District of Columbia LLC Annual Report: Due Date, Fee and Late Penalty

District of Columbia LLC biennial report rules at a glance

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Deadlines, penalties and dissolution rules are District of Columbia's, read from its statutes and the pages of the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection; the statutes are cited in the text.

How District of Columbia's biennial report works

The District of Columbia files a Biennial Report, not an annual one, with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection through its BOSS portal (an Access DC login is required). The first report is due April 1 of the year after the LLC registered, and then every second year on April 1; the window opens January 1. The pattern is set by the registration year, so two LLCs formed a year apart report in different years.

The state fee is $300, among the highest for an LLC report, and the District charges it to every LLC regardless of size. The report asks for the principal office, the registered agent, the names and addresses of the governors (the District's term for members or managers) and a brief statement of the business.

Late filing adds a $100 penalty from April 2, and the report is accepted late through the rest of the year. The District also has a separate Basic Business License for most businesses operating there, with its own renewal cycle; the biennial report does not cover it.

Who files it and what the form asks

Every District of Columbia LLC on the state's active record owes the biennial report for each report year, whether or not it did any business; an LLC that has stopped trading still owes it until it files articles of dissolution. A member, manager or someone they authorize signs it, and in practice the owner, the registered agent or the company's accountant files it.

The form confirms what the state already holds: the principal office and mailing address, the registered agent and registered office, and the people who run the LLC, with the District of Columbia-specific fields described above. What matters is that anything that changed during the year is corrected here, because the state sends its notices, including the next year's reminder, to the addresses on the report.

Changing the registered agent is best treated as a separate filing in District of Columbia: the biennial report confirms the agent on record, and the state's statement of change names the new one. Owners who switch agents usually file the change first so the report shows the right agent. We can make the switch for you, and the District of Columbia registered agent rules cover who may serve. Every state's change form and fee is in how to change a registered agent.

When the District of Columbia biennial report is due

District of Columbia uses one date for every LLC: April 1, every second year (starting the year after formation). The state starts accepting the report on January 1, so the filing window runs from then to the due date, and filing in the first weeks of it is the simplest way never to meet the penalty.

There is no grace period: the day after the due date the report is late. District of Columbia keeps accepting that year's report, with the penalty, through December 31 of the report year; after that the consequences below take over.

Your first biennial report

The first biennial report is due April 1 of the year after registration, then every second year after that (registered in 2026: April 1, 2027, then 2029).

The state fee and the late penalty

The state fee is $300, paid once every two years, so $150 a year in effect. It is set by District of Columbia and published on the state's own schedule; anyone who files for you pays the same amount to the state, and the state fee is shown separately wherever the filing is sold.

Filed late, the report costs $100 more, $400 in state charges altogether. The penalty is District of Columbia's, owed to the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and it is charged whether the report is a day late or six months late.

If you missed the District of Columbia biennial report

The District treats a report more than five months past due as grounds for administrative dissolution, mails a notice, and dissolves the LLC if it is not cured within 60 days, so a missed April 1 becomes a dissolved LLC around the end of the year. Reinstatement is $300 in state fees plus each missed $300 report and its $100 late fee, about $700 for a single missed report.

The ladder is the same everywhere: a late fee where the state has one, then loss of good standing (which blocks a certificate of good standing and the loans, contracts and registrations that need one), then administrative dissolution or revocation, then reinstatement. Our guide to reinstating a dissolved LLC walks through the steps and the state fees in every state, and we file reinstatements. Until the LLC is dissolved, the cheapest fix is almost always to file the report now.

Before you file the District of Columbia biennial report

The filing itself takes minutes once the details are to hand; most of the time lost on a biennial report is spent hunting for them. Have ready:

• The LLC's District of Columbia file or entity number, as it appears on the articles or on the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection business search; the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection requires an online account tied to the record, so set that up before the deadline week.
• The registered agent's current name and District of Columbia street address; if the agent has changed, file the change first.
• The principal office and mailing address as they should read for the coming year.
• The names and addresses the District of Columbia form asks for (above), spelled as the state has them.
• A card for the $300 state fee, plus the late penalty if the due date has passed.
• The signer's name and capacity: member, manager or authorized person.

Save the state's confirmation when it arrives. It is the proof of filing a bank, a lender or a buyer will ask for, and the date on it is the date the state goes by.

How District of Columbia compares with its neighbors

District of Columbia's biennial report is due April 1, with a state fee of $300. Next door:

• Maryland: an annual report due April 15 ($300 state fee, no late fee).
• Virginia: an annual registration fee due the last day of the anniversary month ($50 state fee, $25 late penalty).

An LLC registered to do business in more than one of these states owes each state's report on each state's calendar; the formation state's filing never covers a foreign registration, and the due dates rarely line up.