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

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

How Vermont's annual report works

Vermont's annual report is due within three months after the end of the LLC's fiscal year, so by March 31 for a calendar-year LLC, and is filed with the Secretary of State's Corporations Division through the Online Business Service Center (an account is required). The state fee is $45 for a domestic LLC.

The report confirms the principal office, the registered agent and office, the names and addresses of the managers or members, and a brief description of the business. The first report is due within three months after the end of the fiscal year in which the LLC was formed.

There is no late fee in Vermont (11 V.S.A. 4012 sets the fees and adds none), and the statute gives no grace period: under 11 V.S.A. 4034 the articles of organization terminate when the report is not filed, and the Secretary of State publishes no day count.

Who files it and what the form asks

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

When the Vermont annual report is due

Vermont uses one date for every LLC: the last day of the third month after the fiscal year end (March 31 for a calendar year), 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. The state does not keep a late window open: once the due date passes, that year's report can no longer simply be filed late, and the consequences below take over.

Your first annual report

The first annual report is due March 31 of the year after the LLC was formed: formed any time in 2026, first report by March 31, 2027. Nothing is owed in the formation year itself.

The state fee and the late penalty

The state fee is $45 a year. It is set by Vermont 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.

Vermont 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 Vermont annual report

An LLC whose report is not filed has its articles terminated, and the cure is reinstatement rather than a late report: for each missed year, the $45 report plus a $35 reinstatement fee, $80 in state fees for one year. The LLC's name is protected for five years after termination; after that it can be taken by someone else.

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 Vermont 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 Vermont file or entity number, as it appears on the articles or on the Vermont Secretary of State business search; the Vermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont form asks for (above), spelled as the state has them.
• A card for the $45 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 Vermont compares with its neighbors

Vermont's annual report is due the last day of the third month after the fiscal year end (March 31 for a calendar year), with a state fee of $45. Next door:

• New Hampshire: an annual report due April 1 ($100 state fee, $50 late penalty).
• Massachusetts: an annual report due the anniversary date of formation ($520 state fee, no late fee).
• New York: a biennial statement due the last day of the anniversary month ($9 state fee, no late fee).

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.