LLC STATES

A state filing ledger · 50 states + DC

record 38 of 51 · /llc/pennsylvania/

Pennsylvania LLC

oldest record on this page verified 2026-08-04

sources: linked on each field, listed in full below

Pennsylvania records a registered office, not an agent

Pennsylvania's bureau answers the agent question in its own words: it does not utilize registered agents, and its records point at a registered office address instead. The sheet prints that sentence rather than forcing the state into a yes or no. The annual report falls due at the end of September, and expedited handling is sold in lanes priced down to the hour.

the rest of this note

The fictitious name has a publication step with a fork in it: an application that includes an individual party must run notice in county newspapers, while a registration with no individual party, an LLC filing under its own name, skips publication altogether. Registration creates no exclusive right in the name. No recurring entity tax appears on this record.

every claim above is a line below

Should you form your LLC in Pennsylvania?

If the answer is yes, the home-state rule points to Pennsylvania.

Office or storefront in Pennsylvania?

Yes, it will

A business with a real footprint in Pennsylvania files in Pennsylvania. 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 .

Formation fee

$125

last verified 2026-09-05

pa.gov

Annual report

$7

Due Sept 30, printed as the state writes it.

last verified 2026-09-05

pa.gov

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

pa.gov

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

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 2026-08-09

pa.gov

Name designators

Must contain the word "company," "limited," or "limited liability company," or an abbreviation of one of those ("co.," "ltd.," "L.L.C.," or "LLC"), or words of like import used in another jurisdiction. Pennsylvania is unusual in accepting "Company" or "Limited" alone as the designator.

Statute: 15 Pa.C.S. § 204.

last verified 2026-08-04

legis.state.pa.us

Name reservation

$70

Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days (non-renewable) before you form.

last verified 2026-08-04

pa.gov

DBA

fictitious name

One statewide register; the filing costs $70.

last verified 2026-08-10

file.dos.pa.gov

An individual as the agent

unknown

Whether a person may hold the seat, so nobody has to be hired. The terms Pennsylvania attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.

not read yet at this pin

Late filing penalty

none

No late fee is published for a missed report, and that is a checked finding rather than a gap. It is not an all-clear: the state can still dissolve the LLC by administrative action, and section 09 carries that record.

verified absent 2026-08-10

pa.gov

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 Pennsylvania DBA rules?

Pennsylvania calls it the fictitious name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $70.

Where an LLC files

file.dos.pa.gov

How long it lasts

Perpetual (no renewal or periodic report)

A fictitious name registration does not expire and there is no renewal or periodic report. Act 122 of 2022 repealed the decennial report provisions at 54 Pa.C.S. Ch. 5 (§§ 501-506) effective January 3, 2023, and the annual report that replaced it reaches filing associations only: the Department of State lists fictitious names first among the filing types not required to make annual reports.

Newspaper publication

required

54 Pa.C.S. § 311(g) requires an entity which includes an individual party to officially publish notice of its intention to file, or of the filing of, the fictitious name application, in the county where the entity's principal office or place of business is or will be located. Officially publishing is defined in 15 Pa.C.S. § 102 as publication in two newspapers of general circulation in the county, one of which must be the legal newspaper designated by the rules of court for legal notices if there is one; where the county has only one newspaper of general circulation, that one is sufficient, and absent a specified frequency the notice runs one time. The notice may appear before or after the filing date and is kept with the permanent records of the business. A registration with no individual party, such as an LLC filing in its own name, has no publication step.

What the filing protects

no exclusive right

Pennsylvania law is explicit that registering a fictitious name creates no exclusive right to use it: 54 Pa.C.S. § 332 provides that registration imparts no legal right beyond escaping the § 331 penalties for doing business under an unregistered fictitious name and giving the registered name the same force and effect as the entity's proper name. Because § 311(e) screens a new fictitious name against entity, agency, and reserved names but not against other fictitious names, two different businesses may register the same fictitious name. The screen also runs one way only: 15 Pa.C.S. § 202(b)(2) makes a filed fictitious name render a name unavailable to a later entity only to the extent 54 Pa.C.S. Ch. 3 expressly provides, and Ch. 3 provides no such block.

Where to search existing names

file.dos.pa.gov

Fictitious names are searchable in the Department of State's business filing search alongside entities, but because they carry no exclusive right, finding one does not by itself stop another filer from registering the same fictitious name.

one record, verified 2026-08-10 · 54 Pa.C.S. § 311

legis.state.pa.us

What does it take to register a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania?

Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Pennsylvania. 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 registration fee of $250.00 for the Foreign Registration Statement of a foreign limited liability company; the docketing statement (DSCB:15-134A) accompanies the filing.

pa.gov

The official form

Foreign Registration Statement (DSCB:15-412)

pa.gov

Filed with

Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations

pa.gov

After registration

File an Annual Report (DSCB:15-146) beginning in 2025, and maintain a Pennsylvania address (a post office box alone is not acceptable).

pa.gov

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 Pennsylvania?

Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Pennsylvania.

An individual as the agent

not read at this pin

The LLC as its own agent

not read at this pin

A mailbox service as the address

not read at this pin

Address rule

All entities filed with the bureau with the exception of fictitious names and trademarks, require a Pennsylvania address. A Post Office Box alone is not acceptable.

pa.gov

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 Pennsylvania annual report?

A missed report has its own record in Pennsylvania: the penalty, the dissolution clock, and the way back. No late fee is published, and that is a checked finding rather than a gap.

  1. Late filing penalty

    none published

    The state can still dissolve the LLC by administrative action, so a missing fee is not an all-clear.

    pa.gov

  2. Administrative dissolution

    after 6 months of delinquency

    The first stage the state publishes, in its own unit: after this interval the state may dissolve the LLC by administrative action.

    pa.gov

  3. Reinstatement

    $35

    as the record reads A $35 application for reinstatement filed electronically, $40 on paper, plus $15 for each annual report not previously paid; there is no limit on the period of time within which a domestic filing entity may reinstate.

    pa.gov

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.

The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.

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