NC Annual Report Filing: What a North Carolina LLC Owes by April 15
The North Carolina annual report costs an LLC $200 and is due April 15 every year, paid to the Secretary of State: $203 online by card, $202 from a bank account. There is no late fee; an LLC that stays unfiled faces administrative dissolution instead.
Where a North Carolina LLC stands today
Updates as you change a fieldFiling the NC Annual Report Online in Five Steps
The online report starts from a search, not a login. The SOSID, the Secretary of State’s number for the company, is not needed to begin; it appears next to the name on the State record, and a North Carolina LLC lookup finds the company by name.
The fee depends on how the report is paid:
Online by credit card: the $200 fee plus a $3.00 electronic filing fee.
Online by bank account (ACH): the electronic fee is $2.00.
Paper: mail it to P.O. Box 29525, Raleigh, NC 27626-0525. Filed in the order received, up to 180 days later.
- Search the business name in the Business Annual Report search on sosnc.gov.
- In the results, click the monitor icon in the column titled “Actions/Type”.
- Click “File Most Recent Annual Report” and certify that you are authorized to file for the LLC.
- Select the fiscal year and month for the filing, then review the registered agent, business nature, principal office email and the email for the receipt.
- Add, edit or delete company officials, select the one filing, and pay. On the payment screen, a double click or the browser’s back button can bill the report twice.
Online reports are filed “almost immediately” because the form cannot be submitted with a required field missing. What G.S. 57D-2-24(a) requires:
- Registered office address and the county it is in
- Registered agent at that office
- Principal office address and telephone number
- Names, titles and business addresses of the principal company officials
- A brief description of the nature of the business
- For a foreign LLC, the jurisdiction it was formed in
When nothing has changed since the last report, the statute lets the LLC certify “no changes” instead of restating everything; the fee is still $200. A voluntary box asks whether the company is veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran-owned.
For a paper report, the form is printed from the company’s own page on the State site, already filled in, then signed and dated with the signer’s capacity.
North Carolina has no separate LLC renewal: to renew an LLC online, file this annual report. Proof of good standing is a Certificate of Existence, $10 online or $15 on paper under G.S. 57D-1-22(a)(26)-(27).
Letters offering to file the report for a fee are not from the State. The Secretary of State has named Business Filing LLC, whose letters sought $154 in 2026 (2026 alert), and C.F.S., which asked LLCs for $295 in 2021. The 2021 alert adds that paying such a company “does not satisfy the requirement to file a timely annual report.”
No Late Fee, Then Two 60-Day Periods
A report filed on April 16 or in June costs the same $200. The fee schedule has no late line; the only consequence the law provides is dissolution, reached in two steps, both counted in calendar days. For the 2027 report:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Thursday, April 15 | Report due. Filed after this date, it still costs $200. |
| Monday, June 14 | 60th day after the due date. From June 15 an unfiled LLC gives the State a ground for dissolution. |
| After that | The State mails a Notice of Grounds, a postcard. It also appears on the company’s record as “Notice Annual Report.” |
| Notice + 60 days | Without the report, the State signs a certificate of dissolution. A notice mailed on June 15 at the earliest leaves until August 14 to file, so dissolution comes in mid-August at the earliest. |
The Secretary of State publishes no calendar for the notices, so dissolution can come later than the earliest date the law allows. The dissolution FAQ counts the 60 days “from the day we send you the letter,” a date printed at the top of the letter.
A rejected paper report sent back by the Post Office also starts the process. A foreign LLC follows the same path to a revocation of its certificate of authority, after which it “may not operate in North Carolina until” it requalifies.
Reinstating a Dissolved North Carolina LLC
Reinstatement means filing every missing annual report, $200 each, plus the $100 application. One missed year comes to $300, three to $700, so letting the LLC be dissolved is never cheaper than filing late. The reinstatement page describes the online filing as having a lower rejection rate than paper.
- Effective date
- The date of the dissolution, as if it had never happened, subject to the rights of anyone who reasonably relied on the certificate of dissolution.
- Deadline
- None in the statute. The name is the limit: after 5 years, the FAQ says, a dissolved company “loses the right to use the incorporated name.”
- Denied application
- Appeal to Wake County Superior Court within 30 days.
- Also suspended by the Department of Revenue
- That suspension is cleared with the Department first.
Which Statute Sets the $200 and Which Sets April 15
The amount and the date sit in two different sections of the North Carolina LLC Act. G.S. 57D-2-24 of the North Carolina General Statutes sets the date and the contents but no amount; the fee is in the act’s schedule of filing fees, unchanged since 2013.
Annual report 200.00The fee. The same line applies to a foreign LLC.
The limited liability company shall deliver an annual report by April 15 of each subsequent yearThe due date, after a first report due April 15 of the year following the year the articles take effect.
The LLC does not deliver its annual report to the Secretary of State on or before the 60th day after it is due.The ground for administrative dissolution, followed by a mailed notice and 60 more days to cure (subsection (b)).
Application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution 100.00The only extra cost of filing late, and only once the LLC has been dissolved.
A business corporation pays $25 on paper for its report. The annual report FAQ on sosnc.gov explains the gap in one line: the fees “are set by NC General Assembly.”
North Carolina’s $200 sits near the top of the LLC annual report fees for all 50 states, where Massachusetts has the highest flat fee, at $500.
First Report, PLLCs and Other Entities
The first report is due April 15 of the calendar year after the LLC’s articles take effect. Articles effective December 31, 2026 lead to a first report by April 15, 2027, three and a half months later; articles effective January 2, 2027 push it to April 15, 2028.
A filing can set a delayed effective date up to 90 days out, which matters when forming an LLC in North Carolina in late December. A foreign LLC counts from the year its certificate of authority is issued.
| Entity type | Annual report with the Secretary of State |
|---|---|
| LLC, L3C, foreign LLC | $200 ($203 online by card), every April 15 |
| LLP, LLLP | $200 ($203 online by card), 15th day of the 4th month after the fiscal year ends |
| Business corporation | $25 on paper, $21 online, same fiscal-year rule |
| PLLC, professional corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited partnership | None |
The online form asks for a fiscal year and month, but for an LLC the April 15 date never moves. An LLC that did no business still files: the FAQ says the report “is required as long as the entity is in existence.” Reports stop after the effective date of articles of dissolution, which cost $30.
Since October 1, 2026: LLCs Owned by Deployed Service Members
Session Law 2026-59 (Senate Bill 445), signed August 11, 2026, added G.S. 57D-2-26 to the LLC Act. What it changes:
- Who
- An LLC or foreign LLC more than 50% owned by members of the Armed Forces removed from their county of residence under official deployment orders.
- Before deployment
- The LLC files a sworn affidavit of deployment electronically with the Secretary of State.
- Fees
- The fees G.S. 57D-1-22 sets for documents filed under subsection (b) of the section are waived.
- Dissolution
- The grounds of 57D-6-06 apply only once the delinquency reaches 180 days past the end date in the affidavit.
- Next due date
- Stated twice: April 15 of the year after the deployment ends, and the 90th day after the end date in the affidavit. The text of the session law is the reference until the Secretary of State’s affidavit forms show how the two apply.
