Ohio LLC Filing Fee (2026): $99 Once, and No Annual Report

The bottom line: the Ohio LLC filing fee is $99, and on regular service that is every dollar the state will ask for to create your company. There is no renewal invoice waiting a year later, either. Ohio sits in a small group of states that never bill an LLC for an annual report.

That combination makes Ohio one of the cheaper places to own an LLC, but “cheap to the Secretary of State” is not the same as “free to run.” This guide covers the fee itself, the expedite math, the statutory agent rule that trips up virtual-mailbox users, and the two taxes that older guides still get wrong.

How much is an Ohio LLC in 2026?

If you are asking how much is an Ohio LLC, the state’s answer is $99. One payment. It goes in with your Articles of Organization (Form 610), whether you file online through Ohio Business Central or put the form in the mail. The Secretary of State’s fee schedule prices Form 610 at $99.00 and says it replaced the old Form 533A. If a guide still tells you to file 533A, be suspicious of the rest of its numbers.

Your real Ohio LLC cost moves only if you add extras. Regular service is free; expect 3 to 7 business days. Pay for Expedite Service 1, 2, or 3 and the total climbs to $199, $299, or $399. Most owners never touch the name reservation ($39) or the preclearance review ($50).

For a single number that includes your own picks, plug them into our LLC formation cost calculator. For most filers, though, the math ends at $99.

The Ohio LLC filing fee and every related charge

Here is the full schedule around the Ohio LLC filing fee. You have to pay the first row. Everything under it buys speed or convenience, or covers a change you may make years from now, if ever.

Notice what the list is missing: a renewal line. The Ohio LLC filing fee is a one-time purchase, and the only other state charges come from choices you make or events that may never happen.

Where the $99 comes from: Form 610 and ORC 111.16

The Ohio LLC filing fee was not set by policy memo. Ohio Revised Code 111.16(F) writes the fee for an LLC’s articles of organization into law: ninety-nine dollars. Registering a foreign LLC costs $99 under the same division. House Bill 315 of the 135th General Assembly rewrote the section, effective April 3, 2025, and left the $99 alone. Only the legislature can move it, so the number tends to sit still for years.

The form itself is short. Form 610 asks for the LLC’s name, which under ORC 1706.07 has to include “limited liability company,” “LLC,” “L.L.C.,” “limited,” “ltd.,” or “ltd” and be distinguishable from other names on the Secretary of State’s records. It also collects your statutory agent’s details and signature.

Two practical points. Payment can be cash, check, money order, or credit card; the statute allows each of them. Your LLC also doesn’t have to exist the day you file. Under ORC 1706.172(D), the articles can name a delayed effective date up to 90 days after the state receives them. People use that to start the company on January 1 or on the day a deal closes. The cost to file LLC in Ohio is the same $99 either way.

Paying for speed: Ohio’s three expedite tiers

Regular service costs nothing extra and runs 3 to 7 business days. If that works for you, stop reading this section. If it does not, Form 610’s own instructions list three paid tiers, each charged on top of the Ohio LLC filing fee:

• Expedite Service 1: +$100. Processed 2 business days after receipt. Total with the filing fee: $199.
• Expedite Service 2: +$200. Processed 1 business day after receipt. Total: $299. The form does not require in-person delivery for this tier.
• Expedite Service 3: +$300. In-person delivery is required. Documents received by 1:00 p.m. are processed in 4 hours; anything later is done by noon the following business day. Total: $399.

One detail to watch: the form says that if you leave off the expedite fee or skip the selection, you get regular service. Pay the extra and check the box, or the rush does not happen.

There is also a $50 preclearance option. You send a draft, the Secretary of State reviews it within 1 to 2 business days, and you file with fewer surprises. It is worth it mainly for unusual articles, not a plain single-member LLC.

Put the plain Ohio LLC filing fee of $99 next to a $399 rush and most people have their answer. Pay for speed when a lender, landlord, or contract deadline needs proof of the company this week. Otherwise, wait the few days.

The statutory agent: Ohio’s one standing requirement

Ohio calls a registered agent a statutory agent: the person or company that accepts lawsuits and official notices for the LLC. Under ORC 1706.09, every Ohio LLC has to appoint one and keep one. Per Form 610, the agent must be either an individual who lives in Ohio or a business entity with an Ohio address, and the agent signs the Acceptance of Appointment that comes with the form.

The address rule is where filings get bounced. The agent’s address has to be a real Ohio street address. P.O. boxes are not allowed (unless paired with a rural route number), and neither are commercial mail receiving agency addresses, the private mailboxes sold at shipping stores and by many virtual-address services. If your business address is a mailbox, you will generally need a separate agent with a physical location.

