What an Arizona LLC Actually Costs

The core cost of starting an Arizona LLC is the fee the Arizona Corporation Commission charges to file your Articles of Organization. That fee is $50, and it brings your LLC into legal existence along with the statutory agent designation filed with it. Pay by card and the Commission adds a processing fee of 2.2% with a $2 minimum, so the regular filing comes to $52; the state's card-fee rule keeps eCheck (ACH) payments free. Fees are nonrefundable.

Naming your agent is part of the formation filing, not a second line item at the Commission. What varies your total is what you add on top: expedited processing, the publication step if it applies to you, and whether you hire a commercial statutory agent.

Expedited processing

As of October 1, 2026, the Arizona Business Center listed 12 days for regular LLC filings. Expedite adds $35 (the Articles become $85) and was running 6 days. For tighter deadlines, the Commission sells accelerated tiers on top: next day for $100 more, same day for $200, or two-hour service for $400. If your timeline is relaxed, the regular queue costs nothing extra beyond patience.

Arizona's publication requirement is the one cost people don't see coming, and it is the biggest reason two Arizona LLCs formed the same week can end up paying different totals.

Once the ACC files your Articles, A.R.S. § 29-3201 requires a notice to run three consecutive times within 60 days in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of your statutory agent's street address. The newspaper charges for that run, the Commission publishes no prices, and the amount depends on which paper and county you're in. It is a third-party cost paid to the newspaper, not a state fee, so it does not appear on the ACC's fee schedule.

The Maricopa and Pima exemption saves this cost entirely

Here is the important part: if your statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa County or Pima County, you owe nothing for publication. The Corporation Commission posts the notice on its own website at no charge to you, and no newspaper is required. Your own office location doesn't decide this; the agent's address does. If the agent's street address is in any other county, budget for the newspaper's charge on top of your state fee.

Every Arizona LLC needs a statutory agent (Arizona's term for a registered agent), but what it costs depends entirely on how you fill the role.

Serving as your own agent

If you live in Arizona, are at least 18, and you're comfortable with your street address being public, you can act as your own statutory agent at no cost (the LLC itself can't be its own agent). The trade-offs are non-monetary: your address goes into the ACC's public database, you have to be reachable there when legal documents are served, and if that address is outside Maricopa and Pima Counties you'll also pay for newspaper publication.

Using a commercial statutory agent service

A commercial service charges an ongoing fee (typically annual) to serve as your agent, keep your personal address off the public record, and receive and forward legal documents and state notices for you. Whether that fee is worth it depends on your privacy preferences, how often you travel, and whether you want a stable in-state address that doesn't change when you move. For out-of-state owners, a service is effectively required, since you need an Arizona address to satisfy the rule.

This is where Arizona genuinely stands out. In most states, the recurring cost of an LLC is the annual report fee: a yearly charge just to keep the entity active, with penalties if you miss it. Arizona LLCs do not file an annual report and pay no annual report fee to the Corporation Commission at all.

That means, from the state's side, an Arizona LLC costs essentially nothing to maintain year to year. Your recurring costs, if any, come from elsewhere:

• A commercial statutory agent, if you use one, bills on its own cycle (usually annual).
• Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) licensing and returns apply if you sell products or services subject to TPT: a Department of Revenue license at $12 per location, plus any city license where you operate.
• Profession-specific licensing renews on its own schedule for regulated fields.
• Federal and state income tax on the LLC's pass-through income, based on how it is taxed.

None of these are "keep the LLC alive" fees the way an annual report is elsewhere. If you have no employees, no taxable sales, and act as your own agent, the year-two-and-beyond cost of an Arizona LLC to the state can be zero. One thing to watch: the Commission has announced an Attestation of Existence, an electronic notice each January to LLCs that have filed nothing in two years, which must be answered within 60 days to avoid administrative dissolution. It is free, but its start date is still to be set.

A handful of costs are optional or only come up in specific situations. None are required to form a basic LLC, but it helps to know they exist.

Name reservation

If you want to hold your LLC name before filing, the ACC charges $10 to reserve it for 120 days, and the reservation can't be renewed. Most people skip this and simply file when they're ready.

Trade name (DBA)

If you plan to operate under a name other than your LLC's legal name, you register a trade name with the Arizona Secretary of State (a separate office from the Corporation Commission) for its own fee. This is optional and only needed if you're branding under a different name.

Certified copies and good standing

Banks, lenders, or other states may ask for a certified copy of your Articles or a Certificate of Good Standing from the ACC. Each carries a small fee and is ordered only when something specifically requires it.

Amendments and later changes

Changing your LLC's name or other Articles information means filing Articles of Amendment for a fee. Changing your statutory agent is a separate filing, the Statement of Change of Principal Address or Statutory Agent, at $5 ($40 expedited). If the LLC is ever administratively dissolved, the Application for Reinstatement costs $100. These come up only when your situation changes. They are not part of the initial cost of forming.

The state's base for the standard formation path is the $50 Articles fee ($52 by card). Situational and third-party costs (publication outside Maricopa and Pima Counties, a commercial agent, DBAs, expediting) sit on top of that base depending on your choices and where you operate.