How to Form an LLC in Kansas
Kansas charges $85 to form an LLC online, $90 by paper, after a 2026 fee cut that most guides online have not caught up with; the $160 and $165 formation fees still circulating are stale. Kansas calls its agent a resident agent, and the LLC may serve as its own. Reports went biennial on January 1, 2024, the old tax period due date was repealed, and missing the report does not get the LLC administratively dissolved, because Kansas calls the consequence forfeiture.
Kansas at a glance
Filing fee: $85 for the Articles of Organization (Form DL), filed with the Kansas Secretary of State. Recurring: A biennial Business Entity Information Report, $90 online or $110 by paper, due April 15 of the year that matches the formation year's parity: even year formations report in even years, odd year formations in odd years. The first report is due in the next year with the same parity after formation. Resident agent: required, with a physical address in Kansas. Every figure on this page was checked against the Kansas Secretary of State's official site and forms and the Kansas Statutes on November 8, 2026.
The Kansas filing steps
Check your name on the state's own search
Check the name against the Secretary of State's records before you file. Form DL, the Articles of Organization form, asks for the name of the LLC with a word of formation, and it states the boundary in plain language: do not include DBA, fictitious, assumed, or trade names. The name in the articles is the LLC's legal name only. That instruction matters more in Kansas than in most states, because Kansas does not register DBAs at all, so there is no separate state filing waiting to hold a trade name for the LLC; the filing note below covers it.
Choose your resident agent
Kansas does not use the term registered agent in its statutes. The Business Entity Standard Treatment Act, K.S.A. chapter 17 article 79, says resident agent, and every Secretary of State form uses that term. Under K.S.A. section 17-7925, every covered entity shall have and maintain in Kansas a resident agent, and the agent may be the covered entity itself, an individual resident in Kansas, a domestic corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, LLC, or business trust, or a foreign corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, LLC, or business trust authorized to transact business in Kansas. The Kansas quirk worth knowing: an LLC may name itself as its own resident agent. Form DL puts it plainly: the agent must be either an individual, a business registered in Kansas, or the business itself, and will receive any legal documents, such as subpoenas, court orders, and summons. Do not leave the agent field blank. The registered office, required by section 17-7924, must be an address in Kansas where the resident agent may be regularly present, with building number, street, city, state, and zip code, and it cannot be a post office box. To change the resident agent or the registered office, file Form ROA, the Certificate of Amendment for a change of resident agent and or registered office, under sections 17-7926 and 17-7934, for $30 online or $35 by paper. Failing to maintain an active Kansas resident agent and registered office is one of the two forfeiture grounds the Secretary of State lists.
File the Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State
File the Articles of Organization, Form DL, online through the Secretary of State's register a business page at sos.ks.gov, or by mail to Kansas Secretary of State, Docking State Office Building, 915 SW Harrison Street, Topeka, KS 66612. The fee is $85 online or $90 by paper, as printed on the current Form DL, revised February 27, 2026. The Secretary of State's May 26, 2026 press release replaced the old online filing system with the Kansas Business Operating System, called KBOS, and Form DL states that online processing happens within minutes and the certified copy of the Articles of Organization can be printed from the website without delay. Checks and credit or debit cards are accepted. Under K.S.A. section 17-7673, the articles must set forth the name of the LLC, the address of the registered office required by section 17-7924 and the name of the resident agent for service of process required by section 17-7925, any other matters the members determine to include, each profession if the LLC is organized to exercise the powers of a professional association or professional corporation, and the series matters required by section 17-76,143 if the LLC will have series. Form DL collects the name, the resident agent's name, the registered office in Kansas, and a declaration under penalty of perjury signed by one or more authorized persons. Formation is tied to the time provided in section 17-7911 on substantial compliance, and the LLC is a separate legal entity until cancellation of its articles.
Get an EIN from the IRS
Free, online, and takes minutes once your Kansas filing is approved. Never pay a service for this. See EIN for an LLC for the walkthrough and the one IRS rule (a real person as responsible party) that surprises people.
Write your operating agreement
The operating agreement is the LLC's internal rulebook: ownership, money, management, decisions, and what happens when a member leaves or the company winds up. It is not filed with the Secretary of State, and the state charges no fee for it; Form DL does not ask for it and the articles ask only for the few items listed in the filing step above. Kansas law does not require it to be written: section 17-7663 defines the operating agreement as an agreement of the members that may be written, oral, or implied. Putting it in writing at formation, while the members still agree, is still the only version that proves itself when memories differ. An LLC that skips it runs on whatever defaults apply to the questions the members never answered, and those defaults were not written for your business.
Open the business bank account and handle licenses
Bring your approved formation document and EIN letter. Then check your city and county for a general business license and your industry for state permits. Kansas issues no single statewide general business license through the Secretary of State. Licensing is industry specific, through state agencies and boards, or local, through your city or county. The near universal state level step is tax registration with the Kansas Department of Revenue for the taxes your activity triggers. Check your industry and your city before you budget, because those offices, not the Secretary of State, set those charges.
