Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Wisconsin costs $130 online; $170 paper to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($25 online; $40 paper). Five-year total: $255 over five years, every component verified.
What it actually costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $130 online; $170 paper |
| Annual/biennial report | $25 online; $40 paper |
| Franchise / minimum tax | none for an LLC taxed as a partnership |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: $255 over five years, every component verified. 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: $100 next day; $250 in-person 4-hour; $500 in-person 1-hour
The trap worth knowing before you file
Fees from DFI’s own published schedule; due-date basis from the DFI business-entity FAQ (https://dfi.wi.gov/Pages/BusinessServices/BusinessEntities/FAQ.aspx); surcharge treatment quoted verbatim from WI DOR Publication 400 (02/26) at https://www.revenue.wi.gov/DOR%20Publications/pb400.pdf, read with pypdf. ACCESS: www.wdfi.org does not resolve (curl exit 000) — the live domain is dfi.wi.gov, and its /Pages/BusinessServices/Corporations/* paths 404 in favour of /Pages/BusinessServices/BusinessEntities/*.
Source
Wis. Stat. ch. 183 (LLC Act); Wis. Stat. secs. 77.93-77.96 (economic development surcharge); WDFI corporation fee schedule. Read 2026-08-06 from official. 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 Wisconsin LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: Wisconsin takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions conversion, Wis. Stat. § 183.1041(2), and the entity-law filing fee for it is $150 — a separate filing from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a Wisconsin LLC may leave for another US state under Wis. Stat. § 183.1041(1). 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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