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What Does an LLC Cost in Maine?

Maine: $175 in state fees to form, paid by mail on a paper Certificate of Formation, and $85 a year after that for the annual report due June 1. There is no online formation discount and no paper surcharge, because paper is the only formation channel. A default LLC owes no flat entity tax, and the late and reinstatement figures, a $50 late penalty and $150 per ground to reinstate, are where a Maine LLC actually gets expensive.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

Year one: what you pay to exist

Year-one cost in Maine	Amount
Certificate of Formation, Form MLLC-6, Secretary of State (paper, by mail)	$175
EIN from the IRS	$0
Limited liability company agreement (must exist, not filed)	$0
Registered agent (you or another eligible person serves)	$0
Total state cost, year one	$175

That $175 is the complete required state charge to form, and there is exactly one way to pay it: by mail or delivery with Form MLLC-6, by check or money order payable to the Maine Secretary of State, or by credit card using the SOS credit card voucher. No publication is required at formation, and no annual report falls due in year one, because the first report is due between January 1 and June 1 of the year following the calendar year of formation. Plan for the state's own stated timeline, 40 to 55 business days of processing on the LLC forms page, or pay for speed: expedited service is $50 additional per entity for 24-hour filing or $100 additional per entity for immediate same business day filing. The optionals are priced plainly. A name reservation is $20 for 120 days and may not be renewed, though the same name may be reserved again after expiration. An assumed name is $125 per name. Serving as your own registered agent, or naming another eligible person, costs nothing; hiring a commercial agent service is a market purchase, not a state fee.

Every year after: the cost of staying alive

Recurring cost in Maine	Amount
Annual report, due June 1, window January 1 to June 1	$85 domestic. Foreign LLCs pay $150
Late penalty if the report misses June 1	$50, for $135 in total on a late domestic report
Franchise tax on a default LLC	$0. Maine's franchise tax reaches financial institutions only; see below
Flat entity tax on a default pass-through LLC	$0. No flat entity charge applies by default
Typical recurring total	$85/yr

A recurring total of $85 a year comes with exact contents and a hard date attached. Under Section 1665, subsection 1, the annual report sets forth the name of the company, the registered agent information required by Title 5, Section 105, subsection 1, the address of the principal office, a brief statement of the character of the business in which the company is actually engaged in Maine, and the name and address of at least one person who is a member, manager or other authorized person, current as of delivery. It may be filed online through Annual Reports Online or on a preprinted paper form downloaded from the same service. The compliance ladder is stated in Sections 1591, 1592 and 1667: nonpayment of fees or penalties, failure to deliver the report, failure to pay the late penalty, failure to maintain a registered agent, failure to notify of an agent change or to appoint a replacement after a resignation, and filing false information are all grounds for administrative dissolution, after written notice and sixty days to correct the ground. A dissolved company continues in existence but may not transact business except to wind up, and its name is protected for three years.

What drives the Maine total, year one vs. later

Year one is a single $175 filing fee, paid on paper because Maine offers no online formation channel, with the real year one cost being time: the Secretary of State states 40 to 55 business days of processing on its LLC forms page, and the only way to shorten it is the $50 or $100 expedited fee. Later years are a flat $85, the annual report due June 1, filed in the January 1 to June 1 window. No flat entity tax applies to a default LLC, so the Maine total is driven by punctuality, not by revenue. File the $85 report late and it becomes $135, because Section 1680, subsection 10 adds a $50 penalty that the Secretary of State warns may not be waived. Let the failure run to administrative dissolution and reinstatement costs $150 per ground, with the annual report ground alone capped at $600, plus the delinquent report fees and penalties themselves, and only within a six year window. Close the company on purpose and the Certificate of Cancellation is a single $75 filing after winding up is complete. Maine is therefore mid priced to form, cheap to keep if the June 1 date is met, and unforgiving if it is not.

The Maine fees around the formation

Maine prices LLC filings in Section 1680 and on the Secretary of State's forms schedule, and almost every charge is event driven. These are the lines a Maine LLC is most likely to meet:

Maine filing	Fee
Name reservation, Form MLLC-1 (120 days, may not be renewed)	$20
Transfer of reserved name, Form MLLC-1A	$20
Registered name of a foreign LLC	$20 per month remaining in the calendar year, renewal $200
Registered agent appointment or change, Form CLKRA-3	$35
Application for use of an indistinguishable name, Form MLLC-15	$20
Assumed name statement, Form ASUM-5	$125 per name
Fictitious name statement for a foreign entity, Form FICT-4	$40
Termination of assumed or fictitious name, Form MLLC-5A	$20
Certificate amendment	$50
Restated certificate	$80
Statement of authority	$50
Certificate of existence or fact	$30
Statement of Foreign Qualification, Form MLLC-12	$250
Statement of change of foreign qualification, Form MLLC-12A	$90, or $35 for a principal office address change only
Statement of Cancellation of Foreign Qualification, Form MLLC-12B	$90
Foreign LLC annual report	$150 per year
Certificate of excuse from annual reports, Form MLLC-14	$40
Resumption after excuse, Form MLLC-14A	$100
Expedited service	$50 for 24-hour, $100 for immediate
Reinstatement after administrative dissolution	$150 per ground, annual report ground capped at $600
Certificate of revival after dissolution, Form MLLC-REVIVE	$150
Certificate of Cancellation, Form MLLC-11C	$75

The Maine taxes that are not in the flat total

Pass-through treatment is the default. Under Title 36, Section 5190, a partnership is not subject to the tax imposed by that Part, and persons carrying on business as partners are liable only in their separate or individual capacities, and Maine Revenue Services administers LLCs taxed as partnerships or disregarded entities inside that pass-through system. No flat entity charge applies to a default LLC: Title 31, Chapter 21 imposes no annual entity tax, and Maine's one franchise tax, the franchise tax on financial institutions in Title 36, Chapter 819, reaches a financial institution doing business in Maine, not a default non-financial LLC. An LLC that elects corporate taxation is taxed under the corporate income tax in Title 36, Chapter 817 instead, which is an election consequence and is excluded.

Two income based items are excluded for the same reason. Maine's new elective pass-through entity tax, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026 under P.L. 2025, ch. 650, Pt. N, applies only to a year the entity elects, at 7.15 percent for 2026, the highest marginal individual rate excluding the 2 percent surcharge, with qualified members claiming a refundable credit equal to 90 percent of their share of the tax paid under Title 36, Section 5219-CCC, filed electronically through the Maine Tax Portal by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the end of the taxable year, with quarterly estimated payments required. Pass-through withholding on nonresident members' Maine source income, reported on Form 941P-ME, is 7.15 percent for individual and estate or trust owners plus 2 percent of the income above the surcharge thresholds, and 8.93 percent for C corporation owners, with an affidavit option on Form 941AF-ME at $1,000 or more of Maine source income and a composite return option. The state minimum tax in Title 36, Section 5203-C is an alternative minimum tax that by its current terms does not apply to resident individuals, trusts and estates for years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, or to taxable corporations for years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and it is not a flat LLC charge. The $500 per year civil penalty for a foreign LLC conducting activities without a statement of foreign qualification under Section 1629 is a penalty for noncompliance, not a filing fee, and is likewise kept out of the flat totals.

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.