Formation fee
$125
One-time state fee for the formation certificate.
last verified 2026-07-17
record 33 of 51 · /llc/north-carolina/
North Carolina LLC
One certificate can cover every North Carolina county
North Carolina's LLC filings land at the Secretary of State, with an annual report due in the middle of April. No recurring entity tax sits on the record, a verified absence. The office publishes its standard turnaround as a stated range and prices faster handling in tiers above it.
the rest of this note
The assumed business name records with a county Register of Deeds, never expires, and a single certificate may designate some counties or all of them at once. Every county then transmits its certificates to one statewide index, so a county-recorded name is still searchable in a single place. The agent seat admits a resident individual whose business address is identical to the registered office.
every claim above is a line below
Annual report
$203
Due April 15, printed as the state writes it.
last verified 2026-07-17
Franchise tax
none
No recurring state-level tax on an LLC here. The absence is verified against the state, not missing data.
verified absent 2026-08-09
Anonymous LLC
no
Member or organizer names reach the public formation record here.
last verified 2026-08-06
no source in the snapshot
Processing time
15 to 20 business days
By mail, 15 to 20 business days, as the state states it. Expedited formation starts at $100.
as observed on 2026-08-09
Name designators
Must contain the words "limited liability company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or "LLC," or the combination "ltd. liability co.," "limited liability co.," or "ltd. liability company."
Accepted endings for the legal name. Statute: N.C.G.S. § 55D-20(a).
last verified 2026-07-21
Name reservation
$30
Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days (nonrenewable) before you form.
last verified 2026-07-21
DBA
assumed business name
Filed with the county clerk, and each county prices its own filing.
last verified 2026-07-21
An individual as the agent
allowed
Whether a person may hold the seat, so nobody has to be hired. The terms North Carolina attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.
last verified 2026-08-09
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 North Carolina trade name rules?
North Carolina calls it the assumed business name, and handles it at the county level, so the price and the paperwork are set locally rather than by the state.
- Where an LLC files
- How long it lasts
-
No expiration
The certificate does not expire. If any information on it becomes materially misleading, an amended certificate must be recorded within 60 days.
- Newspaper publication
-
not required
- What the filing protects
-
no exclusive right
Recording an assumed business name is public notice of who is behind the name, not a grant of rights in it. It is the condition for lawfully trading under the name; it does not stop another business from recording something similar.
- Where to search existing names
-
Unusually for a county-recorded filing, North Carolina keeps a single statewide index: each Register of Deeds transmits its assumed business name certificates to the Secretary of State, which assigns an identification number and publishes them in one searchable database of filings made on or after December 1, 2017. So a name recorded in one county can be searched statewide.
one record, verified 2026-07-21 · N.C.G.S. § 66-71.4
What does it take to register an out-of-state LLC in North Carolina?
Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in North Carolina. The registration costs $250. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.
- Registration fee
-
$250
Flat filing fee of $250.00 for the Application for Certificate of Authority (Form L-09); annual reports and certified copies carry separate fees.
- The official form
-
Application for Certificate of Authority (Form L-09)
- Filed with
-
North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division
- After registration
-
File an annual report by April 15 of each year after the year of creation and maintain a registered agent in North Carolina.
one record, verified 2026-08-08
The same fee for every other jurisdiction sits on one page: foreign qualification fees for every jurisdiction.
Who may serve as the registered agent in North Carolina?
Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in North Carolina. North Carolina 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
in the state's words An individual who resides in North Carolina and whose business address is identical to the registered office
- The LLC as its own agent
-
Allowed
- A mailbox service as the address
-
not read at this pin
- Address rule
-
The street address and mailing address, if different from the street address, of the business entity's registered office in North Carolina, as well as the county in which such office is located.
one record, verified 2026-08-09
The same four answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: registered agent rules 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.sosnc.gov/fees/by_title/_Business_Registration
- Recurring state tax https://www.ncdor.gov/taxes-forms/corporate-income-franchise-tax/filing-requirements
- Expedited service and processing time https://www.sosnc.gov/divisions/business_registration
- Naming statute https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_55D/GS_55D-21.html
- Name reservation https://www.sosnc.gov/forms/by_title/_Business_Registration_Business_Entities_Common
- Foreign LLC registration https://www.sosnc.gov/manual/register_a_foreign_business/requirements
- Who may be the registered agent https://www.sosnc.gov/manual/Register_A_Foreign_Business/Registered_Agent
- DBA filing https://www.sosnc.gov/divisions/business_registration/assumed_business_names
- Business entity search https://www.sosnc.gov/online_services/search/by_title/_Business_Registration
The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.