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What Does an LLC Cost in Arkansas?

Arkansas: $45 to form online, $50 on paper, then a flat $150 a year. That $150 is the annual franchise tax, filed with the Secretary of State on the Annual Franchise Tax Report due May 1, and online filing adds a $5 processing fee for $155 all in. There is no separate annual report fee, and the only way the $150 grows is by paying it late.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

Year one: what you pay to exist

Year-one cost in Arkansas	Amount
Certificate of Organization, Secretary of State (online)	$45 online, $50 paper
Franchise Tax Registration sheet, filed with the certificate	$0
EIN from the IRS	$0
Operating agreement (you write it, not filed)	$0
Registered agent (you or another eligible person or entity serves)	$0
Total state cost, year one	$45 online, $50 paper

That is the complete required state charge to form, and the channel decides the price: $45 online or $50 on paper, with the first $150 franchise tax expressly not a year one charge at formation, because the Franchise Tax Registration filed with the certificate states that franchise taxes are due May 1 of the year following formation. Nothing else is owed in year one: no publication, and no separate initial report fee. One caution on the $5 figure used on this page: the $5 online processing fee verified in the Secretary of State's materials belongs to franchise tax filing. No processing fee for the $45 online formation filing is stated on the Secretary of State's LLC page, so none is added here. The optionals are priced plainly. A name reservation is $22.50 online or $25 paper, for 120 days. A fictitious name filing is $22.50 online or $25 paper, plus the county clerk copy filing described in the notes on the guide page. Hiring a commercial registered agent service is a market purchase, not a state fee.

Every year after: the cost of staying alive

Recurring cost in Arkansas	Amount
Annual Franchise Tax Report, due on or before May 1 (paper)	$150
Online processing fee, only if the report is filed online	$5, for $155 all in online
Separate annual report fee	$0. Arkansas has none for LLCs; the franchise tax report is the recurring filing
Pass-through entity tax and nonresident member withholding	Elective or owner level and income based; excluded from the flat total
Typical recurring total	$150 paper, $155 online

The $150 buys another year, and Arkansas prices lateness by formula. The report form's own worksheet, citing sections 26-54-107 and 26-54-114, adds a $25 late filing penalty, then interest at 0.000274 per day on the tax and penalty combined. For one delinquent year that is $150 plus $25, or $175, plus $175 times 0.000274 for each day deficient, until paid. There are no extensions: the report and payment must be received by close of business on May 1 or postmarked by the United States Postal Service no later than midnight on May 1, and postage meter dates are not acceptable. Past the money, the structural consequence is revocation, covered step by step on the report page: warning notice on or before November 1, revocation proclaimed on or before January 31 for a prior year's delinquency, and a bar on further Business and Commercial Services filings under section 26-54-114 while the tax is past due.

What drives the Arkansas total, year one vs. later

Arkansas inverts the usual pattern in a milder way. Year one is the cheapest year: a single $45 online or $50 paper filing fee, with the first franchise tax held back until May 1 of the year following formation. Later years cost $150 on paper or $155 online, every year, because the franchise tax is a flat $150 minimum charged to every LLC and professional LLC registered in Arkansas, regardless of revenue or activity. It does not grow with the business, and it does not pause for a dormant one; taxes continue to accrue even for a revoked business until it is dissolved, withdrawn, or merged. The Arkansas total is therefore driven by the calendar, not by income. Pay the $150 by May 1 and the year costs $150 or $155. Miss it and the same year costs $175 plus daily interest, with a revocation proclamation waiting the following January 31. The elective pass-through entity tax and the withholding on nonresident members are income based and owner level items, explained below and kept out of the flat total.

The Arkansas fees around the formation

These are the lines an Arkansas LLC is most likely to meet, from the Secretary of State's Domestic and Foreign LLC pages and the LLC Filing Fees schedule:

Arkansas filing	Online	Paper	Notes
Name reservation (120 days, one renewal for an LLC per the Secretary of State form)	$22.50	$25	Optional. A transfer of a reserved name is the same $22.50 online or $25 paper.
Foreign LLC Certificate of Registration (Form FL-01)	$270	$300	An LLC formed in another state registering to do business in Arkansas. A home-state certificate of existence is required with the application, and the Secretary of State FAQ states it must be dated within the last 30 days. The registered foreign LLC then owes the same $150 a year franchise tax.
Foreign LLC cancellation (Form FL-04)	$45	$50	Plus the $150 Final Franchise Tax Report, which must be submitted with the cancellation. The entity must be current on all franchise taxes, including a final report for the current year, before filing.
Change of registered agent, or of principal office address	$0	$0	Listed at no fee on the fee schedule, the forms pages, and the change form itself.
Fictitious name, the Arkansas DBA for an LLC (Form DN-18 domestic, F-18 foreign)	$22.50	$25	Filed with the Secretary of State, plus a copy filed with the county clerk in the county of the registered office, unless the registered office is in Pulaski County. No term or renewal appears in the Secretary of State materials.
Statement of Dissolution (Form LL-04)	$45	$50	Plus the mandatory $150 Final Franchise Tax Report submitted with it, and the prior calendar year's $150 if that year is still unpaid.
Final Franchise Tax Report	$150	$150	Required with a domestic dissolution and with a foreign cancellation, under section 26-54-105(d)(1).
Reinstatement after a franchise tax revocation	No separate fee on the schedule		All delinquent reports filed, plus all taxes and penalties due for each year of delinquency. Retroactive, and barred after five years. No separate LLC reinstatement fee appears on the Secretary of State's LLC Filing Fees schedule.

The two Arkansas taxes kept out of the flat total

For Arkansas income tax purposes, an LLC files in the same manner as it files federally: an LLC that files a federal partnership return files an Arkansas partnership return, a disregarded entity's activity is reported on its owner's return, and an LLC electing S corporation treatment must have filed a valid federal S return. Pass-through entities with Arkansas source income and nonresident members must withhold Arkansas income tax on those members' shares under section 26-51-919, at 3.9 percent under the Department of Finance and Administration's 2026 withholding instructions. That withholding is an owner level item, not a flat LLC charge.

The elective Pass-Through Entity Tax, under the Elective Pass-Through Entity Tax Act, section 26-65-101 et seq., and the Department rule at 26 CAR section 133, is an annual election by members holding more than 50 percent of the voting rights, made before the due date or extended due date of the entity's income tax return. Its rate formula is the top marginal individual income tax rate for the taxable year, with net capital gain taxed at 50 percent of that top marginal rate. It is not available to an LLC taxed as a C corporation for federal purposes. Because it is elective and income based, it is excluded from the totals on this page, and this page publishes the formula rather than a numeric rate.

Run your own version, with an optional registered agent added, in the LLC cost calculator. Every state's year-one and recurring totals sit in one table on the national cost hub, and if a service would act as your agent, the registered agent price tracker follows what that costs at each tracked provider. If you would rather a service handled the filing, the services comparison prices that honestly, renewals included.