Annual Report Filing: A State-by-State Guide for All 50 US States
Every US state has different annual report requirements. Here is what you need to file, when, and what happens if you miss it.
Why annual reports matter
Every US state requires some form of periodic report from registered business entities. Miss one, and the consequences escalate quickly: late fees, loss of good standing, and eventually administrative dissolution. Your company stops existing in the eyes of the state, and reinstating it costs far more than the original filing ever would have.
The frustrating part is that no two states do it the same way. Some want annual reports. Others want biennial reports. Filing windows, fees, and penalties vary wildly.
The landscape at a glance
| Frequency | States |
|---|---|
| Annual | Most states, including Delaware, California, New York, Texas, Florida |
| Biennial | Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, and others |
| No report required | Some states for certain entity types (e.g., Alabama for LLCs) |
Deadline patterns
States use three main approaches to set deadlines:
Anniversary date. Your report is due on or near the anniversary of your formation. This is the most common approach. California, Florida, New York, and most others use this.
Calendar year. Your report is due on a fixed date each year regardless of when you formed. Delaware (1 March for corps, 1 June for LLCs), Texas (15 May), and a handful of others use this.
Variable. A few states assign deadlines based on your entity name or registration number.
Fees: the full range
Annual report fees range from $0 (Missouri charges nothing) to $800+ (California's LLC fee, technically a franchise tax rather than a filing fee, but the effect is the same).
| State | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Missouri | $0 | No filing fee |
| Wyoming | $60 | Minimum for corps and LLCs |
| Delaware (corp) | $50 | Plus franchise tax ($400 minimum) |
| Delaware (LLC) | $300 | Annual tax, no report required |
| New York (corp) | $9 | Biennial |
| California (LLC) | $800 | Annual franchise tax |
| Nevada | $150 | Plus $200 business licence fee |
The penalty trap
Late penalties are where states make their money. A $50 annual report can quickly become a $250 problem:
- Delaware: $200 late penalty + 1.5% monthly interest
- California: $250 penalty for late LLC statements
- Florida: $400 late fee (the report itself is only $150)
- Nevada: $75 late fee per month
The real cost is not the penalty itself but the loss of good standing. Without good standing, you cannot open bank accounts, sign contracts in many jurisdictions, raise capital, or defend lawsuits. Some states will deny your ability to bring legal action entirely.
Multi-state complexity
If you operate in multiple states, you likely have foreign qualifications, and each of those requires its own annual report. A company incorporated in Delaware, qualified in California, New York, and Texas, has four separate annual reports with four different deadlines, four different fees, and four different penalty structures.
This is where spreadsheets break down. At five entities across three states each, you are managing fifteen deadlines. At ten entities, thirty. One missed filing can cascade into lost contracts and failed due diligence.
How CompCal handles this
Upload your formation and qualification documents once. CompCal extracts your entity details, jurisdiction, and entity type, then automatically generates every filing deadline with appropriate lead-time alerts. One dashboard, every state, every deadline.