How much does an LLC cost in Kentucky?
$40 to file, then $15 a year to keep. Below: the exact deadlines, what happens if you miss them, and the costs Kentucky charges that the comparison tables leave out.
KY Kentucky state filing fees — US only
Fees compiled August 27, 2026 · state detail verified August 26, 2026
To form
$40
one-off
To keep
$15
per year
First year
$55
5 of 51 cheapest
Compare Kentucky against any other state →
What you pay, and when
| You file with | Kentucky Secretary of State |
|---|---|
| The document | Articles of Organization |
| Filing fee | $40 |
| Processing | Online filings are typically processed within one to two business days. |
| Recurring filing | Annual Report |
| Recurring fee | $15 · Annual |
| Deadline | Any time between January 1 and June 30 each year. The fee is $15. |
| If you are late | No cash penalty, but the entity moves to bad standing and Kentucky may administratively dissolve it. Reinstatement requires filing the missed reports and paying a reinstatement fee. |
| Registered agent | A registered agent with a Kentucky street address is required. You can act as your own. |
| State income tax | Kentucky has a flat personal income tax of 3.5% for 2026. Many Kentucky cities and counties also levy an occupational or licence tax on earnings, which is separate and is often overlooked. |
The cost over time
The filing fee is the number everyone compares. It is almost never the number that matters — you pay it once, and then you pay the recurring fee for as long as the company exists.
| If you keep it for | Kentucky | Cheapest state (Arizona) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $55 | $50 | +$5 |
| 3 years | $85 | $50 | +$35 |
| 5 years | $115 | $50 | +$65 |
| 10 years | $190 | $50 | +$140 |
State fees only. Excludes registered agent, formation services, publication where required, and local licences.
Where Kentucky sits nationally
Kentucky ranks 5 of 51 on first-year cost and 13 of 51 on ongoing cost, against a national median first year of $175. The cheapest state is Arizona at $50; the most expensive is Massachusetts at $1,000.
| State | Filing | Per year | Year 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | $50 | $0 | $50 |
| New Mexico | $50 | $0 | $50 |
| Kentucky you are here | $40 | $15 | $55 |
| Montana | $35 | $20 | $55 |
| Hawaii | $50 | $15 | $65 |
Should you form in Kentucky?
Cheap on paper — $40 once and $15 a year — but the filing fees are not the number that decides it. Kentucky also charges a Limited Liability Entity Tax with a $175 annual minimum, and from 2026 waives it below $100,000 of Kentucky gross receipts. So Kentucky is genuinely among the cheapest states in the country for a freelancer under that threshold, and an unremarkable mid-table state the moment you cross it. Either way, if you do not live in Kentucky there is no reason to form here.
What the comparison tables miss
Cheap filing fees, but local occupational taxes are the real cost
Kentucky is unusual in how much taxing power sits with cities and counties. Many levy an occupational licence tax on net profit or gross receipts — Louisville and Lexington both do — typically in the 1–2.2% range, and it applies in addition to the 3.5% state income tax. The $15 annual report is genuinely the smallest number in your Kentucky costs by a wide margin.
The $15 report is not the whole story — there is a $175 entity tax
Kentucky levies a Limited Liability Entity Tax (LLET) on LLCs, with a minimum of $175 a year. It is charged at the lower of $950 per $1,000,000 of Kentucky gross receipts or $7,500 per $1,000,000 of gross profits, but the $175 floor is what most small businesses actually pay — and the Department of Revenue applies it even to single-member LLCs that are disregarded for federal purposes. Almost no "cheapest state to form an LLC" table mentions it, which is how Kentucky ends up looking like a $15-a-year state when for many owners it is closer to $190.
New for 2026: under $100,000 in receipts, the LLET is waived
Kentucky introduced a small-business exemption removing the LLET entirely for entities with Kentucky gross receipts below $100,000, for tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2026. For a freelancer under that threshold this genuinely does make Kentucky a $15-a-year state — and the change is recent enough that most published guidance has not caught up with it. Cross $100,000 and the $175 minimum returns. Confirm your own position with the Kentucky Department of Revenue, because the threshold is the whole question and this is new law.
A six-month filing window is easier to miss than a single date
Kentucky lets you file any time from January 1 to June 30, which sounds generous and functions as a trap: with no single memorable deadline, the report gets deferred repeatedly and then forgotten. Kentucky sends a postcard reminder to the registered agent address, so keeping that address current matters more here than in states with a fixed date.
Being this cheap is not a reason to form here from out of state
Kentucky's filing total is roughly $55 in year one and $190 over ten years, and the LLET above may add $175 a year on top. Every other state's foreign-LLC registration costs more than any of that saves, and you would then be filing in two states forever. The cheapest state to form in is the one you already live in.
Costs this page does not include
- Registered agent — typically $50–$300 a year if you do not act as your own.
- Formation services — $0–$300 one-off. You can file directly with the state yourself.
- Local business licences — many cities and counties require their own, separately from the state.
- An EIN — free from the IRS. Anyone charging for one is charging for a ten-minute form.
- Foreign registration in every other state where you actually do business.
An LLC does not reduce your federal tax
Worth restating on every one of these pages, because so much of the marketing implies otherwise. A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity federally: the same Schedule C, the same self-employment tax, an identical return to being a sole proprietor. What it buys is liability protection, which may well be worth the fees — but that is a different thing from a tax saving.
The election that actually reduces tax is S-corp status, which is separate from being an LLC and generally only pays off above roughly $80,000 of profit. You can model that with the S-corp vs sole proprietor calculator, and see what Kentucky leaves you with using the take-home pay calculator.
Sources
- Kentucky Secretary of State — business filings
- LLC University — Kentucky annual report
- Kentucky Department of Revenue — business taxes
Fees change, sometimes mid-year. Everything here was verified August 26, 2026, but confirm the current figure with the Kentucky Secretary of State before you file. This is a comparison tool, not a quote, and it is not legal or tax advice.