The minimum Illinois LLC Cost is $150, which covers the processing fee for filing your LLC formation documents (known as the Articles of Organization).

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

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

Illinois LLC Cost

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

                                                         

Requirement	Fee
Articles of Organization	$150
Registered Agent	$0-$155+
LLC Name	$0-$175+
Operating Agreement	$0+

Illinois LLC Filing Fee ($150)

In Illinois, 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 will need to pay a filing fee of $150, which is applicable to both domestic and foreign LLCs.

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 Illinois’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 Illinois LLC Formation guide.

Illinois Registered Agent ($0-155+)

During the process of completing your LLC’s Articles of Organization, you’ll be required to nominate a registered agent.

This is a person or entity that you must assign to receive tax, legal, and governmental correspondence on behalf of your Illinois 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.

Professional registered agent services in Illinois come at different costs, with some offering complimentary formation filing and no fees for the first year, and others charging more than $150 per annum depending on the breadth of services offered.

Note: Your registered agent must have a physical street address in Illinois, as P.O. boxes do not meet the state’s requirements for a registered office.

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

Naming Your Illinois LLC ($0-$175+)

When forming your Illinois 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

If you’ve found a name for your LLC but aren’t ready to register your business immediately, Illinois allows you to reserve the name in order to prevent others from taking it in the near future.

To do this, you will need to fill out the Name Reservation form and accompany it with a $25 fee, which will reserve your name for up to 90 days.

This form must be submitted either through postal mail or directly in person at the Secretary of State’s office.

Note: Remember that prior to reserving your LLC name, you can (and should) check its availability by using the Corporate Name Availability Inquiry Form on the Illinois Secretary of State’s website or by calling (217) 782-9521.

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

In Illinois, a Doing Business As (DBA) name, which is also referred to as an Assumed Name, allows LLCs to conduct business under a different name than what they were officially registered as.

If you’re interested in using a DBA for your business, you will have to file the Application to Adopt an Assumed Name form with the Secretary of State.

It’s important to note that obtaining a DBA incurs a fee that varies, ranging from $30 to $150, depending on the year in which you’re filing.

Note: After registering a DBA name in Illinois, state law requires LLCs to publish the assumed name in a local newspaper located within the county where the business operates.

Illinois 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 Illinois).

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 Illinois Secretary of State — it’s purely an internal document.

Additional Illinois LLC Formation Costs

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

We’ve summarized some of these additional costs below:

Expedited Services Illinois

For those needing to speed up the process of their LLC formation in Illinois, the Secretary of State offers an expedited service.

This service prioritizes your documents over others submitted on the same day, with notifications on filing status sent directly to you via email.

Keep in mind that expedited processing is available for business organization documents, as well as for obtaining certified copies and certificates relating to those documents.

To utilize this service, you will need to make sure that your submission — whether by mail, fax, or personal delivery — includes a cover letter that specifies your need for expedited processing, along with an email address for notification purposes.

The fee to expedite business document filings is $25 per document; for certified copies or certificates requiring expedited processing, a $10 fee per item is charged instead.

Illinois Professional Licenses

In Illinois, LLCs may need to obtain certain professional licenses if they plan to operate in a regulated field such as medicine, law, or accounting.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) oversees the licensing and regulation of more than 1.2 million professionals across over 100 different professions.

The cost of occupational licenses varies significantly depending on the profession and type of license required.

For example, an LLC providing counseling services will need to secure a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) license for its members, which comes with a fee of $150.

Note: For more information on the application process, you should consult the IDFPR Application Checklist.

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 $75 and a few hundred dollars.

Certificate of Good Standing

A Illinois certificate of good standing 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 easily apply for and purchase a Certificate of Good Standing through the Illinois Secretary of State’s website. You will need to start by searching the database for your company’s File Detail Report and then proceed to purchase the certificate online.

The fee is $25 for corporations and LLCs, and $5 for Not-for-Profit corporations.

Alternatively, you can obtain the certificate by calling (217) 782-6875 or by submitting a written request, along with the required fee, to the Secretary of State Corporations Division.

Certified Copies of Business Documents

Certified copies of business documents are often necessary for legal verification purposes, such as when engaging in financial transactions or registering your business in other states.

You can obtain certified copies of your LLC’s business documents for a standard fee of $25 by applying through the Illinois Secretary of State’s website.

Cost to Maintain an LLC in Illinois

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

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

Annual Report

All Illinois LLC owners are required to submit an annual report by the first day of the month in which their LLC was originally formed.

This report keeps the Secretary of State informed about the current details of your LLC, including its name, business address, and registered agent information.

The filing can be done online or via mail (Form LLC-50.1), and a filing fee of $75 will need to be paid.

Keep in mind that you can submit your report as early as 60 days before the due date.

Note: A late filing penalty of $100 will be imposed if this report is not filed within 60 days following its due date.

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 Illinois 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

Illinois vs Other States

Illinois offers a favorable environment for LLC formation with its relatively low fees, which makes it an attractive and cost-effective option for entrepreneurs.

For instance, the annual report fee for an LLC in Massachusetts is $500, which significatly raises the cost of business maintenance over time.

Ultimately, the best state to form your LLC will be one in which you plan to primarily operate your business from.

This is because 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.