Serving as your own agent costs nothing if you live in Ohio. Commercial agent services charge their own yearly prices, which the state does not set, and that cost sits outside the Ohio LLC filing fee entirely. If your agent changes later, the Statutory Agent Update (Form 521) costs $25.

Ohio LLC cost per year: no report, no renewal

Here is the part that makes Ohio stand out. Ohio does not charge LLCs an annual or biennial report fee, so your Ohio LLC cost per year to the Secretary of State is $0. Our verified 50-state LLC fee table lists Ohio at $99 to form and $0 recurring, with no annual report.

The statute points the same way. ORC 111.16 does list a $25 biennial report fee, but only for filings under sections 1775.63, 1776.83, and 1785.06, which cover partnerships and professional associations. Chapter 1706, the LLC chapter, has no periodic report fee in that list.

Across the country, that puts Ohio in a small club. Nine states charge $0 in recurring report fees: Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. For one of those peers with a very different price to get in the door, see how the Texas LLC fee compares.

“No annual report” is not the same as “no obligations.” Your statutory agent still has to be valid. And there’s tax, which is where the next section picks up.

The costs that do show up: CAT and city income tax

Once the Ohio LLC filing fee clears, any recurring dollar Ohio might want from you is a tax. Two of them are worth knowing by name.

The Commercial Activity Tax (CAT). The CAT is a tax on gross receipts. That means sales, before a single expense comes off. The Ohio Department of Taxation says that for tax years 2025 and later it reaches only businesses with more than $6 million a year in Ohio taxable gross receipts. A bakery or a two-person consulting shop won’t get close. Past the exclusion the rate is 0.26%, and you get 30 days after crossing the $6 million mark to register.

You will still find guides quoting a $150,000 threshold and a $150 minimum tax. Both are gone. The $150,000 line was the rule before tax year 2024. For 2024 itself the threshold jumped to $3 million, and starting in 2024 the Annual Minimum Tax no longer applied. So when a page tells a new one-person LLC to set money aside for a CAT minimum, look at when it was written.

Municipal net profit tax. This one does land on small businesses. Ohio cities tax business net profit locally, and the Secretary of State has nothing to do with it. There’s a shortcut, though. The state’s municipal tax page explains that since tax year 2018 a business can opt in under ORC 718.80 and let the Ohio Department of Taxation handle the filing through the Ohio Business Gateway. Each city picks its own rate and rules. Call yours, or look up its tax office online, before your first year closes.

What if taxes slide badly enough? Under ORC 111.16(Q), an entity cancelled by operation of law, by the Secretary of State, or by order of the Department of Taxation pays $25 to reinstate. Keep your filings current and you won’t meet that fee. Wondering how Ohio’s gross receipts tax stacks up against franchise and minimum taxes in other states? Our LLC franchise tax by state guide lays it out.

Your year-one Ohio LLC calendar

No report cycle means a short first-year calendar, and most of it happens once. Paste it into your notes and add your own dates.

Before filing (optional): Reserve the name with Form 534B for $39. Order a $50 preclearance review (1-2 business days) only if your articles are unusual.
Before filing (required): Confirm a statutory agent with an Ohio street address. No P.O. box, no CMRA private mailbox. The agent signs the Acceptance of Appointment in Form 610.
Filing day: File Form 610 at Ohio Business Central or by mail and pay the $99 Ohio LLC filing fee. Regular service = 3-7 business days. Expedite: +$100 (2 business days), +$200 (1 business day), +$300 (4 hours, in person, received by 1:00 p.m.). Optional delayed effective date: up to 90 days after receipt.
Right after approval: Get your EIN free from the IRS.
First weeks: Ask your city about municipal net profit tax registration, or look at the ORC 718.80 opt-in for state administration through the Ohio Business Gateway.
Every year: No Secretary of State report and no report fee for Ohio LLCs.
Only if Ohio taxable gross receipts pass $6 million: Register for the Commercial Activity Tax within 30 days (rate 0.26%).
If your agent changes: File Form 521 ($25).

The EIN is your LLC’s federal tax ID. Your bank will want it before it opens a business account, and payroll runs on it. The IRS issues it free. The agency also warns about websites that charge for one; you’d be paying for something you can get yourself at no cost.

Optional extras: name holds, certificates, and later changes

The fee schedule has a few more lines. They aren’t part of the Ohio LLC filing fee, and Ohio LLC registration doesn’t require any of them. Over the life of a company, you might run into one or two.

