Formation fee
$99
One-time state fee for the formation certificate.
last verified 2026-07-17
record 35 of 51 · /llc/ohio/
Ohio LLC
Ohio pairs no report with a receipts tax
Ohio collects no annual report from an LLC, and this sheet records the report fee and due date as checked absences rather than blanks. What recurs instead is the Commercial Activity Tax, measured on receipts and paid to the tax commissioner on its own calendar. The office publishes a standard processing range and sells faster lanes priced by the business day.
the rest of this note
Naming runs on a single form with a fork in it: a trade name is screened for distinguishability and asserts a right to the name, while a fictitious name is merely reported. A commercial mail receiving agency may not serve as registered agent, a researched finding on this record. A resident natural person may, and so may the company for itself.
every claim above is a line below
Annual report
none
This state files no LLC annual report. The absence is verified, not missing data.
verified absent 2026-07-17
Franchise tax
scales with revenue
Ohio calls it the Commercial Activity Tax, collected by tax commissioner. It follows revenue with no annual minimum, so no yearly figure can stand in for it.
last verified 2026-08-08
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
published, not as a range
The state publishes a processing time in prose rather than as a range, so this sheet links it instead of restating it. Expedited formation starts at $100.
as observed on 2026-08-07
Name designators
Must include "limited liability company," "LLC," "L.L.C.," "limited," "ltd.," or "ltd".
Accepted endings for the legal name. Statute: Ohio Rev. Code § 1706.07.
last verified 2026-07-17
Name reservation
$39
Optional filing that holds the name for 180 days before you form.
last verified 2026-07-17
DBA
trade name or fictitious name
One statewide register; the filing costs $39.
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 Ohio attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.
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 Ohio trade name rules?
Ohio calls it the trade name or fictitious name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $39.
- Where an LLC files
- How long it lasts
-
5 years
Renewable in the 6 months before expiry for further 5-year terms. The Secretary of State sends a renewal notice.
- Newspaper publication
-
not required
- What the filing protects
-
exclusive to the registrant
Ohio is the only pilot state where a DBA filing can carry real name rights, and it runs two tracks on one form. A trade name registration is checked for distinguishability against every trade name, corporation, LLC and partnership name on the Secretary of State's records (R.C. 1329.02) and asserts the exclusive right to use the name. A fictitious name report is taken without any name check and asserts nothing; it only discloses who is behind the name.
- Where to search existing names
-
Registered trade names and reported fictitious names sit in the same Secretary of State records as entity names, so the standard Ohio business search covers them.
one record, verified 2026-07-17 · Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1329.01-1329.10
What does it take to register an out-of-state LLC in Ohio?
Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Ohio. The registration costs $99. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.
- Registration fee
-
$99
Flat $99.00 filing fee for the Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form 617) on the Secretary of State's Business Filing Forms & Fee Schedule; the form PDF repeats 'Filing Fee: $99' and ORC 1706.511 requires registration with the Secretary of State.
- The official form
-
Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form 617)
- Filed with
-
Ohio Secretary of State
- After registration
-
Maintain a statutory agent in Ohio (ORC 1706.511(B)(3)) and file an appropriate certificate of correction with the Secretary of State if any statement in the registration becomes inaccurate (ORC 1706.511(D)).
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 Ohio?
Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Ohio. Ohio 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 A natural person who is a resident of this state
- The LLC as its own agent
-
Allowed
- A mailbox service as the address
-
Not accepted
- Address rule
-
The written appointment of an agent shall set forth the name and address in this state of the agent, including the street and number of the agent's primary residence in this state or, if the agent is not a natural person, the agent's usual place of business in this state
one record, verified 2026-08-10
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.ohiosos.gov/business/business-filing-forms
- Recurring tax: tax commissioner https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/chapter-5751
- Expedited service and processing time https://www.ohiosos.gov/assets/610.pdf
- Naming statute https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.07
- Name reservation https://www.ohiosos.gov/businesses/filing-forms--fee-schedule/
- Who may be the registered agent https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.09
- DBA filing https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/business/forms/534A_instructions.pdf
- Ohio Secretary of State - Business Services Division https://www.ohiosos.gov/businesses/
- Business entity search https://businesssearch.ohiosos.gov/
The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.