LLC STATES

A state filing ledger · 50 states + DC

record 39 of 51 · /llc/rhode-island/

Rhode Island LLC

oldest record on this page verified 2026-08-04

sources: linked on each field, listed in full below

Rhode Island's annual charge is a tax filing

Rhode Island collects from an LLC in two different buildings: the annual report goes to the Department of State inside a spring window, while a flat annual charge with a published minimum goes to the Division of Taxation on the tax calendar. The office states its standard processing as a short range of business days and sells no expedited lane above it.

the rest of this note

The fictitious business name is perpetual once filed and screened for exact matches rather than near ones. On the agent side a mail receiving agency is refused, a researched finding, and the seat calls for a resident, or an entity qualified in the state, available at the street address during normal business hours.

every claim above is a line below

Should you form your LLC in Rhode Island?

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

Office or storefront in Rhode Island?

Yes, it will

A business with a real footprint in Rhode Island files in Rhode Island. 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

$52.50

Due Feb 1 - May 1, printed as the state writes it.

last verified 2026-09-03

docs.sos.ri.gov

Franchise tax

$400

Rhode Island calls it the Annual charge, collected by Rhode Island Division of Taxation. It is a flat $400 a year, separate from the annual report.

last verified 2026-08-07

webserver.rilegislature.gov

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. This state sells no expedited service.

as observed on 2026-08-06

sos.ri.gov

Name designators

Must end with the words "limited liability company" or the upper- or lower-case letters "l.l.c." (with or without punctuation). A low-profit LLC ends with "low-profit, limited liability company" or the abbreviation "L3C" or "13c." Rhode Island does not accept "limited company," "LC," or "L.C."

Statute: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-9(a)(1).

last verified 2026-08-04

webserver.rilegislature.gov

Name reservation

$50

Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days before you form.

last verified 2026-08-04

sos.ri.gov

DBA

fictitious business name

One statewide register; the filing costs $50.

last verified 2026-08-04

docs.sos.ri.gov

An individual as the agent

allowed

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

last verified 2026-08-09

sos.ri.gov

Late filing penalty

$25

Rhode Island charges this as a flat penalty on a late report. What follows a missed filing is in section 09.

last verified 2026-08-10

sos.ri.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 Rhode Island DBA rules?

Rhode Island calls it the fictitious business name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $50.

Where an LLC files

docs.sos.ri.gov

How long it lasts

Perpetual (no expiration)

A fictitious business name statement stays on file until the LLC files a statement of abandonment, or until the LLC dissolves or a foreign LLC's registration is cancelled; there is no periodic renewal (§ 7-16-9(b)(3)).

Newspaper publication

not required

What the filing protects

no exclusive right

A fictitious business name or trade name discloses the name a business uses and grants no exclusive right; a sole proprietor's trade name is screened only against trade names on file in the same city or town rather than statewide. Filing is not merely administrative: under § 7-16-9(b)(5) an LLC that transacts business under an unfiled fictitious name, or its assignee, cannot maintain an action in a Rhode Island court on a contract made in that name until the statement is filed.

Where to search existing names

business.sos.ri.gov

Fictitious business names and trade names registered with the Department of State appear in the online business search. Search for an exact match, not a near one: § 7-16-9(b)(6) screens a fictitious business name only against names that are the same as an existing entity or reserved name, a weaker test than the "distinguishable upon the records" standard § 7-16-9(a)(2) applies to the LLC's own name.

one record, verified 2026-08-04 · R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-9(b)

webserver.rilegislature.gov

What does it take to register a foreign LLC in Rhode Island?

Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Rhode Island. The registration costs $150. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.

Registration fee

$150

Flat $150.00 filing fee for a Foreign Limited Liability Company (LLC), payable online or by paper.

sos.ri.gov

The official form

Application for Registration for a Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form 450)

docs.sos.ri.gov

Filed with

Rhode Island Department of State, Business Services Division

docs.sos.ri.gov

After registration

Maintain a registered agent with a Rhode Island street address and pay at least the state's minimum corporate tax ($400 or 7% of business income, whichever is higher) to the RI Division of Taxation each tax year.

sos.ri.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 Rhode Island?

Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Rhode Island. Rhode Island lets a natural person serve, so no commercial agent is required.

An individual as the agent

Allowed

in the state's words The agent must be a Rhode Island resident or an entity qualified to do business in this state.

sos.ri.gov

The LLC as its own agent

not read at this pin

A mailbox service as the address

Not accepted

sos.ri.gov

Address rule

A registered agent must have a Rhode Island street address and must be available at the given address during normal business hours to accept service of process.

sos.ri.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 Rhode Island annual report?

A missed report has its own record in Rhode Island: the penalty, the dissolution clock, and the way back. The penalty is a single flat figure.

  1. Late filing penalty

    $25

    sos.ri.gov

  2. Administrative dissolution

    after 60 days of delinquency

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

    webserver.rilegislature.gov

  3. Reinstatement

    $50

    as the record reads The reinstatement penalty is $50 for each year or part of a year since the certificate of revocation, on top of the missed filings and a $50 Letter of Good Standing from the Division of Taxation; the Department of State calculates the total on request.

    webserver.rilegislature.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.

Back to the 51-state index