How Much Does an LLC Cost in Florida

The minimum Florida LLC Cost is $125, which covers the processing fee for filing your LLC formation documents (known as the Articles of Organization) and appointing a registered agent.

Having said that, the total cost of forming a Florida LLC will depend on several factors, including your personal preferences and business needs.

In our How Much Does an LLC Cost in Florida article, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about the different costs associated with launching and maintaining an LLC.

Florida LLC Cost

In the table below, you can find a summary of the main requirements of forming a Florida limited liability company (LLC) and their associated fees.

                                                         

Requirement	Fee
Articles of Organization	$100
Registered Agent	$25-$155+
LLC Name	$0-$75+
Operating Agreement	$0+

Florida LLC Filing Fee ($100)

In Florida, all LLCs are required to submit their Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State in order to be registered with the state.

If you choose to submit the Articles of Organization by yourself, you’ll be required to pay a $100 filing fee, regardless of whether you’re filing as a domestic or foreign LLC.

Having said that, if you choose to use an LLC formation service, the cost will be a little higher as it will include a small service fee in addition to Florida’s state filing fee.

The fees for an LLC formation service can range significantly, but can start from as low as $29, increasing if you decide to purchase any additional offerings.

Note: For more details on the formation process you can check out our Florida LLC Formation guide.

Florida Registered Agent ($25+)

As part of the process of completing the Articles of Organization, you’ll be required to appoint a registered agent and pay a $25 fee. This is a person or entity that you must assign to receive tax, legal, and governmental correspondence on behalf of your Florida LLC.

While you can act as your own registered agent at no extra cost, it’s often recommended to hire a professional service so you avoid any potential penalties or legal issues caused by non-compliance with state regulations.

Although the exact cost of these professional registered agent (RA) services is unique to each provider, they typically charge around $130+ per year. Most premium LLC formation services also allow new customers to access their services for free throughout the first year.

Alternatively, you can find some of the top recommendations for professional RA services in our Best Registered Agent Services of 2024 article.

Naming Your Florida LLC ($0-$75+)

When forming your Florida LLC, you’ll be required to pick a suitable name that’s available to use.

While registering a name in itself has no cost, there are two potential costs to be aware of when naming your LLC.

Reserving Name

Unlike many other states, there’s no specific form you’ll need to use in order to reserve a business name in Florida. Instead, you’re required to file a letter containing your name, address, and the name you’re reserving.

This costs $25 and will reserve your business’s name for a nonrenewable period of up to 120 days.

Note: Before registering a business name for your Florida LLC, you must first check it’s not already in use by using the Sunbiz Florida Entity Name Search tool.

When choosing a name for your LLC, it’s important to select one that corresponds to an available domain. This is because a matching domain ensures consistency between your LLC’s name and its online presence, which helps to strengthen its brand recognition and credibility.

Doing Business As (DBA) Name

If you want to operate your Florida business under a name other than the one it’s legally registered as, you’ll need to obtain a Doing Business As (DBA) name — or “fictitious name” as it’s known in Florida.

This is done by filing an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name with the Secretary of State and paying a $50 registration fee.

Note: Under FL Stat. § 865.09, you’ll also be required to pay for a notice of your fictitious name to be published in a newspaper located in the same county as your business — which will add to this cost.

Florida LLC Operating Agreement ($0+)

While not mandatory, it’s good practice for LLCs to have an operating agreement (or “company agreement” as it’s known in Florida).

This document defines the roles and responsibilities of the members or managers in your LLC and will help prevent and solve any business disputes that may arise later on.

While you can opt to hire an online service or business attorney to draft this document for you (which typically costs at least a few hundred dollars), it’s actually quite straightforward to do it yourself at no extra cost.

It’s also important to note that this doesn’t actually need to be filed with the Florida Secretary of State — it’s purely an internal document.

Additional Florida LLC Formation Costs

On top of the more common fees outlined above, there are a number of additional formation costs that LLCs in Florida may encounter depending on their circumstances.

We’ve summarized some of these additional costs below:

Local Business Licenses

Depending on the exact location and industry of your LLC, there are a number of local-level licenses and permits it may be required to obtain. While these can vary greatly in their cost, they tend to range between $15 and a few hundred dollars.

Certificate of Status

A Florida certificate of status is a document often required to open a business bank account, or by lenders in order to check that your LLC is properly registered and legally authorized to conduct business with the state.

You can submit a request for this certificate online, by mail, or in person alongside a $5 fee.

Certified Copies of Business Documents

If you want to obtain certified copies of your Florida Articles of Organization it will cost $30, and generally takes around seven days to process once it has been received.

Cost to Maintain an LLC in Florida

In addition to the cost of forming an LLC in Florida, there are also several ongoing costs you’ll be responsible for paying each year.

We’ve outlined these recurring costs associated with maintaining a Florida LLC below.

Annual Report

By May 1 each year, your Florida LLC will need to submit an Annual Report to the Florida Division of Corporations — which costs $138.75.

This report ensures that the state is kept up-to-date on important information regarding your business, such as its current name, the address of its registered agent, and the details of its members.

You can file your annual report online using Florida’s Annual Report-Sunbiz page, where more detailed instructions on how to complete the filing process can also be found.

Note: If you miss the May 1 deadline to submit this Florida LLC annual report, you’ll be required to pay a $400 penalty fine. Failing to pay this by the third Friday of September will result in your LLC’s dissolution.

Registered Agent Maintenance

If you decide to take advantage of a professional registered agent in order to handle your legal documents, you’ll be required to pay an annual fee in return for their services. This fee commonly ranges between $35 and $300 depending on the provider and features you select.

While you’re not required to use a professional registered agent service, it’s highly recommended.

Taxes

In addition to the federal taxes your LLC is required to pay regardless of the state it’s based in, there are a variety of state-specific taxes in Florida you need to be aware of, including:

• Sales tax
• Employment taxes
• Business privilege taxes
• Property taxes

Additionally, there are various local taxes your LLC may need to pay depending on the municipality or county it’s based in, such as:

• Sales and use taxes
• Property tax

Florida vs Other States

When compared to many other popular business-friendly states, the cost of setting up an LLC in Florida is quite appealing. In addition to a relatively low initial filing fee, Florida stands out for its general lack of costly annual fees.

In comparison, if you decided to set up your LLC in Delaware, for example, it would be much more expensive in the long run due to its fairly steep annual franchise tax of $300.

Ultimately, the best state to form your LLC will be one in which you plan to primarily operate your business from. This makes it far easier to stay legally compliant on a number of levels, including taxation, licensing, and filing requirements, as you’ll only need to deal with one state’s set of rules.