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What Does an LLC Cost in Missouri?

Missouri is the cheapest state in this guide to keep: $50 once to form online, then $0 a year in recurring state charges, with no annual report and no franchise tax. The only way Missouri gets expensive is filing on paper for $105, or paying a service to file a report that does not exist. Here is the whole state bill.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

Year one: what you pay to exist

Year-one cost in Missouri	Amount
Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) online, Secretary of State	$50
EIN from the IRS	$0
Operating agreement (required, you write it, not filed)	$0
Registered agent (you or another individual serves)	$0
Total state cost, year one	$50

That $50 is the complete required state charge to form online through Missouri Business Filings. Filing the same Form LLC-1 on paper costs $105, a $55 premium the Secretary of State's own FAQ calls out, for no difference in the resulting LLC. Paying online adds a separate e-payment convenience fee paid to the vendor, 2% plus $0.25 by credit card or $0.50 by e-check, which is not a state filing fee and is not in the total. Everything else at formation is optional or conditional. A name reservation on Form BE-1 is $25 if you choose one, a preclearance examination of documents you propose to file is $55, and a fictitious name registration is $7, but only if the LLC will do business under a name other than its legal name. Hiring a commercial registered agent service is a market purchase, separate from state charges, and naming an individual costs nothing.

Every year after: the cost of staying alive

Recurring cost in Missouri	Amount
Annual report	$0. Missouri does not have one for LLCs.
Biennial report	$0. Missouri does not have one for LLCs either.
Recurring Secretary of State fee	$0
Franchise tax	$0. None is imposed on LLCs, and the corporation franchise tax ended for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016
Typical recurring total	$0

A recurring total of $0 does not mean a recurring duty of nothing. Missouri requires an LLC to continuously maintain a registered agent and office, and under RSMo 347.183 the Secretary of State has the power to cancel or disapprove the articles for failing to maintain one, after written notice 30 days before cancellation takes effect, and the power to charge late filing fees of $10 for each 30 day period of delinquency. A second path catches LLCs that stated a fixed duration: when the duration expires, the articles may be administratively cancelled, and reinstatement for that path costs $100 plus delinquent amounts under RSMo 347.183(6). That $100 figure applies to the expired duration path. The LLC specific reinstatement fee for other cancellation reasons was not confirmed on the official pages reviewed for this guide, so this page does not generalize it. Budget $0 a year, and spend the attention you save on keeping one address current and your duration perpetual.

What drives the Missouri total, year one vs. later

Missouri's total is driven by a single choice in year one and by nothing at all afterward. Year one is the $50 online filing fee for Form LLC-1, or $105 if you file on paper, with no state add-ons required: no publication, no initial report, no separate agent designation fee. Later years drop to $0 in state charges, and they stay there, because Missouri imposes no annual or biennial report on LLCs, charges no recurring Secretary of State fee, and imposes no franchise tax on an LLC. For a typical small LLC, no year after year one costs anything with the state. The ways a Missouri LLC spends money with the state later are all situational and small: a $10 registered agent change when the record changes, a $7 fictitious name renewal every five years if it trades under another name, and, at the end of the line, $50 in total Secretary of State fees to wind up and terminate. Missouri's risk is not price either. It is the same agent record, the one filing duty whose neglect can put the articles on a cancellation path.

The Missouri charges that are not in the standard total, and why

Missouri's standard total is $50 once and $0 a year. These are the real state figures around it, each verified on the Secretary of State's own schedule or forms, and each one applies only in its stated situation:

Charge	Figure	Who it applies to
Articles of Organization on paper (Form LLC-1)	$105	Founders who file on paper instead of online. The online fee is $50.
Foreign LLC registration (Form LLC-4)	$105	An LLC formed in another state registering to do business in Missouri. Requires a home state certificate of existence dated within 60 calendar days from filing.
Fictitious name registration (Form Corp. 56)	$7, for 5 years	Any LLC transacting business under a name other than its legal name. Renewal is the same $7, in the six months before expiration. Creates no exclusive right to the name.
Name reservation (Form BE-1)	$25, for 60 days	Optional. Additional reservations may be filed, up to a maximum of 180 days total.
Preclearance examination	$55	Optional review of proposed documents before filing. It is not expedited processing.
Statement of Change of Registered Agent and/or Registered Office (Form Corp. 59)	$10	Only when the registered agent or office changes. An office address only change on Form Corp. 59A is also $10.
Closing a Missouri LLC	$25 plus $25	Notice of Winding Up (Form LLC-13) at $25, then Articles of Termination (Form LLC-5) at $25. $50 total in Secretary of State fees. See the compliance page.
Reinstatement after administrative cancellation for expired duration	$100 plus delinquent fees, penalties, and charges	Only the RSMo 347.183(6) path: the articles were administratively cancelled because the stated duration expired, after amending the articles to extend the duration. Do not apply this figure to other cancellation reasons.
E-payment convenience fee, online filings	Credit card 2% plus $0.25; e-check $0.50	Paid to the e-payment vendor on electronic payments, not retained by the state. No additional fee for cash, check, or ACH.

One tax note completes the picture. For Missouri income tax, an LLC is classified and treated consistently with its federal classification under RSMo 347.187. A standard LLC taxed as a partnership pays no entity level Missouri income tax; members report pass through income on their own returns, which is an owner level item, not an LLC flat charge. An elective pass through entity tax exists under RSMo 143.436 for entities that elect it. It is an annual election, not a flat LLC charge, and it is not in the totals on this page.

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.