Iowa LLC Biennial Report: Odd Years Only, Due by April 1

Iowa runs one calendar for all its LLCs: the biennial report goes to the Secretary of State from January 1 until April 1 of each odd-numbered year, for $30 on Fast Track Filing or $45 on paper, foreign LLCs included.

Formation or Iowa registration date

Formed under the law of

Formed in an Odd Year, an Iowa LLC Waits Almost Two Years

Under Iowa Code § 489.212(3), the calendar year of formation (or of Iowa registration, for an LLC formed elsewhere) never holds the first report, which waits for the next odd-numbered year. That holds even for an LLC formed in January of an odd year.

An LLC formed on March 15, 2027 therefore skips the 2027 window that is open on its formation day and first files in 2029, by April 1 (a Sunday that year, so filing online by Saturday, March 31, or on paper by Friday, March 30, is safe).

2025Window Jan 1 to Apr 1Formed this year: first report 2027
2026No windowFormed this year: first report 2027
2027Window Jan 1 to Apr 1Formed this year: first report 2029
2028No windowFormed this year: first report 2029
2029Window Jan 1 to Apr 1Formed this year: first report 2031
2030No windowFormed this year: first report 2031

Two LLCs formed nearly two years apart can owe their first report in the same window.

The LLC’s $30 Biennial Report Fee, and the Corporations’ $60

The statute leaves the amount to the Secretary of State (§ 489.122), whose Business Entity Forms and Fees page sets it at $30 filed online and $45 on paper, the same for Iowa LLCs and foreign LLCs. Over the two-year cycle, that comes to $15 a year.

Online, Fast Track: $30
Paper, mailed or in person: $45
Late fee: None§ 489.122 lists none
Profit corporations: $60even-numbered years

Where a multistate annual report table lists $60 for Iowa, it shows that corporation report, not the LLC’s.

Iowa Biennial Report Instructions: Online or Printed From Fast Track

Both kinds of filing go through Fast Track Filing, the Secretary of State’s online system. Its walkthrough recommends opening an account first, since the dashboard then keeps every submission. The online route, with the system’s own button labels:

Under "Business Filings", choose "File a Document", then "Biennial Report" in the "Existing Entities" section.
Find the LLC by business name or business number. "File by Paper?" is preset to "NO"; leave it there to file online.
Check the prefilled LLC name, agent and registered office, complete the Principal Office section, and say whether the LLC holds an interest in Iowa agricultural land and whether it is a "family farm" LLC.
Sign by typing your full legal name, then click "Review & Pay". "Save Work" keeps a draft to finish later.
Click "Add to Cart", then "Finish and Check Out", pick a payment method and click "Submit to File". The screen shows "Filing Submission Status: Success", and an email follows once the filing is complete.

For paper, switch “File by Paper?” to “YES” at step 2, and Fast Track produces the report as a PDF to print. Mailed or handed in at Business Services, Lucas Building, First Floor, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319, it costs $45 either way.

Four lines the report carries

Each report covers the two years before the calendar year it is filed in, and its entries must reflect the day of delivery.

Legal name: Prefilled. An LLC formed elsewhere adds its state of formation and any alternate name it adopted in Iowa (§ 489.906).
Agent: Name and street address of the Iowa registered agent. A new agent can be named on the report itself, with that agent's consent (§ 489.212(1)(b) and (5)).
Principal office: Its street address. When the agent can't be served, a dissolution notice is mailed to the address on the most recent biennial report (§ 489.119), so an old address there can mean a notice that never arrives.
Protected series: Fast Track fills in a series LLC's protected series. One missing from the report can't get a certificate of existence (§ 489.14206).

A report missing required information comes back for correction under § 489.212(4) and isn’t filed until it returns complete, though an agent change made on it can be recorded first.

Iowa Farmland Adds a Landholding Report Due March 31

An LLC holding an interest in Iowa agricultural land, other than a family farm LLC, is a reporting entity under Iowa Code § 10B.4. Its landholding report must reach the Secretary of State by March 31 of the odd year, the year of the biennial report, and the two can be filed together.

What it lists: Each holder of an interest with its address, and its percentage unless it is a natural person holding under 10%; the acres by county, owned, leased and in row crops.
Excused: An LLC with under 20 acres and less than $10,000 of farm revenue in the period, unless it is a foreign business under chapter 9I.
Who sees it: Confidential, though the attorney general can use it.

What Iowa Code § 489.708 Allows Once a Report Is 60 Days Late

On April 2 the report is simply late. If it is still missing sixty days after it was due, § 489.708 (numbered § 489.705 until the 2024 Code) lets the Iowa Secretary of State begin administrative dissolution, the same step it can take against an LLC that has gone 60 days with no registered agent.

Thu, April 1, 2027
Last day of the window.
Mon, May 31, 2027
Day 60, and Memorial Day: only an online filing gets in that day and keeps the LLC out of § 489.708.
From June 1
A written notice can be served on the registered agent, or mailed to the principal office if the agent can't be served (served five days after mailing at the latest).
60 days after service
Still no report: a certificate of dissolution is signed, then served on the LLC (§ 489.709).

The law doesn’t date the notice, so dissolution comes no sooner than late July of the report year. From then on the LLC may only wind up its business, though the registered agent’s authority survives the dissolution.

Termination for an LLC formed outside Iowa

The same 60-day lapse lets the Secretary of State file a certificate of termination under § 489.911 and deliver it to the agent, or to the principal office when there is none. The date it states is no earlier than day 60 after delivery, and filing the missing report before then withdraws it.

Chapter 489 offers no reinstatement for a terminated registration. Doing business in Iowa again means applying anew for a certificate of registration ($100).

Form 635_2001 and the Reports That Must Travel With It

The Application for Reinstatement (form 635_2001) costs $5 and asks for the LLC’s name and the date it was dissolved, which the Filings tab of its Iowa entity search record shows. The law sets no time limit on filing it.

When the dissolution came from missed biennial reports, the form’s instructions require the two most recent delinquent reports, at least, and all delinquent fees with the application.

Only the first report missed: $35 online$5 application + one $30 report
Two cycles missed: $65 online$5 application + two $30 reports

After five years: The application must give a name available under § 489.112; if the old name has been taken, the certificate of reinstatement renames the LLC.
If denied: An appeal to the district court in the 30 days after service of the denial notice.