Hawaii LLC Annual Requirements and Ongoing Compliance

Every Hawaii LLC must file an annual report with the Business Registration Division (BREG). The report itself (Form C5 on paper) is simple: it confirms your registered agent, your principal and mailing addresses, and your managers or, for a member-managed LLC, all of your members. It is a status update, not a financial disclosure. You never report revenue, expenses, or profit on it.

The quarter-based deadline

Here is the twist that catches so many owners off guard. Hawaii does not use one statewide annual report date the way most states do. Instead, your report is due by the end of the calendar quarter in which your LLC was originally registered, every year, and you can file it any time during that quarter:

• Registered in the first quarter (January–March) → annual report due by March 31
• Registered in the second quarter (April–June) → due by June 30
• Registered in the third quarter (July–September) → due by September 30
• Registered in the fourth quarter (October–December) → due by December 31

So the very first thing to nail down is the quarter your LLC was registered, because that fixes your deadline for the life of the company. You file the report online through BREG's portal at hbe.dcca.hawaii.gov, which replaced the old hbe.ehawaii.gov site on July 6, 2026. The fee is $12.50 online (the paper form is $15), and online filers get a free email reminder the following year.

Why the timing matters

Because there is no single statewide date, a reminder built around a generic "annual report season" will not save you. You have to know your specific quarter. It also isn't your formation anniversary: an LLC registered on February 20 owes its report by March 31, not February 20. And there's no report in the year you register. Hawaii's rule is that an entity registered in the same year a report would be due doesn't file one for that year, so your first report comes in your quarter the following year. Mapping the deadline correctly is the whole game with Hawaii annual reports.

Your registered agent is not a one-time formation detail. It is an ongoing requirement. Hawaii expects every LLC to maintain a registered agent with a business street address in Hawaii, where legal papers can be served, for the entire life of the company.

When you must act

• Your agent moves to a new Hawaii address → file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent (Form X-7, $25) with BREG
• Your agent resigns or becomes unreachable → name a replacement promptly
• You decide to switch from serving yourself to a commercial service, or vice versa → file the change

An outdated or missing registered agent is a compliance gap even when your annual report is current. It also risks the worst outcome: a lawsuit served to a stale address that never reaches you, ending in a default judgment. Keeping the agent current is quiet but essential upkeep.

The annual report gets the attention, but for most Hawaii LLCs the more demanding ongoing requirement is the General Excise Tax (GET). GET is Hawaii's tax on gross business income, and it applies broadly, covering sales, services, commissions, and rents. The license itself is a one-time $20 fee.

What ongoing GET compliance looks like

Once you hold a GET license from the Hawaii Department of Taxation, you file and pay on a schedule the state assigns based on your expected tax volume (often monthly, quarterly, or semiannually) plus an annual reconciliation return. Because the tax is on gross receipts rather than net profit, you owe it even in a thin-margin year, so it needs to be part of your regular bookkeeping, not an afterthought.

Related tax registrations

• Employer withholding: if you have employees, you file and remit Hawaii withholding
• Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT): if you rent to short-term guests, TAT applies alongside GET
• Federal returns: Schedule C for single-member LLCs, Form 1065 for multi-member, Form 1120-S for an S-corp election

These sit outside your BREG annual report but are just as real to staying compliant and out of trouble with the Department of Taxation.

Hawaii does not issue a single general business license, so there is no one statewide license to renew. But depending on what your LLC does and where it operates, ongoing licensing can apply.

What to watch

• Professional and occupational licenses: regulated professions renew their licenses on their own cycles, separate from the LLC
• County permits: the counties (Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai) may require permits for certain activities, each with its own renewal
• Industry-specific registrations: food service, transportation, short-term rentals, and other sectors carry their own ongoing requirements

None of these are handled by your annual report. Track each one on its own calendar so a lapsed county permit or professional license does not quietly put your business out of compliance while your BREG record looks clean.

You can keep a Hawaii LLC in good standing with a short, repeatable routine.

Your yearly checklist

1. Confirm your registration quarter and mark the matching annual report deadline (March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31).
2. File the annual report through BREG's online portal in that window and pay the $12.50 fee.
3. Verify your registered agent is current, with a valid Hawaii street address, and file a change if anything moved.
4. Stay current on GET by filing and paying on your assigned schedule and completing the annual reconciliation.
5. Renew any licenses or permits your specific industry and county require.
6. File your federal returns in the form that matches your tax election.

What lapses cost you

Miss the annual report and your LLC becomes delinquent, with a $10 late fee for each year it stays that way. Go two years without filing and the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs may administratively terminate the LLC; reinstatement then takes a $25 application plus the missing reports. Fall behind on GET and the Department of Taxation adds penalties and interest. The routine above is far cheaper than any of those outcomes. If you would rather not track the odd quarter-based deadline yourself, Mainstay Filing files your annual report in your quarter every year as part of the yearly price.