How to File the New Jersey LLC Annual Report With DORES

Due by the End of the Formation Month

Business.NJ.gov puts the due date on the last day of the month in which the business was formed, every year. The day of formation plays no part, and the portal asks for the date as MM/YYYY only: an LLC formed on June 5, 2026 files by June 30 each year from 2027 on. A foreign LLC uses the month it was authorized to do business in New Jersey.

The deadline applies with or without a reminder: the responsibility to file stays with the business “even if you fail to receive any notification from the State.”

Free text and email reminders are available through gov2go, run by the State’s e-government vendor.

New Jersey Annual Report Online Filing: Three Fields, Then Nine Screens

The online annual report filing starts from Annual Reports and Change Services. There is no account to create and no PIN sent by mail: the Identify Business screen asks for three values, all printed on the certificate of formation.

A mismatch returns “There is no Business Entity in our Public Records File”. If the values are right, call the Business Hotline, 609-292-9292, with the certificate of formation at hand. Once in, the filing runs through these screens:

1. Identify Business
2. Review Reports Due
3. Registered Agent
4. Business Address
5. Officers
6. Workers’ Compensation
7. Review and Sign
8. Document Selection
9. Payment

The Workers’ Compensation screen has to be completed even by an LLC that is not required to carry coverage, by answering “No” to that question. A company with a policy copies the details from its declaration page.

Review Reports Due lists every report still open, which is also where to check the filing status. After 30 minutes without activity, the session ends and what was entered is lost.

How Much Is the NJ Annual Report Fee? $75, and What It Covers

An LLC pays $75 for the report, the same as a for-profit corporation filing its corporate annual report on the same portal. Updating the business address and the members or managers listed costs nothing extra; a new registered agent adds $25, and NICUSA, the State’s payment partner, adds a card or e-check processing charge, which it keeps.

Nothing comes back by mail. The Annual Report Certificate downloads from the link in the confirmation email or from the Document Retrieval Center for 90 days, and is no longer available after that. The State’s record shows the new filing after one full business day, so standing certificates ordered the same day still carry the old information.

Paid services can file the report: DORES notes that reputable providers may charge a fee plus the State’s fees, and that others may not perform the expected service.

A mailed offer to file the report or order a standing certificate is not sent by the State; such mailings “may appear to be official, however the State of New Jersey does not authorize” them.

Two Missed Reports Lead to the Inactive List, Not Dissolution

New Jersey has no late fee for the annual report in its published fee schedules, and it does not dissolve an LLC for skipping one. After two consecutive years without a report, N.J.S.A. 42:2C-26 moves a New Jersey LLC’s certificate to an inactive list.

“A limited liability company on the inactive list shall remain a limited liability company and the limited liability of its members and managers shall not be affected by its transfer to this list.”

What the company loses is its name, which the statute makes available “for use by any other limited liability company, including a newly-formed limited liability company.” A foreign LLC is treated differently: its certificate of authority “may be revoked.”

Reinstatement begins like an annual report, on the same portal:

Cost

$75 for the reinstatement filing and $75 for each report due, the current one included: a company that missed two years and comes back during the third pays $300. The statute also lists “a late filing fee,” though the DORES fee schedule shows none for LLCs.

Effect

It relates back to the date of transfer and, in the statute’s words, “shall validate all actions taken in the interim.”

Name taken

If the name is no longer available when the company comes back, a name change amendment has to be filed first.

After 2 years on the list

Since July 9, 2020, a tax clearance certificate is also required. The $20 application goes to the Division of Taxation, which reviews unpaid taxes before issuing it; DORES warns that issuance “may take several months.”

NJ-REG, Login Letters and Other Things Taken for the Report

Form NJ-REG

The tax and employer registration. The Getting Registered page places it right after the certificate of formation, gives it no deadline, and pairs the two filings to obtain the Business Registration Certificate needed for public contracts and State grants. Neither filing replaces the annual report. Changes go through Change Tax/Employer Registration Records, next to the annual report on njportal.

A login or PIN by mail

The DORES annual report uses none; the three Identify Business values are all it asks. A letter with credentials belongs to another agency’s filing.

“NJBGS”

The old Business Gateway Services name no longer appears on the DORES pages. The filing is the same annual report, now on njportal.

Closing a New Jersey LLC That Still Owes Reports

The closing filing adds every outstanding report automatically, and the company has to be active and in good standing to close. One that was revoked or placed on the inactive list is reinstated first, then closed.

Closing costs $125 plus $75 for each report due; once the LLC is dissolved, it stops filing annual reports.

The closing service offers two choices: Dissolve, when the business will not cease operations immediately, and Dissolve and Terminate, when it will no longer conduct any operations in New Jersey.