Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in North Carolina costs $125 to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($200). Five-year total: At least $1,125 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 | $125 |
| Annual/biennial report | $200 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | Not verified — see notes |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $1,125 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: $200 same-day (received by noon); $100 24-hour
The trap worth knowing before you file
Other statute sections read for this page: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_57D/GS_57D-2-24.html and https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByChapter/Chapter_55D.html. ncleg.gov serves statute text reliably. The SOS fee page https://www.sosnc.gov/home/Fees is a client-side-rendered shell and produced no text — recorded, not worked around. NC’s $200 annual report is one of the highest recurring LLC costs in the country and is the dominant term in any multi-year total for this state.
Source
N.C.G.S. § 57D-1-22 (fees); § 57D-2-24 (annual report); § 55D-11 (expedited filings). Read 2026-08-06 from statute. Formation-service sites were not used as a source for this figure.
Once the LLC exists, an operating agreement is what actually runs it
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If the LLC already exists somewhere else
Everything above prices forming a new North Carolina LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: North Carolina takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions conversion, N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 57D-9-01, 57D-9-20 to 57D-9-23, and North Carolina does not publish that filing as a single fee, so this page gives no number for it — it is in any case separate from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a North Carolina LLC may leave for another US state under N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 57D-9-30 to 57D-9-33. 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 North Carolina · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
The catch-up bill is the annual reports, not the fee. North Carolina’s reinstatement application is $100, but each delinquent annual report is $200 — one of the costlier catch-ups in the country. The arithmetic is on reinstating a North Carolina LLC.
North Carolina LLC Annual Report: April 15 and a 30-Day Correction Safe Harbor
Use these official filing checkpoints when reconciling the recurring-cost estimate on this page.
- North Carolina's first LLC annual report is due April 15 of the year after formation or foreign authorization.
- Later annual reports are due April 15 each year while the filing duty continues.
- A deficient report corrected within 30 days after notice is deemed timely.
Match the entity’s formation or registration record, filing mode, and current status to the controlling rule before submitting; use the official filing authority for the current interface.
Compare LLC reporting systems across all jurisdictions, then verify this state’s rule in the official source.
Electing S-corp status for this LLC changes the tax picture too. North Carolina’s franchise tax reaches an S-corp at a $200 minimum that an LLC never owes. See what North Carolina charges at the entity level.
Looking for the annual-report due date and fee instead? See North Carolina LLC annual report.
Related: North Carolina’s registered agent requirements, including who can serve and what happens if you don’t have one.
Related: North Carolina’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.