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How to Form an LLC in New Jersey

New Jersey has no Secretary of State business registry. You form with DORES, the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, for $100, not the $125 that stale guides still print. There is no publication step. Your two follow-ups are a tax registration called Form NJ-REG within 60 days, and a $75 annual report every year in your anniversary month.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

The New Jersey filing steps

1. Check your name on the state's own search

   Verify availability first with the free online Business Name Search, which is step one of the Division's own formation sequence. The name must be distinguishable in the records of the filing office from other entities and reserved names, and under N.J.S.A. 42:2C-8 it must contain the words "limited liability company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or "LLC." DORES confirms it will check the proposed name for availability as part of the filing review process, and its filing instructions note the Division will add an appropriate designator if none is provided. If you want to hold a name before you file, an LLC name reservation costs $50, and transfer or renewal of a reserved name is also $50.

2. Choose your registered agent

   New Jersey requires you to designate and continuously maintain two things in the state: a registered office and an agent for service of process. The Certificate of Formation states the street and mailing addresses of the initial registered office and the name of the initial agent at that office. The office must be a New Jersey street address; a P.O. box may be used only if the street address is listed as well. The agent may be an individual or a corporation duly registered and in good standing with the State Treasurer, and under the Act the agent is an individual who is a resident of New Jersey or another person with authority to transact business in New Jersey. Nothing in the Division's instructions bars an owner from serving, so an owner with a New Jersey street address can be the agent, knowing the filed record is public. No separate written consent filing or consent fee appears in the Division's checklist. Changing the agent or office later costs $25.

3. File the Certificate of Formation with the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services

   File the Certificate of Formation with DORES through its Online Business Formation service, and pay the $100 fee. The fee is the same online and on paper; the Division publishes a single fee. On paper, the filing is made on the Public Records Filing for New Business Entity form, and the filed form constitutes your original certificate of formation. Then complete the mandatory second step: file Form NJ-REG, the Business Registration Application, with DORES. The Registration Packet says NJ-REG must be submitted within 60 days of filing the new business entity, and at least 15 days before the first sale if the business will collect sales tax. Completing both filings lets the business obtain a Business Registration Certificate.

4. Get an EIN from the IRS

   Free, online, and takes minutes once your New Jersey 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.

5. Write your operating agreement

   New Jersey does not collect the operating agreement, and it does not impose a written-agreement deadline like New York's 90-day rule. Under the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, an operating agreement can be oral, in a record, implied, or any combination of those, and it governs relations among the members, the rights and duties of managers, and the LLC's activities, except for provisions the Act makes non-waivable. Where the agreement does not provide on a matter, the Act itself governs. That flexibility is a reason to write yours down anyway: an oral understanding is hard to prove at the first disagreement.

6. 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. New Jersey has no general state business license for LLCs as such. The DORES registration sequence, certificate plus NJ-REG, produces the Business Registration Certificate, which is proof of registration (required for public contracting and for state grants and tax credits), not an operating license. Beyond registration, licenses are activity and profession specific, administered through state licensing boards and commissions and surfaced through Business.NJ.gov, the state's official business portal, including its Licensing and Certification Guide. Municipal requirements vary by municipality, so check with the municipal clerk where you will operate.

Filing details that trip people up

• The fee is $100. The $125 figure is stale. The current DORES Registry Fee Schedule, updated July 1, 2026, and the Registration Packet fee schedule revised in July 2026 both list the LLC Certificate of Formation at $100, and the Division's Getting Registered page says the fee is $100 for all for-profit entities. Older state PDFs and many secondary guides still print $125. The current schedule controls, and accuracy on exactly this number is why this site exists.
• No publication requirement. New Jersey's formation sequence is four steps: verify the name, get an EIN, file the certificate, and file Form NJ-REG. There is no newspaper step and no publication fee anywhere in the Division's fee schedule for LLCs. If a service charges you for New Jersey publication, it is selling you a New York obligation in the wrong state.
• Form NJ-REG is mandatory, and it has a deadline. Filing the certificate alone does not finish registration. NJ-REG, the tax and employer registration, must be submitted within 60 days of filing the entity, and at least 15 days before your first sale if you will collect sales tax. It carries no separate formation fee stated by DORES.
• Foreign LLCs pay the same $100. A Certificate of Registration for a foreign LLC costs $100, the same as a domestic Certificate of Formation, and the foreign LLC then files the same $75 annual report, due on the last day of its New Jersey authorization month. DORES publishes no late registration fee figure, so treat any guide quoting one with suspicion.
• Trading under a different name takes its own state filing, and using it first costs extra. An LLC does business under an alternate name only once the name is registered with DORES on form C-150G: $50, lasting five years, renewable for $50. Register before you use the name. Using an unregistered alternate name draws the registration fee plus an additional $50 for each year the name was in use, with a partial year counting as a full year. Our DBA guide covers when you need one and when you do not.

After your New Jersey LLC is approved

File Form NJ-REG within 60 days if you have not already, get the EIN, and open the bank account; the state lists the EIN as its own step in the formation sequence, between the name check and the certificate. Then set the one recurring date that matters in New Jersey: your annual report is due every year on the last day of the month in which your formation was completed, starting the year after formation, at $75, filed online. The Division sends a reminder to your registered agent 60 days before the due date, but Business.NJ.gov is explicit that the responsibility to file is yours even if you never receive a notification. Keep the registered agent and office current, since the reminder and legal process both travel through that record.

The full recurring picture for New Jersey, with fees and due dates, is on the New Jersey annual report and compliance page, and the money view is on the New Jersey LLC cost page.

New Jersey LLC questions