When preparing to legalize your business in the state of Massachusetts, the first thing you want to know is how to start an LLC in Massachusetts. Once you are into this, you wonder what your Massachusetts LLC price will be.
To save you the trouble of searching high and low, we’ve made a detailed breakdown of Massachusetts LLC costs so that you understand your upcoming expenses to efficiently plan your budget.
Limited liability companies are state-specific entities and so are LLC costs. The cost of forming an LLC in Massachusetts is a fixed state fee. However, there are a number of associated charges and regulatory payments you should encounter too.
By and large, LLC-related expenses could be divided into:
Your final price tag might vary depending on the company type and locality within the jurisdiction you are going to operate your business.
Most common payments you’ll have to make during and after LLC formation include both one-time charges and fees to be paid on a regular basis.
Limited liability companies are registered by state authorities. In Massachusetts, it’s the Secretary of Commonwealth. Formally, LLC registration is about filing the Certificate of Organization with the state office.
In Massachusetts, you can file either online or by mail. The filing fee will stay the same. It’s $500, which is at the higher end of the price range as compared to $100, $80, or $120 in many other states.
However, Massachusetts filings are fast. You’ll get your company registration approved in about 4 hours when submitting an online form and within 4 to 5 workdays when mailing the documents.
A registered agent is a law requirement for LLCs across the US, and the state of Massachusetts is not an exception. You won’t be able to finalize LLC registration and eligibly run your business unless you appoint a registered agent.
In Massachusetts, you can choose to serve your own agent which will be free of charge since you don’t have to pay yourself. Or you can designate some of your family members or friends who will agree to handle that function for some symbolic fee or even also for free.
The best option, though, is to hire one of the professional agent services for that purpose. Not only will a dedicated service do the job for you but also it will ensure that:
Massachusetts has no privilege or franchise tax for limited liability companies, yet, the state requires entities to file an annual report to keep their registered info updated. This Massachusetts LLC annual fee is one of the compliance requirements that should be observed.
Failing to submit a state report in time might result not only in penalties and fines but also in administrative dissolution, which is certainly not what you want for your company.
A Massachusetts filing fee for LLC is $500. A report is to be provided to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on an annual basis before your LLC’s anniversary date.
To run a Massachusetts business under the LLC structure registered in any other US state, you need to get a so-called foreign qualification in Massachusetts. This will allow you to legalize an existing entity in the state.
Normally, foreign LLC filings are more expensive than domestic ones, yet, Massachusetts has a $500 rate for foreign limited liability companies too. You should submit an application to the Secretary of the Commonwealth either online or by mail.
To be able to provide certain professional services under the LLC legal umbrella, you should establish a professional limited liability company in Massachusetts.
The formation process is pretty much the same as for a common LLC and so is the filing rate of $500. However, to register as a PLLC, you should also have an appropriate professional license in place.
Professions that require licensing include:
The license price might vary by county or municipality and fall anywhere from $20 up to $500. So, the final PLLC cost will differ by locality.
Massachusetts LLCs should have business licenses to legally operate in the state. However, business licensing rules function a bit differently in this jurisdiction.
In Massachusetts, business licenses are issued at a local level, i.e. by a county or city. That’s why there is no fixed licensing fee. For most entities, the application cost is about $20 to $50. However, for LLCs, that rate is the highest and might be around $500.
Notably, a business license in Massachusetts is issued for a period of 4 years and doesn’t have to be renewed annually. Any other licenses, though, might need renewal more often. To learn about the licensing requirements for your LLC, contact your local government office.
As a disregarded entity, your Massachusetts LLC won’t have to pay an income tax as a legal person. It will only be exposed to a corporate income tax if you elect a C-Corp tax status for your company with the IRS.
Other taxes to consider are:
Along with regular and compulsory payments, there are a number of payments that might occur depending on your business situation and needs. Most often than not, these are one-time payments charged at fixed rates.
You can reserve the desired LLC name if it turns available in the state for a period of 60 days. Thus, you’ll get more time to get prepared for filing and will rest assured your name won’t be snitched.
A reservation fee in Massachusetts is $30. You should file a name reservation form with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. For another $30, you can prolong the reservation period for additional 60 days.
Similar to other states, Massachusetts allows running an LLC under a fictitious or DBA (doing business as) name, which is different from your company's registered name.
However, unlike in most other jurisdictions that have a single registration rate for all localities, DBA registration fees in Massachusetts will vary by the city where you will operate your venture.
A bank or any other financial institution will require a Certificate of Good Standing if you:
Issued by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, this document verifies your LLC’s compliance status and legitimacy. The issue costs $25.
You can get certified copies of your LLC documents from the Secretary of the Commonwealth if necessary. Those might be required by your vendors, suppliers, creditors, or even customers.
Such copies are payable. The fee is $7 per copy plus $2 per document page.
If you need to make any changes in your registered company info, you can legalize those changes only by filing amendments to your Certificate of Organization.
You should file a Certificate of Amendment with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and pay a $100 state fee. The changes will be normally enforced within 3 to 5 business days.
If you fail to catch up with the state compliance requirements, your LLC might be exposed to administrative dissolution.
Should that happen for some reason and you want to reinstate your entity, you can submit an Application for Reinstatement with the state department and pay a $100 fee.
To formally close your LLC, it’s not enough to simply stop running a business. You need to get it legally dissolved by filing a Certificate of Cancellation with the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
The procedure is fairly straightforward and it will cost you $100.