• Name reservation, $39 (Form 534B). That’s the ORC 111.16(S)(1) price for holding a name you plan to use later. Moving the hold to someone else, or cancelling it, costs $25. Filing Form 610 this week? Don’t bother.
• Certificates and copies. A certificate of good standing or other copy request (Form 500) costs $5. Under ORC 111.16(K)(1), plain copies of filed papers run no more than $1 per page. Most owners order one only because a bank or lender asked.
• Amendments, $50 (Form 611). Renaming the LLC or fixing other details in the articles later means a Certificate of Amendment or Restatement, at $50.
• Foreign LLC registration, $99 (Form 617). Formed your LLC somewhere else and now doing business in Ohio? Registration costs the same $99 a domestic formation does.

For a typical owner, the realistic extras come to one $5 certificate for the bank, if that.

Ohio vs. the national field, and the cheapest way to file

At $99, the Ohio LLC filing fee sits a dollar under the national median of $100. The average runs higher, about $122, because a few pricey states drag it up (our 50-state filing fee comparison has every state).

Look at the recurring column. A state can undercut Ohio at the door and still cost more within a few years, once its yearly report fees stack up. In Ohio, the Secretary of State’s lifetime bill for your LLC stays at $99.

Doing it the cheap way looks like this:

1. Pick a name that includes “LLC” or another approved ending and is distinguishable on state records. Skip the $39 reservation if you are filing soon.
2. Line up your statutory agent at an Ohio street address, or serve yourself if you live in Ohio.
3. File Form 610 online through Ohio Business Central and pay the $99 Ohio LLC filing fee on regular service.
4. Get your EIN directly from the IRS at no charge.
5. Ask your city whether you need to register for its net profit tax. Write an operating agreement while you’re at it.

Total damage: the $99 Ohio LLC filing fee and an afternoon at the kitchen table. Anything past that is your call, and you now know what each extra costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to start an LLC in Ohio?

The Ohio LLC filing fee is $99, paid once to the Secretary of State when you file Articles of Organization (Form 610). On regular service, which takes 3 to 7 business days, that is the full state cost. Faster processing is optional: Expedite Service 1 adds $100, Expedite Service 2 adds $200, and Expedite Service 3 adds $300 for in-person, 4-hour handling. Other extras are optional too, including a $39 name reservation and a $50 preclearance review. The EIN from the IRS is free, so a do-it-yourself filer can realistically form an Ohio LLC for $99.

Does an Ohio LLC have to file an annual report?

No. Ohio does not charge LLCs an annual or biennial report fee, and there is no yearly renewal with the Secretary of State. Ohio is one of nine states with $0 in recurring report fees. That does not mean the LLC has no ongoing duties. It needs to keep a statutory agent with an Ohio street address on file, and changing that agent costs $25. Taxes also still apply, most commonly your city’s net profit tax, and the Commercial Activity Tax if Ohio taxable gross receipts pass $6 million.

What is the Ohio LLC cost per year?

To the Secretary of State, $0 after the one-time Ohio LLC filing fee of $99. After that, any yearly cost is a tax or a service you chose. The one most small owners meet is the city net profit tax, with rates Ohio cities set locally. The Commercial Activity Tax applies only when Ohio taxable gross receipts top $6 million a year for tax years 2025 and later, and then the rate is 0.26%. A commercial statutory agent bills whatever it charges; the state doesn’t set that price. Plenty of small Ohio LLCs never pay the state another dollar beyond the original $99.

Is the Ohio CAT still $150 for small businesses?

No. That $150,000 threshold and the Annual Minimum Tax are both gone. The $150,000 rule covered tax years before 2024. For 2024 the threshold rose to $3 million, and starting in 2024 the Annual Minimum Tax ended. Since tax year 2025, the CAT applies only above $6 million in Ohio taxable gross receipts, at 0.26%. Cross the $6 million line and you have 30 days to register. A typical small LLC is nowhere near it.

How long does Ohio take to approve an LLC?

Regular service takes 3 to 7 business days, and it costs nothing beyond the $99 Ohio LLC filing fee. Need it faster? Form 610 offers three paid upgrades. Expedite Service 1 (+$100) is processed 2 business days after receipt. Expedite Service 2 (+$200) takes 1 business day. Expedite Service 3 (+$300) means walking the filing in by 1:00 p.m. for 4-hour handling. Forget the fee or the checkbox and you get regular service anyway. You can also pick a delayed effective date up to 90 days after the state receives your articles.

ClearLegalTips

ClearLegalTips is an independent publisher of plain-English legal guides, free document templates, and cost calculators for common U.S. legal tasks. Every article is reviewed by founder and editor Fatih Öztürk and fact-checked against official sources: statutes, court fee schedules, and government filing pages. Not a law firm; nothing here is legal advice.