Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: every figure Clear Money Guide holds about Wisconsin, on one page, each one copied from a dataset that cites its own statute or agency. Built for reporters on deadline — take any line, follow the link for the source.
What stands out about Wisconsin
These are the figures where Wisconsin differs most from the rest of the country — selected by counting how many jurisdictions share each value, not by editorial preference.
- Return deadline: 21 days — the only jurisdiction of the 51 we have data for
- Formation fee: $130 online; $170 paper — the only jurisdiction of the 48 we have data for
- Local ordinances: none identified; state law preempts local employment-benefit regulation — the only jurisdiction of the 33 we have data for
- Trigger: the due date of any premium except the first — one of only 2 of 47
What dying costs here
- Small estate limit: 50000
- Small estate scope: unstated
Source and full detail: the cost-of-dying index. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Estate and property law status
- Authorized: yes
- Statute or act: Wis. Stat. 140.145 (RULONA), enacted 2019 Wisconsin Act 125; amended by 2023 Wisconsin Act 129
- Effective date: 2020-05-01
- Conditions: Identity by personal knowledge, credible-witness oath, or two types of identity proofing; audiovisual recording retained 7 years; technology must support simultaneous sight-and-sound and accommodate sensory impairments. EXCLUDED DOCUMENT TYPES not eligible for remote notarization: wills, codicils…
- Association name: Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund (Wis. Stat. ch. 646) — Wisconsin has no separate life-and-health guaranty association; a single fund covers property, liability, life and disability insurance
- Death benefit limit: $300,000
- Aggregate limit: $300,000
- Statute citation: Wis. Stat. § 646.31(4)(ap) (Eligible claims — Maximum claim)
- Extended windows: 30 days for replacement policies and annuity contracts; separately, 30 calendar days as a conditional alternative for non-intermediary (direct) marketers
- Refund basis: for replacements: unconditional full refund of all premiums or considerations paid including policy fees and charges; for a VARIABLE or market-value-adjustment policy or contract, the cash surrender value plus the fees and other charges deducted from gross premiums
- Grace period days: not less than 31 days
- Trigger: the due date of any premium except the first
- Coverage during grace: the DEATH BENEFIT continues in force; the statute says nothing about deducting the unpaid premium from the death benefit
- Variations: group life policies are excluded from Sec. 632.44(2) entirely; VARIABLE-benefit contracts are exempted from the 31-day rule and instead get ‘a grace provision appropriate to such a contract’
Source and full detail: notary rules by state · guaranty association limits · life insurance free-look periods · life insurance grace periods. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Working and earning here
- Quit deadline: By the earlier of the date the employee would regularly have been paid under the employer’s payroll schedule, or the date required under the standing pay-period rule
- Fired deadline: By the earlier of the date the employee would regularly have been paid, or the date required under the standing pay-period rule
- Statute citation: Wis. Stat. 109.03 (deadline); 109.11 (penalty)
- Has law: No
- Disclosure trigger: none
- Salary history ban: No
- Local ordinances: none identified; state law preempts local employment-benefit regulation
- Contested: No
Source and full detail: final paycheck laws by state · pay transparency laws by state · paid family leave by state · the convenience-of-the-employer rule. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Renting here
- Return deadline: 21 days
- Interest required: no
- Statute citation: Wis. Stat. § 704.28; Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.06; private right of action under Wis. Stat. § 100.20(5)
Source and full detail: security deposit law by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Starting a business here
- Formation fee: $130 online; $170 paper
- Annual report: $25 online; $40 paper
- Franchise tax: none for an LLC taxed as a partnership
- Publication requirement: none
- Expedite options: $100 next day; $250 in-person 4-hour; $500 in-person 1-hour
- Statute citation: Wis. Stat. ch. 183 (LLC Act); Wis. Stat. secs. 77.93-77.96 (economic development surcharge); WDFI corporation fee schedule
- Five year total: $255
Source and full detail: LLC cost by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Tax treatment here
- Has law: Yes
- Treatment: preferential
- Rate: 7.65% top marginal
- Preferential mechanism: exclusion
- Tax year: 2025
- Statute citation: Wis. Stat. sec. 71.05(6)(b)9. and 9m.
Source and full detail: capital gains tax by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
For journalists: how to cite this
Clear Money Guide, Wisconsin Money Statistics 2026. https://clearmoneyguide.com/state-money-statistics/wisconsin/. Every figure on this page is copied from a Clear Money Guide dataset that states its own primary source and the date it was read — follow the section links for the statute or agency behind any number. Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0.
What this sheet does and does not contain
This sheet aggregates; it does not research. Every figure is copied from the owning page linked in each section, and a figure we do not own is simply absent — not estimated, not inferred from a neighbouring state. That is why sheets differ in length: this one states 40 figures, and a state where we hold less will show fewer. A short sheet means we have less, not that the state has less.
Statutory law changes. Each linked owner page carries the date its figures were read; check there before relying on anything here. See also Wisconsin financial adviser statistics and all 51 state money sheets.
General information about published law and public data, not legal, tax or investment advice. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.