Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in North Dakota costs $135 to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($50). Five-year total: At least $385 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 | $135 |
| Annual/biennial report | $50 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | Not verified — see notes |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $385 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.
The trap worth knowing before you file
Agency schedule and fee statute AGREE for North Dakota: the ND Secretary of State’s LLC page (https://sos.nd.gov/business/business-services/business-structures/limited-liability-company-llc, official) lists $135 registration and $50 annual report, matching § 10-32.1-92 exactly. The SOS page does NOT disclose the $50 late fee or the $135 reinstatement fee — those come only from the statute, which is why the statute is the stronger source here. ACCESS NOTE: sos.nd.gov/business/business-services/business-records-fees and …/business-structures/llc are both 404; the working path is …/business-s
Source
N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92 (fees and charges); § 10-32.1-89 (annual report); § 10-32.1-90 (involuntary termination). 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 North Dakota LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: North Dakota takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions domestication, N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-67(1), and the entity-law filing fee for it is $50 — a separate filing from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a North Dakota LLC may leave for another US state under N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-67(2). 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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