Delaware LLC fees, forms, and deadlines

Every figure on this page comes from the Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule revised August 1, 2024, or from the Delaware Code. Not from an aggregator.

That distinction turns out to matter more than it should, and there is a section below on why.

Last verified July 2026.

$110 to form, and where the odd number comes from

A Delaware LLC is formed by filing a certificate of formation. It has to state the company name and the registered agent’s name and Delaware address. Nothing else is required, though you can add anything you want. The company exists the moment it is filed, or on a later date the certificate names.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-201.

The fee is $110: $70 to the State and a $40 courthouse municipality fee, which the Secretary of State collects and passes to the towns that host Delaware’s courts.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-206(e).

The $40 attaches to every instrument you file, not just formation, which is why so many fees on the schedule end in a zero instead of a round number.

You do not need the operating agreement finished first. It can be entered into before, at, or after filing, and made effective as of the filing date.

Formation and registration

Filing	Fee
Certificate of Formation, domestic	$110
Statutory Public Benefit LLC formation	$110
Registered series formation	$110
Foreign Certificate of Registration	$200
Name reservation, 120 days	$75
Name reservation transfer or cancellation	$75

Changes

Filing	Fee
Amendment, domestic	$220
Amendment, foreign	$200
Change of registered agent only	$50
Restated certificate	$220
Correction or corrected certificate	$220
Blanket change of office or name	$240
Agent resignation with successor appointed	$240
Agent resignation without successor	$2

A manager, or any member if there is no manager, who learns a statement in the certificate was false when made or has since become false in a material respect has to amend it promptly.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-202(b).

Structural transactions

Filing	Fee
Domestication of a non-U.S. entity	$220
Transfer or continuance out of Delaware	$220
Conversion of another entity into a Delaware LLC	$220
Conversion of a Delaware LLC to a non-Delaware entity	$220
Protected series to registered series	$220
Registered series to protected series	$220
Division	$220
Amendment to a division	$220
Merger or consolidation	$220

A conversion into a Delaware LLC and a division both require a certificate of formation filed at the same time, with its own fee. A merger out carries annual taxes too.

Ending and restarting

Filing	Fee
Certificate of Cancellation, domestic	$220 plus annual taxes
Certificate of Cancellation, foreign	$200 plus annual taxes
Certificate of Revival, domestic LLC	$220

Add $50 for each registered series named in the certificate of cancellation.

The Secretary of State will not issue a certificate of good standing for a company whose certificate of formation has been canceled, or for any of its registered series.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-203(c).

Certificates, copies, and searches

Item	Fee
Certified copy	$50 per document, plus $2 per page
Certificate of good standing, short form	$50
Certificate of good standing, long form	$175
Special certificates (name change, merger, void)	$50 each
Record search	$50 per entity
Plain copies	$10 first page, $2 each additional

Expedited service

These are on top of the filing fee.

Tier	Fee
One hour	$1,000 per document
Two hours	$500 per document
Same day, formation filings	$100
Same day, most other filings	$200
24 hour, formation filings	$50
24 hour, most other filings	$100

The one and two hour tiers are per document. Same day and 24 hour are per file number, which matters when several filings go in for the same entity at once.

The three fee mistakes everyone makes, and where they come from

Published sources give the Delaware LLC formation fee as $90, $110, and $220. They give cancellation as $200 and $220. They give revival as $180, $189, and $220.

None of those errors are random. Every one comes from an adjacent row of the same table.

$220 is the fee for a domestic amendment, cancellation, or revival. It is the most common LLC fee on the schedule and the easiest to grab from the wrong line. $200 is the foreign row for amendment and cancellation. $189 is corporate revival, not LLC. $90 predates the August 2024 revision. One article gave $90 in its opening sentence and $110 in its own cost breakdown four paragraphs later.

A number several sources agree on can be several copies of one mistake. Every figure here is read off the state’s own schedule and carries the date it was checked.

$300 a year, due June 1, and no annual report

Delaware LLCs file no annual report. The annual tax payment is the entire ongoing obligation, and none of these filings say anything about whether an LLC protects you in the first place.

The tax is $300 flat, due June 1 every year, no matter the income, activity, or whether the company did anything at all. Foreign LLCs registered in Delaware owe the same $300. The first payment is due the calendar year after formation and is not prorated, so a December formation still owes a full $300 the following June.

Late payment carries a $200 penalty plus 1.5 percent monthly interest, and the company loses good standing, which is enough to stop a closing, a loan, or a foreign qualification.

Registered series are reported to owe an additional $75 each per year. That figure is consistent across sources but was not confirmed against the Division directly, so treat it as preliminary.

Continued nonpayment cancels the certificate of formation by operation of statute.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-1108.

