Massachusetts LLC Annual Report Fee of $500, Owed on Each Filing Anniversary

Massachusetts LLC Annual Fee and the $20 Online Service Charge

The Massachusetts LLC Act, Chapter 156C, § 12(d) fixes the annual report fee at five hundred dollars, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s regulation, 950 CMR 112.29, lists the same $500 for foreign LLCs. Revenue, the number of members and the number of managers change nothing.

The $520 figure comes from a separate line of the Corporations Division fee schedule, an expedited service charge on every online and fax order. It is $20 on a $500 order and 4.5% of the subtotal once an order goes above $500. Paper filings mailed or brought to Boston don’t carry it.

Mailed filings are paid by personal check, cashier’s check or money order made out to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Online and fax filings take Visa, MasterCard, a debit card or an electronic funds transfer.

Senate bill S.307 would set the annual report and the certificate of organization at $250 for an LLC with six employees or fewer; in the bill history read in April 2026, a committee had reported it favorably on March 26, 2026 and sent it to Senate Ways and Means. Until a version of it becomes law, § 12(d) still reads $500.

The Anniversary That Sets the Massachusetts Annual Report Due Date

Under 950 CMR 112.14, the report is filed “on or before the anniversary date of the filing of its original certificate of organization,” the Massachusetts name for articles of organization. The LLC is formed on that filing date unless the certificate names a later one (§ 12(b)); the regulation counts from the filing date either way.

• Sept 14, 2022Certificate filed
• Sept 14, 2023First report due; filed late, in February 2024
• Sept 14, 2024Next report, date unchanged
• Sept 14, 2025And every year after

The September 14 date stays even after a late filing. In the example above, the 2023 report went in five months late, yet the following report was still due on September 14, 2024, because the anchor is the original filing, not the last report.

For an LLC formed elsewhere and registered in Massachusetts, 950 CMR 112.27 counts from the anniversary of that registration instead; the formation date in the home state plays no role. On the LLC’s record, reached through the Massachusetts business entity search, either date appears as the filing date.

If the anniversary falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday, M.G.L. c. 4, § 9 lets the report be filed the next business day; a Saturday anniversary has no such rule, and online filing stays open that day. For a certificate filed on February 29, filing by February 28 in other years stays inside any reading of the rule.

Filing Online With the Division’s Customer ID and PIN

Filing online means logging in to the Corporations Division’s system with a Customer ID Number (CID) and a PIN that the Division assigns; an owner who never received them, or lost them, asks the Division at 1-800-392-6090. The online filing login is the same for every Corporations Division filing.

1. Open the annual reportChoose the annual report from the list of filings. The form opens pre-filled with what the Division already holds for the LLC.
2. Correct what changedEdit the principal office, managers or authorized signers. Each change made here is an amendment that the report has to identify.
3. Pay by cardThe $500 fee and the $20 charge are paid together. An acknowledgement screen follows the payment: print or save it.
4. Watch for a rejectionA rejected filing is reported by mail, phone or email. It can be corrected and resubmitted online without paying again.

On paper, the form is the Limited Liability Company Annual Report (separate forms exist for professional and foreign LLCs), mailed with a $500 check to the Corporations Division, One Ashburton Place, Room 1717, Boston, MA 02108-1512.

The main items of the report, which follow the certificate of organization:

Federal ID and year

The LLC’s federal identification number and the year the report covers.

Two addresses

The principal office, and the street address in Massachusetts where the LLC keeps its records.

Latest date of dissolution

Filled in only by an LLC whose certificate set an end date; left blank when the certificate set none.

Resident agent

The Massachusetts term for a registered agent, listed with its street address as on file. A new agent can’t be appointed through the report: that takes a statement of change, free online and $25 on paper.

Managers and signers

Each manager, if any, and the people authorized to sign filings. At least one signer is named when the LLC has no managers.

Real property signers

Optional: who may sign deeds and other recordable instruments for the LLC at a registry of deeds or the Land Court.

A professional LLC (PLLC) uses its own version of the form, which adds the professional service rendered, the members or managers who render it in Massachusetts, and a statement that each is licensed and carries the liability insurance required by § 65.

Skipped Reports, the Section 70 Notice and the 90 Days That Follow

Nothing on the LLC side of the fee schedule charges extra for a late report: a report filed months late still costs $500. What builds up instead is the case for administrative dissolution under § 70, which opens once the LLC has failed “for 2 consecutive years” to file.

1. First anniversary missedThe report is past due, and the Division won’t issue a certificate of good standing until every report due is filed.
2. Second anniversary missedGrounds for dissolution exist. The Secretary may start the proceeding; nothing happens automatically on that date.
3. Written noticeMailed to the LLC’s office in Massachusetts. Filing the missing reports within 90 days of the notice corrects the ground for dissolution.
4. DissolvedAfter 90 days without a cure, the LLC is administratively dissolved, and its activity is limited to winding up.

The notice goes to the office address in Massachusetts the LLC must keep under § 5, not to a member’s home. An LLC that moved without updating that address can pass the whole 90 days without seeing the letter.

Waiting for dissolution doesn’t settle the reports either. To close an LLC on purpose, 950 CMR 112.19 requires all annual reports filed and paid before the $100 certificate of cancellation is accepted, and a foreign LLC faces the same condition before a withdrawal.

Getting a Dissolved Massachusetts LLC Back on the Record

Section 71 lets a dissolved LLC apply for reinstatement at any time, with no cutoff in years. The Corporations Division adds the price: every annual report owed, then the $100 reinstatement application, sent by fax ($110 with the service charge) or by mail.

Dissolution date

The effective date the Division gave the dissolution, taken from the LLC’s record.

Grounds

A box declaring that the grounds did not exist or were eliminated. For skipped reports, that means each report owed is on file, at $500 apiece.

Name

Still within the § 3 name rules, or replaced by a certificate of amendment filed at the same time.

Resident agent

The agent’s name and the street address of its office.

A foreign LLC whose registration was revoked under § 72 files the matching application after revocation, also $100, with a certificate of legal existence or good standing from its home state issued no more than 90 days before (950 CMR 112.25). Reinstatement takes effect on the date the Division approves it.

Corporations File a Different Report, and Taxes Go to the DOR

Domestic and foreign corporations file a separate annual report under the Business Corporation Act, Chapter 156D, § 16.22. It is due within 2½ months after the corporation’s fiscal year ends, costs $100 online or $125 on paper, and draws a $150 charge when filed late; the LLC report has none of these.

An LLC taxed as an S corporation is still an LLC under Chapter 156C, so it files the $500 LLC report. Tax returns are a different track: the corporate excise and other state taxes are filed with the Department of Revenue on MassTaxConnect, and paying them doesn’t count as the annual report.