Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Massachusetts costs $500 (certificate of organization); $520 if filed electronically or by fax to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($500 annually ($520 if filed electronically or by fax)). Five-year total: At least $3,000 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 | $500 (certificate of organization); $520 if filed electronically or by fax |
| Annual/biennial report | $500 annually ($520 if filed electronically or by fax) |
| Franchise / minimum tax | not verified |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $3,000 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: Electronic/fax surcharge scaled to the filing fee: $3.00 on fees of $0.01-$14.99; $3.50 on $15-$24.99; $6.00 on $25-$84.99; $10.00 on $85-$149.99; $15.00 on $150-$499; $20.00 on a $500 filing
The trap worth knowing before you file
Agency schedule and fee statute AGREE ($500/$500). Agency fee schedule read at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/general-information/corporations-filing-fees.htm (served cleanly; the older /cor/corpweb/corfees/corfees.htm path redirects to the division home page and /divisions/corporations/filing-fees.htm 404s).
Source
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156C, s. 12(c)-(d); Secretary of the Commonwealth Corporations Division fee schedule. 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 Massachusetts LLC. A company that already exists in another state cannot become a Massachusetts one: Massachusetts is one of the eight jurisdictions with no jurisdiction-change route in either direction, and the article that would carry it does not reach an LLC by its own terms (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156C, § 69). The substitute is a merger — form a Massachusetts LLC, then merge the older company into it, under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156C, § 59(b). A merger produces a surviving entity rather than a continuation, so it is genuinely not the same thing as domestication, but it keeps far more alive than dissolving and re-forming does.
How to Move an LLC to Another State · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
What letting it lapse costs in Massachusetts. The catch-up bill is only half the story — in Massachusetts reinstatement is open “at any time,” but dissolution does not cancel the LLC — so the $500-a-year report fee keeps accruing while it sits. The figures, and the statute they come from, are on reinstating a Massachusetts LLC.
Massachusetts LLC Annual Report: $500 and the Organization-Detail Carryover
Use these official filing checkpoints when reconciling the recurring-cost estimate on this page.
- Massachusetts LLCs formed under chapter 156C must file an annual report with the state secretary.
- The report must set out the information required by subsection (a) of section 12.
- The annual-report filing fee is $500 and is paid when the report is filed.
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.
Moving an LLC you already own is a different question from what it costs to form a new one here: Massachusetts has no statute that lets an out-of-state LLC become a Massachusetts LLC while staying the same entity, and the route that works is a merger. See why you cannot move an LLC to Massachusetts, and the merger route.
Looking for the annual-report due date and fee instead? See Massachusetts LLC annual report.
Electing S-corp status for this LLC changes the tax picture too. Massachusetts charges every S-corp a $456 minimum excise tax an LLC never owes. See what Massachusetts charges at the entity level.
Related: Massachusetts’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.
Related: Massachusetts’s registered agent requirements, including who can serve and what happens if you don’t have one.