Formation fee
$50
last verified 2026-08-22
record 6 of 51 · /llc/colorado/
Colorado LLC
Colorado registers duplicate trade names on purpose
Colorado files an LLC with the Secretary of State and asks for a periodic report inside an anniversary window each year. No recurring state tax falls on an LLC, and the record marks that absence as verified against the tax agency rather than unread. Expedited service exists for business documents, but the state does not sell it for a formation filing.
the rest of this note
The trade name register takes duplicates: nothing screens a new trade name for distinguishability, so more than one business can hold the same one. The filing is public notice of who uses a name, never a claim to it, and it stays out of the entity name-availability check. It does appear in the statewide business search beside the entities themselves.
every claim above is a line below
Should you form your LLC in Colorado?
If the answer is yes, the home-state rule points to Colorado.
Office or storefront in Colorado?
Yes, it will
A business with a real footprint in Colorado files in Colorado. Forming anywhere else adds a foreign registration back home: two filings, two annual bills, two registered agents. The out-of-state discount does not survive that arithmetic.
No, it will not
This one answer cannot choose a state. Use the full four-question wizard with the place where the business will actually operate. Open the full wizard .
Annual report
$25
Due Anniversary month window, printed as the state writes it.
last verified 2026-08-22
Franchise tax
none
No recurring state-level tax on an LLC here. The absence is verified against the state, not missing data.
verified absent 2026-08-08
Anonymous LLC
no
Member or organizer names reach the public formation record here.
dataset revision 2026-08-10
derived from the definition, no statute read
Processing time
same business day
Filed online, same business day, and 7 to 10 business days by mail, as the state states it. The state sells expedited service, but not for a formation filing.
as observed on 2026-08-06
Name designators
Must contain the term or abbreviation "limited liability company," "ltd. liability company," "limited liability co.," "ltd. liability co.," "limited," "l.l.c.," "llc," or "ltd."
Statute: C.R.S. § 7-90-601(3)(c).
last verified 2026-08-04
Name reservation
$25
Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days before you form.
last verified 2026-08-04
DBA
trade name
One statewide register; the filing costs $20.
last verified 2026-07-17
An individual as the agent
allowed
Whether a person may hold the seat, so nobody has to be hired. The terms Colorado attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.
last verified 2026-08-09
Late filing penalty
$50
Colorado charges this as a flat penalty on a late report. What follows a missed filing is in section 09.
last verified 2026-08-10
field 05 carries the date it was observed, not a promise: of the two halves beside it, only the expedited tiers are prices the state commits to
What are the Colorado DBA rules?
Colorado calls it the trade name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $20.
- Where an LLC files
- How long it lasts
-
No expiration for a reporting entity in good standing; one year for an individual or general partnership
A reporting entity's trade name stays effective while the entity is in good standing. Trade names filed by an individual or general partnership expire after one year and must be renewed to stay on record.
- Newspaper publication
-
not required
- What the filing protects
-
no exclusive right
Colorado states that trade names are not checked for distinguishability, so more than one business can register the same trade name. The filing is public notice of who uses a name, not a claim to it.
- Where to search existing names
-
Colorado keeps trade names in the same statewide database as entities, so the Secretary of State's business search returns them. That makes a Colorado trade name easy to look up, unlike states that record trade names only at the county level. Trade names are excluded from the entity name-availability check, because the state does not require them to be unique.
one record, verified 2026-07-17 · C.R.S. Title 7, Article 71
What does it take to register a foreign LLC in Colorado?
Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Colorado. The registration costs $100. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.
- Registration fee
-
$100
Online-only application; the fee schedule lists the Statement of Foreign Entity Authority at $100.00 online with no paper filing path.
- The official form
-
Statement of Foreign Entity Authority
- Filed with
-
Colorado Secretary of State
- After registration
-
File the Periodic Report each year and maintain a registered agent in Colorado.
one record, verified 2026-08-08
The same fee for every other jurisdiction sits on one page: foreign qualification fees for every jurisdiction.
Who can be the registered agent in Colorado?
Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Colorado. Colorado lets a natural person serve, so no commercial agent is required. The LLC itself may also hold the seat.
- An individual as the agent
-
Allowed
- The LLC as its own agent
-
Allowed
- A mailbox service as the address
-
Not accepted
- Address rule
-
A usual place of business located in Colorado means that the registered agent has a physical street address located in Colorado and that the place is customarily open during normal business hours.
An allowed finding says Colorado admits a person to the seat, not that every person qualifies. Colorado sets the terms, on the page behind the finding.
one record, verified 2026-08-09
The same four answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: registered agent rules for every jurisdiction.
What happens if you don't file the Colorado annual report?
A missed report has its own record in Colorado: the penalty, the dissolution clock, and the way back. The penalty is a single flat figure.
-
Late filing penalty
$50
-
Administrative dissolution
not read at this pin
-
Reinstatement
$100
as the record reads A delinquent LLC returns to good standing by filing a Statement Curing Delinquency at $100, on top of the late periodic report; the separately priced $100 Reinstatement is for an entity that has been dissolved, not merely delinquent.
one record, verified 2026-08-10
The same three answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: late fees and reinstatement for every jurisdiction.
Where do these figures come from?
Every figure on this sheet renders from the pinned dataset snapshot, and each card links the page its own figure came from. This list collects those pages in one place, with the duplicates removed and the agency named.
- Formation and annual report figures https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/info_center/fees/business.html
- Recurring state tax https://tax.colorado.gov/business-income-tax
- Expedited service and processing time https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/FAQs/filing.html
- Naming statute https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-07.pdf
- Name reservation https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/helpFiles/RS_HELP.html
- Who may be the registered agent https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/FAQs/regAgent.html
- Registered agent rules https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/RAchanges.html
- DBA filing https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/FAQs/tradeNames.html
- Colorado Secretary of State Business Division https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/businessHome.html
- Business entity search https://www.coloradosos.gov/ucc/pages/biz/bizSearch.xhtml
The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.