Filing details that trip people up
- The formation fee was cut in 2026. The $160 and $165 figures online are stale. The current Form DL, revised February 27, 2026, prices the Articles of Organization at $85 online and $90 by paper. The higher figures appear on the form's September 2025 revision and were replaced. The Secretary of State's May 26, 2026 press release describes the change as the agency's first comprehensive fee update since 2008, reducing LLC, LLP, and LP formation fees and aligning them with the $90 fee for corporations. Price Kansas from the current form, not from a guide written before the cut.
- Reports went biennial on January 1, 2024, and the old due date rule was repealed. The Business Entity Information Report under section 17-76,139 is filed biennially, as determined by the year the LLC filed its formation documents: an LLC that filed in an even numbered year files in each even numbered year, and one that filed in an odd numbered year files in each odd numbered year, in each case not later than April 15. An LLC formed in 2026 first reports by April 15, 2028. The old rule, tying the report to the time prescribed for the LLC's Kansas income tax return after the close of its tax period, was struck in 2024 and must not be used.
- Kansas calls the lapse forfeiture, not administrative dissolution, and gives three months first. Every business is afforded a delinquency period, a three month interval after the April 15 due date when the information report may still be filed. If the delinquency interval passes, the business forfeits: failure to file the report and pay the fee within 90 days of the due date works a forfeiture of a domestic LLC's articles of organization, and of a foreign LLC's authority. Bringing the LLC back takes Form RL, the Certificate of Reinstatement: a $35 filing fee, plus an $85 penalty, plus $110 for each missed report. The count is capped at five missed reports, so the largest reinstatement the form prices is $670. A business forfeited only for failure to maintain an active resident agent may ignore the $85 penalty fee.
- Foreign LLCs pay $115, paper only, and no home state certificate is required. A foreign LLC registering in Kansas files on paper for $115. Unlike states that demand a certificate of existence or good standing from the home jurisdiction, Kansas requires no home state certificate: the application carries a statement of good standing made under penalty of perjury instead. Do not order a home state certificate for a Kansas registration, and do not budget one. A foreign LLC leaving Kansas files a Certificate of Withdrawal, Form FC, at $30 online or $35 by paper, under section 17-7936.
- Kansas does not register DBAs at all. There is no state DBA, trade name, or fictitious name filing for a Kansas LLC to make, and no fee for one. The Secretary of State's position is that Kansas does not register DBAs. Form DL says the same thing from the other side: do not include DBA, fictitious, assumed, or trade names in the articles. Operating under a second name is therefore a contracts, banking, and trademark question in Kansas, not a state registration. Holding the legal name itself is a different filing: a name reservation, Form NR, costs $35 and lasts 120 days, and Kansas name reservations may not be renewed. Our DBA guide covers what still applies.
After your Kansas LLC is approved
Get the EIN, open the business bank account, and register with the Kansas Department of Revenue for the tax accounts your activity triggers. Then set the recurring reminder with a two year rhythm: the biennial information report, $90 online or $110 by paper, due April 15 of the year matching your formation year's parity, with a three month delinquency window after the due date and forfeiture at the end of it. Keep the resident agent and registered office current as well; a change on Form ROA costs $30 online or $35 by paper, and losing the agent is itself a forfeiture ground. There is no DBA filing to add to the list, because Kansas does not register DBAs.
The full recurring picture for Kansas, with fees and due dates, is on the Kansas annual report and compliance page, and the money view is on the Kansas LLC cost page.
Kansas LLC questions
Does a Kansas LLC need a resident agent?
Yes. Kansas calls the role the resident agent, not the registered agent. Under K.S.A. section 17-7925, every covered entity must have and maintain a resident agent in Kansas, and the agent may be an individual resident in Kansas, a Kansas registered business, a foreign business authorized to transact business in Kansas, or the covered entity itself: an LLC may serve as its own resident agent. The registered office must be a Kansas street address, not a post office box. See the Kansas compliance page.
When is the Kansas LLC information report due, and what does it cost?
Every two years, by April 15, in the year matching the formation year's parity: even year formations report in even years and odd year formations in odd years. An LLC formed in 2026 first reports by April 15, 2028. The fee on Form ILC is $90 filed online or $110 by paper.
What happens if a Kansas LLC misses its information report?
The LLC gets a three month delinquency period after April 15 to file. If the interval passes, the LLC is forfeited; Kansas does not call this administrative dissolution. Reinstatement on Form RL costs a $35 filing fee, plus an $85 penalty, plus $110 for each missed report, capped at five missed reports, $670 at most.
Does a Kansas LLC file a BOI report?
No. US-formed companies are exempt under the federal final rule of August 14, 2026. See the BOI tracker.
General Information Only
LLCForming publishes general information about forming and running an LLC. It is not legal, tax, or accounting advice, and it does not create an attorney or advisor relationship. Rules vary by state and by your situation. For a decision that matters, talk to a licensed attorney or tax professional in your state.