Updated August 12, 2026. Quick answer. To dissolve an LLC in Maryland you file the Articles of Cancellation (no form number; SDAT form ID ‘SDAT_Charter_Articles of Cancellation LLC’, and it can be filed online or on paper. Fee: $0 standard; $50 expedited. Maryland requires no tax-clearance certificate to accept the filing. Until that filing is accepted the LLC still legally exists — and whatever Maryland charges an LLC each year keeps accruing against it.
What you file in Maryland, and what it costs
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filing | Articles of Cancellation (no form number; SDAT form ID ‘SDAT_Charter_Articles of Cancellation LLC’, Rev. March 2025), filed with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), Charter Legal Department, 700 East Pratt Street, 2nd Floor, Suite 2700, Baltimore, MD 21202. One-step filing. |
| Fee | $0 standard; $50 expedited |
| How you can file | both — Online via Maryland Business Express, or paper by mail/drop box to SDAT Charter Legal Department (per form instructions). |
| Tax clearance | not required |
| Statute | Md. Code, Corporations & Associations, Title 4A, Subtitle 9: § 4A-901 (dissolution), §§ 4A-903–4A-908 (winding up; continuation after articles of cancellation), § 4A-909 (contents of articles of cancellation), § 4A-910 (filing with the Department), § 4A-911 (forfeiture for failure to file annual report) |
Verified from the current official form PDF (dat.maryland.gov/SDAT Forms/llc-cancel.PDF). Form requires: LLC name, principal office, a Maryland resident agent ‘who shall serve for one year after termination’ (agent must co-sign), members winding up, and EITHER a statement that the LLC has no known creditors OR the date notice of termination was sent to all creditors by registered mail (must be at least 19 days before filing). Effective on filing or a stated future date no more than 30 days after filing.
On the fee. Form instructions state verbatim: ‘The filing fee for Articles of Cancellation is $0 for non-expedited processing or $50 for expedited processing.’ Online filing is available through Maryland Business Express (egov.maryland.gov/businessexpress); mailed/drop-box checks payable to SDAT.
Tax clearance in Maryland
No tax-clearance certificate is required to file in Maryland. That is not the same as owing nothing — it means the state will accept the filing without a revenue-agency sign-off first.
Negative verified from SDAT’s own Articles of Cancellation instructions (Rev. March 2025), which enumerate all filing requirements and include no tax-clearance or Comptroller certificate requirement. Practical caveat: SDAT will not accept filings from an entity whose charter/right to do business has been forfeited for unfiled Annual Reports — a forfeited LLC must cure (revive) before it can cancel (SDAT ‘Not in Good Standing or Forfeited – Entity Status’ guidance).
Do not just walk away
Closing the business is not closing the entity. Failure to file the SDAT Annual Report (Form 1, $300/yr for LLCs) makes the LLC ‘not in good standing’; SDAT then certifies delinquent LLCs and, by proclamation under Md. Code, Corps. & Ass’ns § 4A-911, forfeits the LLC’s right to do business in Maryland and its right to its name (certification list is prepared for entities that have not filed by the deadline, with forfeiture proclamation following, historically around October 1 of the following cycle). A forfeited LLC cannot legally operate; reviving it requires filing all delinquent reports and paying accrued $300 annual charges plus any late-filing penalties before Articles of Revival/reinstatement or cancellation are accepted.
Trigger tracked from § 4A-911 as described in SDAT’s own forfeiture guidance (‘Good Standing or Forfeited – Entity Status’, dat.maryland.gov) and Forfeiture FAQs. Maryland’s own sources do not state that forfeiture creates personal liability for members; the cost of walking away is the accruing $300/yr Annual Report obligation + late penalties until the entity is properly cancelled, plus loss of name and standing.
Closing the tax accounts
Close Comptroller accounts and file final returns: sales & use tax account closed via Form 202FR (or final report in coupon booklet) or by phone 410-260-7980; employer withholding closed via Form MW506FR; unemployment insurance account closed with MD Dept. of Labor (410-949-0022); written requests for alcohol/tobacco/motor-fuel licenses to the Field Enforcement Bureau.
Per the Comptroller of Maryland ‘Closing a Business’ page (marylandcomptroller.gov/businesses/closing-a-business.html) and the Maryland Business Express Closing a Business Checklist. File a final income/pass-through return for the last year of operation.
Before you file
- The order the steps go in — internal decision, creditors and distributions, the state filing, the final returns, then the registrations you are still paying for.
- What an LLC costs to keep alive in Maryland — the bill that keeps running until this filing lands.
- What dissolution costs in all 51 jurisdictions — the fee, the filing route and the tax-clearance flag, side by side.
- What happens if you simply stop filing — administrative dissolution is the walk-away trap happening to you rather than by you.
We do not form or dissolve LLCs, sell filing services, or take a commission from anyone who does. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.
Sources and limits
Md. Code, Corporations & Associations, Title 4A, Subtitle 9: § 4A-901 (dissolution), §§ 4A-903–4A-908 (winding up; continuation after articles of cancellation), § 4A-909 (contents of articles of cancellation), § 4A-910 (filing with the Department), § 4A-911 (forfeiture for failure to file annual report). Fee, form and procedure read 2026-08-10 from the official source.
Research note. Primary source is SDAT’s own current form + instructions (Rev. March 2025), read in full. Maryland is unusual in two ways worth preserving: the cancellation filing fee is $0 (standard), and the state’s annual compliance cost while alive is high ($300/yr Annual Report), so walking away is expensive relative to filing the free cancellation.
Honest gap. This page covers the state filing that ends the entity, its fee and its tax-clearance condition. It does not cover creditor claims against a dissolved LLC, disputes between members, the tax treatment of a final distribution, reinstatement after an administrative dissolution, or withdrawal from any other state you registered in — each of those has its own rules. General information, not legal or tax advice. See methodology and corrections.