Coming back from cancellation

A canceled LLC is revived by filing a certificate of revival and paying all back taxes, penalties, and interest. Once revived, the company is restored as though it had never been canceled.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-1109.

There is a parallel provision for reviving a canceled registered series.

Delaware puts no window on this the way many states do, which is unusually forgiving. The cost of waiting is arithmetic, not a deadline: every year that passes adds $300 plus a $200 penalty plus compounding interest.

The real problem during the gap is not the money. A company whose certificate has been canceled is not doing the job you formed it to do.

You can be your own registered agent, with a condition

Every Delaware LLC has to keep a registered office in Delaware and a registered agent at that same address. The agent can be the company itself, an individual resident in Delaware, another Delaware entity, or a qualifying foreign entity.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-104(a).

The condition most summaries drop is the office. The company can be its own agent only if it keeps a Delaware address. An out-of-state owner cannot self-serve, which is the whole reason the commercial agent market exists.

Anyone acting as agent for more than 50 entities is a commercial registered agent and takes on extra obligations, including being present at a Delaware location during business hours.

There is a privacy consequence worth knowing before you choose. If the company is its own agent, the public record shows the company’s Delaware address. If an individual Delaware resident serves, that person’s name is on the record. The anonymity most people associate with Delaware assumes a commercial agent in that spot, which is on the structure and cost page.

Trust and Fund are allowed. Bank is not, mostly.

The name has to contain Limited Liability Company, L.L.C., or LLC. It has to be distinguishable on the Secretary of State’s records from every other entity already reserved, registered, or formed in Delaware, or qualified here as a foreign entity. Written consent from the other entity cures a conflict.

The statute expressly permits Company, Association, Club, Foundation, Fund, Institute, Society, Union, Syndicate, Limited, and Trust. Several of those are restricted in other states, and Fund and Syndicate matter to anyone naming a capital-raising vehicle.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-102(1), (3), (4).

Bank is prohibited, with narrow exceptions for actual banks and bank holding companies. There is a proviso allowing the word in a context clearly not referring to a banking business and not likely to mislead, as determined by the Division of Corporations.

Read that carefully. The exception is discretionary and the Division decides, not the filer.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-102(5).

One flag on Trust. The statute permits it, but a Division regulation refers to provisions regulating “bank or trust” in an entity name, which implies a restriction living somewhere outside this section. If you are naming a company Trust and it matters to the deal, confirm with the Division before you file.

And approval of a name at filing is not a ruling that the name is lawful. The State keeps authority to cancel a certificate for abuse or misuse of the company’s powers. A name chosen to imply something the business is not carries a tail.

Source: 6 Del. C. § 18-112(a).

Delaware does not publish a processing time

There is no official turnaround figure. Commercial sources report roughly ten business days for standard processing, which is not the State’s number and should not be treated as one.

If timing matters, buy an expedited tier from the table above or call the Division at (302) 739-3073 and ask what date they are working on.

Two filings people forget

Delaware business license. Reported at $75 through the Division of Revenue, required for businesses operating in Delaware. Not required merely to hold a Delaware LLC that does no business there, though operating in another state brings that state’s own registration requirements. Whether the fee is annual or multi-year, and exactly what triggers it, was not confirmed against the Division and should be before you rely on it.

Trade name registration. Reported at $25 annually. Administration moved from the county to the Division of Revenue, which eliminated the old county fees and notarization. The timing on that move had two delays, and most published guidance still describes the old county process, so confirm the current procedure with the Division rather than trusting a writeup that may predate the change.

The bottom line

Formation is $110. $70 to the State, $40 to the courthouse fund, and that $40 rides on every instrument you file.

Annual upkeep is $300 and one date. Due June 1, no annual report, $200 plus interest if you miss it, and good standing gone until you pay.

The fee numbers online are wrong in a predictable way. Every stray figure comes from an adjacent row of the same table, which is why this page reads the schedule instead of the summaries.

You can self-serve as agent only with a Delaware address, and doing so puts that address on the public record.

Trust, Fund, and Syndicate are allowed. Bank is the Division’s call.

Revival has no deadline, just a running meter. Every year canceled adds $300, a $200 penalty, and compounding interest, and the entity is not protecting anything while it waits.

What this page does not cover

How a creditor reaches a member’s interest, veil piercing, trusts, and exemptions are on the protection page.

What the statute decides when the agreement is silent is on the governance page.

Where the entity legally lives, series LLCs, anonymity, and the tax cost of moving property in or changing ownership are on the structure and cost page.

Fees change. This page carries the date it was last checked against the State’s own schedule, and it gets rechecked on a schedule rather than when someone notices.