Reference · West Virginia
West Virginia LLC requirements
Every requirement we've verified for a domestic LLC in West Virginia, with the source for each. For the plain-English cost answer, use the cost calculator.
| Filing agency | West Virginia Secretary of State (formation/annual report); WV State Tax Division (business registration) |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $100 |
| Filing fee notes | Articles of Organization, domestic LLC, per the official SOS fee schedule PDF. |
| Standard processing | Not specified with a day-count. |
| Expedited options | 24-hour +$25; 2-hour +$250; 1-hour +$500 (per official SOS fee schedule effective 18 November 2019). |
| Periodic report | Annual Report |
| Report frequency | annual |
| Report fee | $25 |
| Report deadline | Due between January 1 and June 30 each year, following the calendar year in which the LLC was registered. |
| Late penalty | $50 delinquency fee for a late annual report, per W. Va. Code 59-1-2a(h)(1)(A) ('$50 for an annual delinquency'), effective for filings from 1 July 2026. |
| Administrative dissolution | Administrative dissolution/revocation possible for failure to file by the June 30 deadline. |
| State tax | West Virginia repealed its business franchise tax in 2015. But W. Va. Code 11-12-3 requires a one-time $30 Business Registration Certificate before any business activity: 'No person shall, without a business registration certificate, engage in or prosecute, in the State of West Virginia, any business activity.' It is a permanent certificate — the former annual renewal was eliminated after June 2010 — and is mandatory for essentially every LLC. |
| Minimum state tax | $30 |
| Newspaper publication | Not required |
| Registered agent required | Yes |
| First-year minimum | $155 |
Confidence
What we're less sure about
Verified against the official state page
- CORRECTED (10 Sep 2026). The $30 Business Registration Certificate is statutory and mandatory, so it belongs in the first-year figure: $100 + $25 + $30 = $155, not $125.
- The $50 annual report late fee is now confirmed in statute (59-1-2a(h)(1)(A)), not just on a fee schedule.
- Narrow statutory exemptions to the registration requirement exist in 11-12-4 and were not exhaustively reviewed.
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.
- West Virginia legislature — code.wvlegislature.gov
- West Virginia legislature — code.wvlegislature.gov
- West Virginia Secretary of State (formation/annual report); WV State Tax Division (business registration) — sos.wv.gov
- West Virginia tax authority — tax.wv.gov
- West Virginia Secretary of State (formation/annual report); WV State Tax Division (business registration) — sos.wv.gov
- West Virginia tax authority — tax.wv.gov
Keep reading
More on West Virginia, 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.
- West Virginia filing deadlinesWhen the annual report is due, and what late costs
- What an LLC costs in West VirginiaThe whole first year — $155
- What an LLC costs in MarylandNext door, $245 more
- What an LLC costs in KentuckyNext door, $60 more
- What an LLC costs in OhioNext door, $56 less
- What an LLC costs in PennsylvaniaNext door, $30 less
- What an LLC costs in MinnesotaCosts about the same — $155
- 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