The Ohio LLC Annual Report That Doesn’t Exist, and the Deadlines That Do
No annual report is required of an Ohio LLC, nor the $25 Ohio biennial report, which is for professional associations and limited liability partnerships. The Ohio Secretary of State bills nothing in a year without changes; what recurs is quarterly CAT returns once Ohio receipts pass $6 million in a year, or while a CAT account stays open.
Does your LLC owe Ohio CAT?
Result
Choose a year and enter receipts
Example $7,000,000 of 2026 receipts in Jan to Mar: $2,600.00 of CAT, return due May 11, 2026.
Ohio LLC Annual Fees: $0 Unless Something Changes
Ohio Revised Code Chapter 1706, the LLC law, sets no periodic report, and the official fee schedule in R.C. 111.16 prices filings, not years. Every amount below comes from an event in the life of the LLC.
| What triggers a charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| A year with no change to the LLC on record | $0 |
| New statutory agent, agent resignation or new agent address (R.C. 111.16(R)) | $25 |
| Reinstatement after a cancellation (R.C. 111.16(Q)) | $25 |
| Commercial Activity Tax, on Ohio taxable gross receipts above the year’s exclusion | 0.26% |
| City income tax on net profits, where a city taxes the LLC (R.C. Chapter 718) | City rate |
The yearly charge older guides list for an Ohio LLC was the CAT annual minimum tax, $150 for receipts of $1 million or less, which Ohio stopped collecting in 2024. An Ohio LLC also has no renewal date: its articles stay in force until the LLC is dissolved or its articles are canceled.
Each city’s net profit return goes to that city, unless the taxpayer elects under R.C. 718.80 to have the Department of Taxation administer them all.
Keeping a Statutory Agent Under R.C. 1706.09
The one ongoing requirement at the Secretary of State comes from R.C. 1706.09: an LLC must “maintain continuously in this state” an agent for service of process. Under R.C. 1706.09(C)(2), a post office box doesn’t count as the agent’s address even with a street address attached to it.
When the agent dies, resigns or moves out of Ohio, the LLC has to appoint another one “forthwith.” A resigning agent mails the LLC a copy of its notice and files the notice for the state record; its authority ends 30 days after that filing. Here is what follows if no new agent is filed:
- Day 0The agent’s resignation is filed with the Secretary of State.
- Day 30The resigning agent’s authority ends. The LLC has no agent on record.
- NoticeThe Secretary of State notifies the LLC by ordinary mail or by email, at the email address the LLC gave the office, or at the address in the resignation notice.
- 30 days after the notice was sentUncured, the articles are canceled “without further notice or action,” unless the office granted more time. The record then reads Cancelled in the Ohio business search.
- 30 days after cancellationLast day to appeal the cancellation to the court of common pleas (R.C. 1706.461).
- 1 year after cancellationThe LLC’s name stops being held for it (R.C. 1706.46).
- 2 years after cancellationLast day to apply for reinstatement under R.C. 1706.09(L), with a new agent and the $25 fee.
The notice can go by email to the address the LLC gave the Secretary of State, so an inbox that belonged to a former organizer or filing service can let the 30 days run unread.
- Contracts signed while canceled
- Once the LLC is reinstated, they keep their effect if the officer, agent or employee who signed didn’t know about the cancellation and acted within the articles (R.C. 1706.46).
- The name, after a year
- If a business has since registered a name that isn’t distinguishable, the LLC amends its articles to a new name before it is reinstated.
- A corporation instead
- It files no annual report either; R.C. 1701.07 cancels its articles after the same 30-day agent default.
CAT Returns Since 2024: Quarterly or Not at All
Ohio raised the Commercial Activity Tax exclusion from $1 million to $3 million for 2024 and $6 million from 2025. Before 2024, the tax applied from $150,000 of yearly receipts; the annual minimum tax and annual returns ended at the same time.
- Who owes it
- From 2025, a business whose Ohio taxable gross receipts for the calendar year pass $6,000,000. An LLC based outside Ohio is covered once it also has a bright-line presence, which $500,000 of Ohio sales alone creates.
- Registration
- Within 30 days of exceeding the threshold, on the Ohio Business Gateway, with an EIN or SSN. A late registration can cost $100 a month, up to $1,000.
- Rate
- 0.26% of receipts above the exclusion. The part of the exclusion not used in one quarter carries to the next.
- Returns
- Quarterly for every open account: May 10, August 10, November 10 and February 10. The fourth-quarter return is the annual return under R.C. 5751.051.
- Late return
- A penalty of up to 10% of the tax due or $50, whichever is greater.
When the 10th lands on a weekend or an Ohio legal holiday, the Department of Taxation has set the next business day instead (May 12, 2025; August 11, 2025; May 11, 2026), and the calculator applies the same shift.
An account opened when the tax started at $150,000 stays open after the threshold rose, and an open account must file every quarterly return, even at $0 tax. Closing it is the “CAT Cancel Account” option on the Ohio Business Gateway; for 2025 the Department advised an effective date of December 31, 2024, which spared the first-quarter return.
