Four Fields and $85: How to Start an LLC in Kansas
How to start an LLC in Kansas comes down to Form DL, the state’s four-item Articles of Organization, filed with the Kansas Secretary of State for $85 online or $90 on paper.
Kansas LLC at a glance
State fees checked October 2026
- Form DL online
- $85
- $90 on paper
- Online result
- Minutes
- Certified copy prints right away
- Report
- $90
- Every two years, April 15
- State DBA
- None
- Kansas doesn't register one
File it yourself
$85online; $90 on paper
The certified copy prints in minutes. You or the LLC can be the resident agent at a Kansas street address.
Northwest files it Partner
$39+ $85 state fee
Its first year as your resident agent included; $125 a year from year two. What the report still lists
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Guides that quote $160 use the online fee printed on Form DL's September 2025 revision; the current form says $85 online.
Form DL asks for four things
Members, managers and the business purpose aren’t on Form DL. Here is everything it does ask:
Articles of Organization
- 1The name must be distinguishable on the state's records. A name whose entity lost its Kansas status stays protected one year.
- 2The resident agent is the Kansas term for a registered agent. Under K.S.A. 17-7925, it can be a Kansas resident, a business registered in Kansas, or the LLC itself.
- 3The registered office is "an address in Kansas where the resident agent may be regularly present." It goes on the public record.
- 4Whoever signs declares, under penalty of perjury, that the information is true.
Field 1 also says not to include DBA, fictitious, assumed or trade names. Ownership, profit shares and voting go in an operating agreement for a Kansas LLC, which isn’t filed.
Form DL carries an Attorney General notice since July 1, 2025: foreign principals holding an interest in land within 100 miles of a military installation register it with the Attorney General within 90 days of filing with the Secretary of State or of acquiring the land.
Forming a Kansas LLC when you live in another state
Living outside Kansas, two Kansas rules decide whether a Kansas LLC makes sense.
Kansas works if
- You live in Kansas, or the LLC keeps a Kansas office that is generally open: either can be the resident agent, with no yearly agent fee
- The business operates in Kansas: $85 to form, then $90 every two years
A Kansas LLC adds cost if
- The work happens where you live: your own state can require its own registration of the LLC on top of Kansas's
- No one is "regularly present" at a Kansas street address: the LLC then pays an agent there
An LLC formed in another state that does business in Kansas files a Kansas foreign registration instead: a foreign application, on paper only.
How to start an LLC in Kansas online, from name check to certified copy
Check the name on Name Availability
The Secretary of State's Name Availability tool says whether a name can be used. A Kansas business entity search shows existing records, but the state says not to use its Business Search for availability.
Sign in from Register a Business
To file online, you go through a customer login on sos.ks.gov.
Enter the Form DL details and pay $85
Credit and debit cards are accepted. If your name is close to one on file, its owner can sign a consent to use of name (Form CN), filed with the Articles.
Print the certified Articles
The copy prints from the same site once the filing goes through.
Paper Form DL goes with $90 to the Kansas Secretary of State, Docking State Office Building, 915 SW Harrison Street, Topeka, KS 66612. The state publishes no paper timeline.
How much does it cost to start an LLC in Kansas?
$85 online, $90 on paper, paid once to the Secretary of State. The same form, revised in September 2025, still showed $160 online and $165 on paper, which is why older guides quote those amounts.
The next state fee is the Information Report every two years: $90 online, $110 on paper on the current Information Report form.
An LLC formed online in 2026 owes nothing more until April 15, 2028. By then the state has collected $175 in total. A 120-day name reservation costs $35 on the paper form, if you want one first.
Kansas has no DBA filing
The Secretary of State’s Business Search says a “D/B/A, assumed name, fictitious name or trade name” does not file in Kansas. The name reservation form says it “does not register” one either.
So the name on Form DL should be the name customers will see. Changing it later means amending the Articles.
| If you want to | What Kansas offers | State fee |
|---|---|---|
| Hold a name before filing | Name reservation (Form NR), 120 days, not renewable | $35 |
| Trade under another name | No state DBA registration | None |
| Protect a brand name in Kansas | State trademark registration, 5 years | $40 |
When your Information Reports fall due
$90 online on the current Information Report form, due April 15.
The Kansas report is biennial, not annual. Under K.S.A. 17-76,139, an LLC formed in an even year files its Kansas Information Report in even years; one formed in an odd year, in odd years.
A report still missing three months after April 15 leads to forfeiture. The Secretary of State names just one other standing requirement: keeping the resident agent and registered office current. An LLC left without an active resident agent or registered office can forfeit too, so a move or a new agent means an update filing.
EIN, Form CR-16 and city licenses
- The EIN comes after filing, free from the IRS; Form DL doesn’t ask for one. To collect Kansas sales tax or withhold income tax, the LLC registers for Kansas business tax with the Department of Revenue on Form CR-16: no fee, two to three business days.
- The Kansas franchise tax statute, K.S.A. 79-5401, doesn’t apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2010.
- Licenses depend on the trade and the city. Kansas City, Kansas, for example, requires an annual occupation tax license; the state’s Kansas Business One Stop lists licenses and permits by activity.
Quick answers on Kansas LLCs
What are the requirements for an LLC in Kansas?
At filing, the four fields of Form DL. After that, two standing requirements from the Secretary of State: the Information Report every two years, and a current resident agent and registered office.
What are the benefits of a Kansas LLC compared with other states?
The filing costs $85 online, the report comes every two years, the LLC can be its own resident agent, and the franchise tax statute no longer applies. The tradeoff: no state DBA, so the LLC name is the trading name.
Can you form a Kansas LLC on your own?
Yes. Form DL needs no lawyer and no member list: one authorized person signs it.
Is the Kansas report filed every year?
No. It’s due every two years by April 15, in even or odd years depending on the year the LLC was formed.
Does S corp status need a Kansas filing?
No. The election is made with the IRS on Form 2553; Form DL has no place for it.
Does Kansas charge an LLC franchise tax?
Not for tax years beginning after 2010, under K.S.A. 79-5401.
