Forming an Illinois LLC starts with one document and a $150 fee, as of 2026. You file it with the Illinois Secretary of State, the annual report later runs $75, and there’s no flat franchise tax like California’s. The formation ads won’t say so, but you can file the whole thing yourself.
Filing your Illinois LLC: the office, the fee, and the wait
The essentials for forming an Illinois LLC, as of 2026:
- Where you file: Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services, online or by mail.
- What you file: Articles of Organization, Form LLC-5.5, for a $150 fee.
- How long it takes: about 10 business days, or 24 hours for $250 total.
- What recurs: a $75 annual report, due before the first day of your anniversary month.
- Who it’s for: anyone running a business from Illinois, or about to.
- Contact: Secretary of State Business Services, Springfield, for filing help.
How to file your Illinois LLC with the Department of Business Services
Here’s how to start an LLC in Illinois without overpaying or guessing. It runs through the Secretary of State, more checklist than legal maze, though small errors do get filings rejected.
Six steps take you from a name to an open account. The Illinois LLC filing requirements are short: a distinguishable name, an Illinois registered agent, the Articles of Organization, and the $150 fee.
Step 1: Search the name and pick your designator
Your LLC name has to be distinguishable from every active business on the Secretary of State’s records. It also has to end with “limited liability company,” “L.L.C.,” or “LLC,” so choose the form you want on the paperwork.
Run it through the Illinois Business Entity Search before you build a logo or domain around it. If the name’s clear but you’re not ready, Form LLC-1.15 reserves it for 90 days for $25.
Step 2: Appoint an Illinois registered agent
Illinois law requires every LLC to keep a registered agent and a registered office in the state. The agent accepts legal papers and official mail for the company.
The agent must be an Illinois resident or a company cleared to do business here, and the registered office needs a real street address. A P.O. box alone won’t do, and the LLC can’t name itself.
Naming yourself is free, but it puts your address on the public record. If that’s a concern, compare the registered agent options for Illinois.
Step 3: File Form LLC-5.5 with the Department of Business Services
This filing creates the company. You send the Articles of Organization, Form LLC-5.5, to the Department of Business Services with the $150 fee, online or by mail.
The form asks for your LLC name, principal place of business, registered agent and office, purpose, and whether it’s member-managed or manager-managed, naming any managers.
The state lists about 10 business days for standard online filing, or 24-hour service for $250 total. The state’s LLC filing instructions and fee schedule cover both, and you can check how long Illinois is currently taking.
The state fee is $150 whether you file it yourself or pay a service $300 to do it. I’ve watched first-time owners buy a “premium” package that just typed their name onto the same Form LLC-5.5 they could have filed in twenty minutes.
Step 4: Put an operating agreement in place
Illinois won’t make you file an operating agreement, and the Secretary of State will never ask to see one. It still earns its keep, setting ownership shares, profit splits, voting, and exit terms.
Single-member owners benefit too. A signed Illinois operating agreement shows a bank, a partner, or a judge the company is real and separate from you.
Step 5: Get your EIN from the IRS
With the LLC approved, get its EIN from the IRS. It’s free, takes minutes online, and you’ll need it to open a bank account, hire, or file taxes.
Single-member owners often think they can skip it, though many banks ask for one before opening a business account. Apply directly from the IRS, or follow our step-by-step EIN walkthrough.
Step 6: Open the bank account and register where required
Open a dedicated business bank account the week your LLC clears. Keeping company and personal money separate is what preserves the liability protection you paid for.
Bring the stamped Articles, your EIN, and the operating agreement. Register with the Illinois Department of Revenue if you’ll collect sales tax or hire employees, and check local and trade licenses on top.
Use Northwest when the Illinois registered agent piece is worth outsourcing.
Illinois Form LLC-5.5 is simple enough to file yourself, but Northwest can make sense if you want the filing handled with registered agent service instead of putting your own Illinois address on the public record.
Why an Illinois LLC makes sense if you operate here
Owners often ask about forming in Delaware or Wyoming to save money. If your business is in Illinois, that detour usually costs more, not less.
An out-of-state company still has to register here as a foreign LLC before doing business in Illinois, using Form LLC-45.5 and another $150 plus a second agent. That’s two states, not one.
Filing at home avoids that. Illinois charges no flat franchise tax like California’s $800, and pass-through treatment keeps profits off a second corporate return.
Half the people who email me about a Delaware LLC run a shop out of Chicago or Springfield. Delaware doesn’t get you out of Illinois rules. It adds a layer.
My advice is simple: form where you operate, and skip the souvenir paperwork.
What an Illinois LLC really costs: $150 to file, $75 a year
The Illinois LLC cost that matters most is the $150 fee for the Articles of Organization. After that, the only recurring cost is the $75 annual report.
