North Carolina LLC Annual Requirements
One filing dominates North Carolina LLC compliance: the annual report. It is due April 15 every year, it carries a $200 base fee, and it goes to the Secretary of State. Get those three facts right, plus keep a registered agent on file, and your LLC stays in good standing indefinitely. This page covers each element, including two details that generic guides regularly get wrong.
Due Date: April 15, With a First-Year Wrinkle
The report is due April 15 each year, and the filing window opens January 1. The first-year rule matters: your initial report is due April 15 of the year after the year of organization. An LLC organized anytime in 2026, whether January or December, files its first report by April 15, 2027, and owes nothing in 2026 itself. After that, the report is due every April 15 regardless of whether the company is actively doing business. Filing is governed by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 57D-2-24.
The Fee: $200 Base, Slightly More Online
North Carolina's annual report fee is $200, one of the higher LLC report fees in the country. The exact total depends on how you file:
- Paper: $200 flat
- Online with ACH bank draft: $202
- Online with credit card: $203
The extra $2 or $3 is an electronic transaction fee, not a different state charge. There is no cheaper online rate; the shorthand "$200 online, more on paper" that floats around the internet has it backwards.
Where It Goes: The Secretary of State, Not the Department of Revenue
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Get StartedThis is the detail boilerplate gets wrong most often. North Carolina business corporations file their annual reports through the Department of Revenue with their tax returns. LLCs do not. An LLC's annual report is filed with the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division, either online or on paper. If a guide tells you to attach your LLC report to a tax filing, it has confused the corporation rules with the LLC rules. One genuine exemption to note: professional LLCs formed under Chapter 55B do not file annual reports at all.
How to File
- Go to the annual report section at sosnc.gov and look up your LLC in the business registry.
- Choose online filing (available 24/7, processed in real time) or download the pre-populated paper report.
- Review the record: principal office, registered agent and registered office, company officials. Update addresses as needed. Note that the registered agent's name cannot be changed through the online report; that change requires the paper report or a separate Statement of Change (Form BE-06, $5).
- Pay the fee: $202 by ACH or $203 by card online, or mail the paper report with a $200 check to P.O. Box 29525, Raleigh, NC 27626-0525.
- Keep the confirmation with your company records.
Missing the Deadline: No Late Fee, Bigger Problem
North Carolina imposes no statutory late fee on a delinquent LLC report. Instead the risk is existential. When a report goes unfiled, the Secretary of State can mail a notice of grounds for administrative dissolution, and if the failure is not cured within 60 days of that notice, dissolve the LLC (N.C.G.S. § 57D-2-24(b); § 57D-6-06). A dissolved company keeps winding-up powers only, and getting back to good standing means a reinstatement process you can avoid entirely by filing on time.
The Registered Agent Obligation Runs in Parallel
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Get StartedSeparate from the report, the LLC must continuously maintain a registered agent and registered office at a physical North Carolina street address under Chapter 55D. A vacant agent seat is itself grounds for administrative action. Our registered agent service covers the seat year-round and sends April 15 reminders ahead of each cycle, which is how the $200 report gets filed on time instead of becoming a dissolution notice.
Federal Requirements Continue Regardless
State compliance and federal taxes run on separate tracks. Single-member LLCs report on Schedule C, multi-member LLCs file Form 1065, members generally owe self-employment tax, quarterly estimates apply once you expect to owe $1,000 or more, and employers handle payroll filings.
Bottom Line
April 15, $200, Secretary of State, first report the year after formation. Put it on the calendar once a year and North Carolina asks little else of your LLC.