Maryland LLC Annual Report: Due Date, Fee and Late Penalty

Maryland LLC annual report rules at a glance

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Deadlines, penalties and dissolution rules are Maryland's, read from its statutes and the pages of the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation; the statutes are cited in the text.

How Maryland's annual report works

Maryland's filing is the Annual Report and Personal Property Return, filed with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) rather than the Secretary of State, through Maryland Business Express. It is due April 15 each year, and the window opens January 1. The state fee is $300 for an LLC, whether or not it owns any personal property.

The report has two parts. Part one confirms the principal office, the registered agent, and the nature of the business; part two is the personal property return, which an LLC completes only if it owns, leases or uses personal property in Maryland or holds a trader's license. Most small service LLCs answer no and file the report alone.

Maryland's late penalty is a formula under Tax-Property 14-704: one tenth of one percent of the county personal property assessment, with a minimum of $30 (1 to 15 days late), $40 (16 to 30 days) or $50 (31 days or more), a maximum of $500, plus 2% of the penalty for each 30 days late. An LLC with no property pays the $50 minimum plus about a dollar a month.

Who files it and what the form asks

Every Maryland LLC on the state's active record owes the annual 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 Maryland-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 Maryland: the annual 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 Maryland registered agent rules cover who may serve. Every state's change form and fee is in how to change a registered agent.

When the Maryland annual report is due

Maryland uses one date for every LLC: April 15, every year. 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. Maryland keeps accepting that year's report through December 31 of the report year; after that the consequences below take over.

Your first annual report

The first annual report is due April 15 of the year after the LLC was formed: formed any time in 2026, first report by April 15, 2027. Nothing is owed in the formation year itself.

The state fee and the late penalty

The state fee is $300 a year. It is set by Maryland 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.

Maryland adds a late penalty of at least $50, growing each month.

If you missed the Maryland annual report

After September 30 SDAT lists every LLC that has not filed the prior year's report, sends a final notice in early October, and forfeits the LLC's right to do business in December, about 20 months after the missed April 15. Reinstatement is Articles of Reinstatement at $100 in state fees ($150 expedited) plus every delinquent $300 report and all the late penalties, with a county tax clearance if the LLC ever reported property: at least $450 for a single missed year.

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 Maryland annual report

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

• The LLC's Maryland file or entity number, as it appears on the articles or on the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation business search; the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation requires an online account tied to the record, so set that up before the deadline week.
• The registered agent's current name and Maryland 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 Maryland form asks for (above), spelled as the state has them.
• A card for the $300 state fee.
• 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 Maryland compares with its neighbors

Maryland's annual report is due April 15, with a state fee of $300. Next door:

• Pennsylvania: an annual report due September 30 ($7 state fee, no late fee).
• Delaware: an annual tax due June 1 ($400 state fee, no late fee).
• Virginia: an annual registration fee due the last day of the anniversary month ($50 state fee, $25 late penalty).
• West Virginia: an annual report due June 30 ($25 state fee, $50 late penalty).
• District of Columbia: a biennial report due April 1 ($300 state fee, $100 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.