Optional extras: $25 to reserve a name, $100 for 24-hour service, $400 for a Series LLC. For the full picture with registered-agent pricing, see what an Illinois LLC costs in 2026, or if you’d rather hand off the filing, compare the Illinois LLC services first.
A 2026 bill, SB3709, proposes cutting several of these fees in half, but it hasn’t passed, so $150 and $75 hold as of 2026.
The Illinois annual report, the anniversary-month deadline, and replacement tax
Illinois isn’t a no-report state. Every LLC files an Illinois LLC annual report, Form LLC-50.1, with the Secretary of State, and the fee is $75 a year.
The timing trips people up. It’s due in the 60 days before the first day of your anniversary month, the month you formed, not a fixed date. File it through the annual report system once that window opens.
Taxes depend on how the IRS classifies your LLC, which the state’s guidance on taxing an LLC lays out form by form.
LLCs taxed as partnerships, S corporations, or corporations also owe Personal Property Replacement Tax. The Department of Revenue sets it between 1.5% and 2.5% of net income, filed on IL-1065, IL-1120-ST, or IL-1120.
The annual report is where good standing quietly dies. Owners wait for a notice with a due date, but Illinois ties the deadline to your anniversary month, so there’s no tidy April 15 to circle.
What I tell every client: set a calendar alert for the formation month the day the LLC is approved.
That reminder matters more than waiting for mail, because the deadline follows your Illinois LLC’s own timeline.
Standard LLC or Illinois Series LLC: which one to file
Illinois is one of the few states offering a Series LLC, and the online filing even asks which version you want. A series lets one parent LLC hold separate cells, each walling off its own assets and debts; that’s the appeal.
It costs more and adds upkeep. Series Articles run $400 instead of $150, each Certificate of Designation (Form LLC-37.40) adds $50, and the annual report climbs to $75 plus $50 per series. A standard LLC wins for one rental or a solo shop.
Illinois also recognizes the PLLC for licensed professionals, regulated by IDFPR, and the L3C for low-profit ventures. Most readers won’t need either.
The Illinois LLC mistakes that cost a refiling or a penalty
The top rejection is a name that isn’t distinguishable from one already in the Secretary of State’s database. Search first, and don’t order signage until the state clears the name.
Two others recur. A P.O. box listed as the registered office bounces the filing, and owners who expect anonymity get a surprise, since Illinois publishes managers and manager-authority members.
The costly one is the calendar. Mixing up the $150 filing fee with the $75 annual report, or missing the report window, is how a company drops out of good standing.
Illinois LLC questions, from cost to the annual report
These come up on almost every Illinois formation; the answers point back to the detail above.
How much is an LLC in Illinois?
Illinois charges $150 to file your Articles of Organization, then $75 every year for the annual report. That’s the real floor. A formation company will file for you, but it just adds a markup to the same $150, so most owners come out ahead doing it themselves.
How long does it take to get an LLC in Illinois?
Standard online filings post in about 10 business days. Need it faster? The 24-hour service costs $250 total, a $100 premium over the regular fee.
Can you start an Illinois LLC for free?
Not completely, and any site promising “free” is glossing over the state fee. The $150 filing fee is mandatory and goes straight to the Secretary of State. What you skip is the paid middleman: filing it yourself for free of any service charge is the cheapest legitimate route.
Does Illinois require an LLC annual report?
Yes, with no break for slow years. Every Illinois LLC files Form LLC-50.1 and pays $75, due in the 60 days before the first day of its anniversary month. Skip it and penalties pile on; ignore it long enough and the state can dissolve the company.
Does an Illinois LLC pay a franchise tax?
Not a flat one. Illinois has no fixed LLC franchise tax, so there’s nothing like California’s $800 annual bill. What you might owe depends on tax classification: Personal Property Replacement Tax for partnership, S-corp, or corporate-taxed LLCs, or an elective 4.95% pass-through entity tax. A disregarded single-member LLC reports through the owner’s return.
What is an Illinois Series LLC?
It’s one LLC that can spin up multiple internal series, each shielded from the others’ debts, which is why real-estate investors reach for it. It costs $400 to form versus $150, and each series adds $50 to your annual report. For most one-owner businesses, that’s complexity without a payoff.
- Internal Revenue Service: Employer Identification Number
- Illinois Secretary of State: Information for Forming an LLC Online
- Illinois Secretary of State: LLC Publications and Forms
- Illinois Secretary of State: Business Search and Certificate of Good Standing
- Illinois General Assembly: Limited Liability Company Act, 805 ILCS 180
- Illinois General Assembly: LLC Fees, 805 ILCS 180/50-10
- Illinois Department of Revenue: How Illinois Taxes an LLC
Looking for an overview? See Illinois LLC Services
Launch your Illinois LLC with ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness helps you start your Illinois LLC by filing your Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State, setting up your registered agent, and guiding you through the key steps so your business is properly formed and ready to operate
