North Carolina LLC Annual Report: Due Date, Fee and Late Penalty

North Carolina 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 North Carolina's, read from its statutes and the pages of the North Carolina Secretary of State; the statutes are cited in the text.

How North Carolina's annual report works

North Carolina's annual report is filed with the Secretary of State online (an account is required; filing works after the first of the year) and is due April 15 each year for an LLC. The state fee is $200, with a $3 card or $2 ACH charge for online payment, which makes it one of the pricier reports among the fixed-date states.

The report asks for more than most: the fiscal year end, the registered agent and office, the nature of the business, the principal office with its phone number, county and email, the names, titles and business addresses of the company officials, and whether the LLC is veteran-owned. It is executed by a company official listed on the report.

There is no late fee in North Carolina (G.S. 57D-1-22 lists the fees and none is for lateness). A report filed late is a delinquent report, filed after the notice that follows.

Who files it and what the form asks

Every North Carolina 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 North Carolina-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 North Carolina: 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 North Carolina registered agent rules cover who may serve. Every state's change form and fee is in how to change a registered agent.

When the North Carolina annual report is due

North Carolina 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. North Carolina 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 $200 a year. It is set by North Carolina 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.

North Carolina charges no late fee. That does not make the deadline soft: the state's response to a missed report is the status change and dissolution process described next, not a fee, and a reinstatement costs more than the report ever did.

If you missed the North Carolina annual report

If the report is not filed within 60 days after April 15 the Secretary of State has grounds for administrative dissolution, mails a notice, and dissolves the LLC if it does not cure within 60 days. Reinstatement is $100 in state fees plus every overdue report at $200, all of which must be filed: $300 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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina file or entity number, as it appears on the articles or on the North Carolina Secretary of State business search; the North Carolina Secretary of State requires an online account tied to the record, so set that up before the deadline week.
• The registered agent's current name and North Carolina 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 North Carolina form asks for (above), spelled as the state has them.
• A card for the $200 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 North Carolina compares with its neighbors

North Carolina's annual report is due April 15, with a state fee of $200. Next door:

• Virginia: an annual registration fee due the last day of the anniversary month ($50 state fee, $25 late penalty).
• Tennessee: an annual report due the first day of the fourth month after the fiscal year end (April 1 for a calendar year) (fee varies, no late fee).
• Georgia: an annual registration due April 1 ($60 state fee, $25 late penalty).
• South Carolina: no LLC annual report at all.

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.