Updated August 12, 2026. Quick answer. To dissolve an LLC in South Dakota you file the Articles of Termination, and it can be filed on paper only. Fee: $10. South Dakota requires no tax-clearance certificate to accept the filing. Until that filing is accepted the LLC still legally exists — and whatever South Dakota charges an LLC each year keeps accruing against it.
What you file in South Dakota, and what it costs
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filing | Articles of Termination, Domestic Limited Liability Company (no form number; SOS form ‘Domesticllctermination’, Feb 2018) |
| Fee | $10 |
| How you can file | mail — Per the SOS LLC forms page (sdsos.gov/business-services/corporations/corporate-forms/limited-liability-companies.aspx), the domestic LLC Articles of Termination is offered as a downloadable paper form only (unlike Articles of Organization and annual reports, which can be filed online). |
| Tax clearance | not required |
| Statute | SDCL § 47-34A-805 (articles of termination); SDCL §§ 47-34A-809 to -811 (administrative dissolution and reinstatement) |
Single-step filing with the Secretary of State Office, 500 E Capitol Ave, Pierre, SD 57501. Form recites termination ‘pursuant to SDCL 47-34A-805’; states name/Business ID, effective date of dissolution, and that business has been wound up and legal existence terminated. Must be signed by a member (member-managed) or manager (manager-managed) or per SDCL 47-34A-205. Verified from the official PDF at sdsos.gov/docs/business/llc-domestic-termination.pdf.
On the fee. ‘FILING FEE: $10 — Make check payable to SECRETARY OF STATE’ printed on the official form. No separate online fee applies because this filing is paper-only.
Tax clearance in South Dakota
No tax-clearance certificate is required to file in South Dakota. 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 the SOS’s own form: the Articles of Termination require only the $10 fee and authorized signature; no Department of Revenue clearance is mentioned, and SDCL 47-34A-805 imposes no clearance condition. South Dakota has no corporate income tax; DOR license cancellation is handled separately (see final_tax_steps).
Do not just walk away
Closing the business is not closing the entity. Administrative dissolution after a 60-day cure period (typically triggered by annual report delinquency); reinstatement costs $150 plus delinquent report fees
SDCL 47-34A-810: if the SOS determines a ground for administrative dissolution exists, the company is served notice, and if it ‘does not correct each ground… within sixty days after service of the notice, the secretary of state shall administratively dissolve the company’; a dissolved company ‘continues its existence but may carry on only business necessary to wind up.’ SDCL 47-34A-811: reinstatement requires filing fees for each delinquent annual report plus a $150 reinstatement fee. No SD official source states member personal liability from mere non-filing.
Closing the tax accounts
Cancel the sales/use or contractor’s excise tax license with SD DOR within 15 days of closing and file a final return paying all tax due; no state income tax return exists
SD DOR Sales & Use Tax guidance (dor.sd.gov/businesses/taxes/sales-use-tax/): a closed business ‘must cancel your license within 15 days and immediately file a final return and pay all tax due’ — cancel via the online Filing and Tax Payment portal, or check the out-of-business box on a paper return with the last date of business. South Dakota imposes no corporate or personal income tax, so there is no final income/franchise return.
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 South Dakota — 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
SDCL § 47-34A-805 (articles of termination); SDCL §§ 47-34A-809 to -811 (administrative dissolution and reinstatement). Fee, form and procedure read 2026-08-10 from the official source.
Research note. Form, fee, statute cite, signature rule, and no-clearance negative all read directly from the official SOS form PDF. Admin-dissolution mirror used: https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-47/chapter-34a/section-47-34a-810/. Access failure recorded: https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/47-34A-809 returned a JavaScript-required shell to the fetcher.
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.