Connecticut LLC Costs: What You Actually Pay

The mandatory cost of starting a Connecticut LLC is the state filing fee for the Certificate of Organization, paid to the Secretary of the State when you submit the formation filing through the Business One Stop portal. That fee is $120, the same online or on paper, and under state law it includes the appointment of your registered agent, so there is no separate charge for the agent designation and no hidden line items beyond what the forms and fees page lists.

What the formation fee does and does not include

• Included: the state's processing of your Certificate of Organization and the creation of your LLC in the public record.
• Not included: an EIN (free from the IRS separately), an operating agreement, a business bank account, any professional or industry licenses, and any local trade-name registration.

Think of the formation fee as the price of legal existence. Everything else on this page is either recurring, optional, or triggered by your specific business, not part of the base filing.

An LLC is not a one-and-done expense. Connecticut has a yearly obligation that owners sometimes overlook until a notice arrives.

Annual report fee

Every Connecticut LLC files an annual report, starting the year after it forms, and the state fee is $80. The report is filed online only, between January 1 and March 31 each year, through Business.CT.gov. Connecticut charges no late fee, but filing on time is what keeps the LLC in good standing and lets you get a Certificate of Legal Existence when a bank or buyer asks for one.

Registered agent, if you use a service

If you serve as your own registered agent, there is no ongoing cost for it. If you use a commercial registered agent service (which most out-of-state owners and many home-based owners do to keep an address private), that service has its own recurring fee. It is optional in the sense that the law does not require a paid service, but it is a real line in most owners' budgets.

Taxes

Taxes are not a filing "fee," but they are a real recurring cost. Connecticut taxes pass-through income at the member level, offers a Pass-Through Entity Tax that has been elective since January 1, 2024, and collects sales and use tax if you sell taxable goods or services. These vary entirely with your income and activity, so budget for them separately from the state's flat filing charges.

Beyond the required fees, several costs come up depending on how you set up and run the business. None are universal. They apply only if they fit your situation.

Name reservation

If you want to hold a name before filing, Connecticut charges $60 to reserve it for 120 days through the Secretary of the State. This is optional; most owners simply confirm availability and file, skipping the reservation.

Trade name (DBA) registration

If you operate under a name other than your LLC's legal name, you register that trade name with the town clerk in the town where you do business, not with the state. Each town sets its own fee, and registrations run five years. This applies only if you use a different public-facing name than your LLC's official one.

Foreign qualification

If your LLC was formed in another state and you are registering it to do business in Connecticut, you pay a filing fee for the Certificate of Authority, and you will also need a certificate of good standing from your home state (which that state may charge for). This applies only to out-of-state LLCs entering Connecticut.

Amendments and changes

Changing your registered agent costs $50 (Form BUS-009), and amending the Certificate of Organization or making certain other updates carries its own state fee. These are situational. You only pay when you need to make the specific change.

Professional and local licenses

Connecticut has no single general business license, but many trades and professions require state licensure, and some towns require local permits. Costs vary widely by profession and locality and are entirely separate from your LLC filings.

The formation fee is the number everyone sees. The costs that catch owners off guard are the ones that show up later or come from outside the Secretary of the State.

The annual report is not optional

Some owners treat the LLC as a one-time purchase and forget the annual report. Missing it does not save money. There's no late fee, but an LLC more than a year in default can be dissolved by forfeiture, and the certificate of reinstatement alone costs $120, on top of the current year's report. Budget for the annual report every year from the start.

Reinstatement is more expensive than staying current

If you let the LLC lapse and the state dissolves it by forfeiture, getting it back means a $120 certificate of reinstatement, the current year's annual report, and any penalties. This is always more than the cost of simply keeping up. The cheapest compliance strategy is not missing deadlines.

"Free" EIN scams

The IRS issues EINs at no cost through its online assistant. If a site charges you "for the EIN" itself, you are paying for a service to fill out a free form, not for the number. Know the difference so you are choosing to pay for convenience, not being charged for something that is free.

Taxes dwarf filing fees over time

For a profitable LLC, the state filing fees are minor next to income and sales taxes. The filing fees are predictable and flat; the taxes scale with your business. Plan for the taxes with an accountant. They are the larger number in most years.

When you form your Connecticut LLC through us, our pricing is transparent: you see what the state charges and what our service adds, with no bait-and-switch. Registered agent service is included, so you are not surprised later by a separate agent bill, and we track your annual report window so the recurring cost never becomes a costly reinstatement.

The receipt card on this page shows what you pay at checkout, with the $120 state filing fee passed through at cost. We do not mark up the state's charge and disguise it: the state fee is the state fee. What you pay us is for preparing and submitting the filing correctly, applying for your EIN, serving as your agent, and filing your $80 annual report each year. If you would rather handle everything yourself, all the state fees and portals referenced here are public and available directly through the Secretary of the State.