How much does an LLC cost in New York?
$200 to file, then $4.50 a year to keep. Below: the exact deadlines, what happens if you miss them, and the costs New York charges that the comparison tables leave out.
NY New York state filing fees — US only
Fees compiled August 27, 2026 · state detail verified August 26, 2026
To form
$200
one-off
To keep
$4.50
per year
First year
$204.50
32 of 51 cheapest
Compare New York against any other state →
What you pay, and when
| You file with | New York Department of State, Division of Corporations |
|---|---|
| The document | Articles of Organization |
| Filing fee | $200 |
| Processing | Standard processing takes several weeks; expedited service is available for an additional fee. |
| Recurring filing | Biennial Statement |
| Recurring fee | $9 · Every 2 years |
| Deadline | Every two years, during the anniversary month of formation. The fee is $9. |
| If you are late | New York does not charge a cash penalty for a late Biennial Statement, but the LLC is marked past due, which shows on public records and can hold up bank and client due-diligence checks. |
| Registered agent | The Department of State is automatically the agent for service of process on every New York LLC. A separate registered agent is optional, not required — which is unusual. |
| State income tax | New York taxes LLC profit as personal income on a graduated schedule. New York City residents pay an additional city income tax of roughly 3–4% on top, which is a much larger number than any of the filing fees on this page. |
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 | New York | Cheapest state (Arizona) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $204.50 | $50 | +$154.50 |
| 3 years | $213.50 | $50 | +$163.50 |
| 5 years | $222.50 | $50 | +$172.50 |
| 10 years | $245 | $50 | +$195 |
State fees only. Excludes registered agent, formation services, publication where required, and local licences.
Where New York sits nationally
New York ranks 32 of 51 on first-year cost and 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | $100 | $100 | $200 |
| Oregon | $100 | $100 | $200 |
| New York you are here | $200 | $4.50 | $204.50 |
| South Dakota | $150 | $55 | $205 |
| Kansas | $160 | $50 | $210 |
Should you form in New York?
On paper New York is mid-priced: $200 to file and $9 every two years. In practice the publication requirement makes it one of the most expensive states to form in, and that cost lands in the first four months. Budget for it before you file, not after.
What the comparison tables miss
The publication requirement is the real cost, and it is mandatory
Within 120 days of formation you must publish notice in two newspapers — one daily, one weekly — designated by the county clerk in the county where your LLC is located, once a week for six consecutive weeks. Then you file a Certificate of Publication with a $50 fee. Newspaper costs run roughly $230 to $1,950 depending on county, and the Manhattan and Brooklyn end of that range dwarfs every other cost of forming here.
You cannot shop around for a cheaper newspaper
The county clerk designates which newspapers you may use. You do not get to pick the cheapest paper in the state, which is precisely why the cost varies so sharply by county rather than by effort. Some people register the LLC at an address in a cheaper upstate county for this reason — but the address has to be genuine, and using one that is not creates a different and worse problem.
Missing the 120-day window suspends your authority to do business
Failure to publish and file the certificate within 120 days suspends the LLC's authority to carry on business in New York. The suspension does not dissolve the company or remove the liability shield, and it can be cured by publishing late — but it is a live compliance defect that shows up in due diligence.
The $9 biennial statement is not your only recurring filing
The Biennial Statement is genuinely trivial — $9 every two years, among the lowest in the country — and it is tied to your formation anniversary month rather than a statewide date, so there is no shared deadline in circulation to remind you. But it is filed with the Department of State, and it is not the only thing New York wants each year. Fee tables that quote “$9 every two years” and stop there are quoting one of two separate obligations.
The annual filing fee on Form IT-204-LL is the one fee tables miss
Separately from the Department of State, the Department of Taxation and Finance charges every LLC with New York source gross income an annual filing fee on Form IT-204-LL, due the 15th day of the third month after your tax year ends. It runs from $25 to $4,500 on a bracket of New York source gross income. The good news for a freelancer: a single-member LLC treated as a disregarded entity pays the $25 flat rate whatever it earns, and $25 is also the fee where there was no New York source income at all. The bad news is that almost nobody mentions it exists, because it is a tax filing rather than a corporate one.
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 New York leaves you with using the take-home pay calculator.
Sources
- NY Department of State — Certificate of Publication
- Wolters Kluwer — New York LLC publication requirement
- NY Tax — Instructions for Form IT-204-LL
Fees change, sometimes mid-year. Everything here was verified August 26, 2026, but confirm the current figure with the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations before you file. This is a comparison tool, not a quote, and it is not legal or tax advice.