based on published market pricing.

The site monetizes via display advertising (Ezoic + AdSense) and an upcoming AI-feature subscription. Formation service affiliate links may be added in v2 with full disclosure; as of 2026-04-25 launch, none are active.

Corrections

If you find an inaccuracy, email [email protected] or open an issue on the public correction tracker. Each correction triggers re-verification against the source URL and a logged response within 5 business days.

Common types of corrections I receive:

  • A state changed its fee (most often Q3 around fiscal-year transitions)
  • A federal rule shifted (FinCEN BOI is the most active in this category)
  • A typo in a number that was correct in the dataset but mis-rendered

Get in touch

Not legal advice. Estimates based on publicly available data from each state’s Secretary of State office. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.

Not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.