Reference · North Carolina
North Carolina LLC requirements
Every requirement we've verified for a domestic LLC in North Carolina, with the source for each. For the plain-English cost answer, use the cost calculator.
| Filing agency | North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $125 |
| Filing fee notes | $125 for Articles of Organization (Form L-01), confirmed directly from the official NC SOS PDF form. |
| Standard processing | Not confirmed. |
| Expedited options | Not confirmed (NC SOS offers paid expedited processing; amount unverified). |
| Periodic report | Annual Report |
| Report frequency | annual |
| Report fee | $200 |
| Report deadline | Due April 15 of each year FOLLOWING the year the LLC was created. $200 paper; online adds a transaction fee ($202 ACH, $203 credit card). |
| Late penalty | No separate monetary late fee exists. N.C.G.S. 57D-6-06 imposes no fine; instead, failing to deliver the annual report within 60 days of its due date becomes a GROUND for administrative dissolution. |
| Administrative dissolution | Under N.C.G.S. 57D-6-06, grounds arise if the annual report is not delivered within 60 days of its due date, fees go unpaid for 60 days, or the LLC lacks a registered agent for 60+ days. The Secretary of State then mails a Notice of Grounds; the LLC has a further 60 days to cure before a certificate of administrative dissolution is signed. |
| State tax | North Carolina's corporate franchise tax applies to C corporations and any LLC electing corporate treatment; a standard pass-through NC LLC is not subject to it. Based on general NCDOR scope, not a fetched page. |
| Minimum state tax | None |
| Newspaper publication | Not required |
| Registered agent required | Yes |
| First-year minimum | $125 |
Confidence
What we're less sure about
Verified against the official state page
- STATUTE-CONFIRMED (10 Sep 2026). No monetary late fee — the consequence is a 60-day path to administrative dissolution with a further 60-day cure window.
- The $200 annual report is due 15 April of the year AFTER creation, so year one is $125.
- $200/year is among the highest recurring report fees in the dataset.
Provenance
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these. If a state changes a fee and we haven't caught it, tell us — we log corrections publicly.
Keep reading
More on North Carolina, and the states most like it
This page is the raw record. These are the places that record gets used — and the states whose rules work the same way.
- North Carolina filing deadlinesWhen the annual report is due, and what late costs
- What an LLC costs in North CarolinaThe whole first year — $125
- What an LLC costs in TennesseeNext door, $575 more
- What an LLC costs in VirginiaNext door, $25 more
- What an LLC costs in GeorgiaNext door, $15 less
- What an LLC costs in South CarolinaNext door, $15 less
- What an LLC costs in FloridaCosts about the same — $125
- What an LLC costs in NevadaThe "cheap incorporation state" that costs $350 a year to keep
- What an LLC costs in MassachusettsThe most expensive state in the country — $1,000
- How we verify every figureOur sourcing standard