Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Maryland costs $100 standard (6-8 weeks); $150 expedited; $425 same-day online / $525 same-day paper to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($300). Five-year total: At least $1,600 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total.
What it actually costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $100 standard (6-8 weeks); $150 expedited; $425 same-day online / $525 same-day paper |
| Annual/biennial report | $300 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | none found in the sources searched; the $300 annual report is the de facto equivalent |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $1,600 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total. Publication cost is excluded from this figure — it’s county-driven where it applies, not state-driven, so a single number would be wrong for most filers.
Expedited filing: $150 total expedited (7-14 business days); same-day $425 online / $525 paper
The trap worth knowing before you file
AGENCY-vs-STATUTE DISCREPANCY WORTH PUBLISHING: § 1-203(b)(8) sets the same-day expedite surcharge as an ADDITIONAL $425, which reconciles with SDAT’s paper same-day price ($100 + $425 = $525) but not with its online same-day price, which the form presents as $425 in total rather than $525. The $150 expedited price on the form likewise reconciles with the statute’s ‘$50 additional’ ($100 + $50). Statute controls on the amounts; the form is what a filer is actually charged, and the two are quoted here so a reader can see the gap. Standard $100 formation fee and $300 annual report fee are identi
Source
Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 1-203 (fees), § 1-203.2 (expedited processing). Read 2026-08-06 from statute. Formation-service sites were not used as a source for this figure.
If the LLC already exists somewhere else
Everything above prices forming a new Maryland LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: Maryland takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions conversion, Md. Code Ann., Corps. & Ass’ns § 4A-1101(a)(7), (c), and the entity-law filing fee for it is $300 — a separate filing from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a Maryland LLC may leave for another US state under Md. Code Ann., Corps. & Ass’ns § 4A-1101(b). Either way the move needs both ends to allow it — the state being left as well as the state being joined — which is where most published advice goes wrong.
How to Move an LLC to Another State · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
Once the LLC exists, an operating agreement is what actually runs it
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