How Much Does an Illinois LLC Cost in 2026?

Illinois LLC one-time costs

What Illinois charges once, when the LLC is formed, and the optional costs that arrive at the same time. The state fee is the same whether you file yourself or use a service.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Online filing prices; a few states charge a different amount on paper.

Illinois LLC ongoing costs

What Illinois charges to keep the LLC in good standing, when it is due, and what the state does when a report is late or missed.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Due rules, penalties and dissolution triggers are read from each state's statute or filing office page; the reinstatement figure is the state's own total at that point.

Illinois LLC annual fee

Illinois's recurring requirement: $75/year, due first day of anniversary month. Illinois calls the filing the Annual Report, and it goes to the Illinois Secretary of State at apps.ilsos.gov. Illinois keys the deadline to your own formation date: on the first day of the anniversary month, every year. In the state's words: First day of anniversary month.

If you file late: $100 added by the state for a late report. After one missed report, Illinois administratively dissolves the LLC, and the state's total to reinstate it at that point is $375.

The due date, filing window and portal are covered step by step in Illinois LLC annual report.

Other recurring obligations

• LLC annual report (LLC-50.1). Before the first day of the anniversary month each year, starting the year after formation. $75; $100 late penalty, plus $100 for each further year.

Illinois LLC filing fee: $150

The filing fee is what Illinois charges to file your Articles of Organization, the document that creates the company. Illinois charges $150. It is the one cost nobody can avoid: it is the same whether you file directly with the state or hire a service, and no legitimate service can waive it. Which form Illinois uses, where it is filed and what it asks: how to register an LLC in Illinois.

Illinois's published processing time: About 10 business days standard.

Faster review from the state: +$100 for 24-hour processing ($250 total)

By filing fee, Illinois ranks 38 of 51 jurisdictions, cheapest first; the median state charges $100.

Five-year Illinois LLC cost: $525

$150 to form, plus $75 a year in report fees for five years, comes to $525 paid to Illinois over five years, assuming every report is filed on time. One late report adds $100. Taxes on the company's income, licenses and a registered agent service are separate.

What the Illinois state fee does not include

The filing fee buys the state's approval of the Articles of Organization and nothing else. These are the costs that sit outside it.

• Registered agent. Illinois requires one, with a street address in the state. Serving as your own agent is free; the address becomes public record. Our registered agent service can be added in the application. Illinois registered agent requirements.
• Operating agreement. Not filed with the state and free if you write it yourself. Our self-help template is available after checkout.
• Business licenses and permits. Set by the city, county or licensing board for your line of business, not by the formation filing. Many Illinois LLCs need none; a restaurant, contractor or salon usually needs several.
• Taxes. An LLC's income is taxed through its owners' returns unless it elects otherwise, and sales tax or employer registrations are separate state accounts with no formation fee attached.
• Filing service. Our fee is itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay, with same-day submission as an option. The state fee is identical either way.

How to pay less for an Illinois LLC

• File the Articles of Organization yourself. Illinois takes it online at ilsos.gov for the $150 state fee alone.
• Be your own registered agent if you have an Illinois street address and are there during business hours. The trade-off is privacy: the address goes on the public record.
• Write your own operating agreement. No state charges for it and Illinois does not file it.
• File the Annual Report on time. A late one costs $100 more, and a missed one leads to dissolution and a reinstatement bill of $375.
• Skip state expedite unless a date depends on it. The state's standard queue costs nothing extra.
• Form where you do business. An LLC that operates in Illinois but is formed elsewhere must register in Illinois as a foreign LLC anyway, paying Illinois's registration fee and its recurring report on top of the home state's.

How Illinois compares

By filing fee, Illinois is number 38 of 51 jurisdictions, cheapest first. The filing fee is paid once; the recurring line is what separates states over time.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us.

Every state's fee is in LLC cost by state, and the case for and against forming elsewhere is in cheapest states to form an LLC.

Filing yourself vs. using us

Filing directly with Illinois costs only the state's own fee: $150. The state takes formations at ilsos.gov. Through us, you pay our service fee plus the Illinois filing & processing, for the name check, the Articles of Organization prepared and submitted, the approved documents emailed to you and Illinois's deadlines in writing. Both lines are itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay.

Sources

State fees verified October 2026; page last updated November 1, 2026. The figures above are read from Illinois's own fee schedule, forms and statutes:

• ilsos.gov (ilsos.gov/departments/business-services/organization/llc-instructions.html)
• ilsos.gov (ilsos.gov/content/dam/publications/pdf_publications/llc55.pdf)
• ilsos.gov (ilsos.gov/publications/business-services/llc.html)
• ilsos.gov (ilsos.gov/departments/business-services/annual-reports/llc-instructions.html)
• ilsos.gov (ilsos.gov/content/dam/publications/pdf_publications/c334.pdf)
• apps.ilsos.gov (Illinois Secretary of State, Annual Report filing)