LLC STATES

A state filing ledger · 50 states + DC

record 50 of 51 · /llc/wisconsin/

Wisconsin LLC

oldest record on this page verified 2026-07-18

sources: linked on each field, listed in full below

Registering a Wisconsin trade name is optional

Wisconsin sets the annual report by anniversary quarter rather than a single date, and collects no recurring entity tax, a checked and recorded absence. Expedited service is priced in hour-labelled lanes on top of ordinary handling, while the standard time itself is unread at this snapshot.

the rest of this note

The trade name register is optional, and that option is the whole story: nothing requires registering, but only a registered owner has standing to sue under the chapter, with injunctions and damages behind the claim. That makes the voluntary filing the door to the statute's remedies. A resident person or entity may be designated agent, the register's own definition.

every claim above is a line below

Should you form your LLC in Wisconsin?

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

Office or storefront in Wisconsin?

Yes, it will

A business with a real footprint in Wisconsin files in Wisconsin. 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 quarter, printed as the state writes it.

last verified 2026-09-04

dfi.wi.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

revenue.wi.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. Expedited formation starts at $100.

as observed on 2026-09-09

dfi.wi.gov

Name designators

Must contain "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "LLC" or "LC," including variations of those abbreviations that differ only in capitalization or punctuation.

Statute: Wis. Stat. § 183.0112(1).

last verified 2026-09-04

docs.legis.wisconsin.gov

Name reservation

$15

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

last verified 2026-09-04

dfi.wi.gov

DBA

trade name (optional ch. 132 registration)

One statewide register; the filing costs $15.

last verified 2026-07-18

dfi.wi.gov

An individual as the agent

allowed

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

last verified 2026-08-09

dfi.wi.gov

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 2026-08-11

dfi.wi.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 Wisconsin DBA rules?

Wisconsin calls it the trade name (optional ch. 132 registration), and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $15.

Where an LLC files

dfi.wi.gov

How long it lasts

10 years

Renewable for further ten-year terms; the renewal window opens six months before expiration.

Newspaper publication

not required

What the filing protects

exclusive to the registrant

Registration is what opens the statute's remedies: only the owner of a mark registered under ch. 132 has standing to sue under Wis. Stat. § 132.033, with injunctions and damages up to three times the infringer's profits against deceptive use of an identical or substantially identical mark. It is trademark-style protection earned by registering, not a distinguishability-checked grant like Ohio's trade name.

Where to search existing names

none published

The corporate records search does not include trade names. DFI's own search page lists tradenames (DBAs) and sole proprietors among the information its corporate records do not hold, and links the separate trademark register instead.

one record, verified 2026-07-18 · Wis. Stat. ch. 132

docs.legis.wisconsin.gov

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

Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Wisconsin. The registration costs $100. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.

Registration fee

$100

Flat $100.00 filing fee for the Foreign Registration Statement (Form 521); optional expedited processing adds $100.00.

dfi.wi.gov

The official form

Foreign Registration Statement - Limited Liability Company (Form 521)

dfi.wi.gov

Filed with

Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate & Consumer Services

dfi.wi.gov

After registration

File an annual report each year, starting the year after registration, and maintain a registered agent located at a registered office in Wisconsin.

dfi.wi.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 Wisconsin?

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

An individual as the agent

Allowed

in the state's words The registered agent is the person (individual or existing entity), resident in Wisconsin, designated by the entity to receive official communications on its behalf

dfi.wi.gov

The LLC as its own agent

not read at this pin

A mailbox service as the address

not read at this pin

Address rule

The physical address of the entity's registered agent's business office is the corporation's "registered office."

dfi.wi.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 Wisconsin annual report?

A missed report has its own record in Wisconsin: 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.

    dfi.wi.gov

  2. Administrative dissolution

    after 12 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.

    docs.legis.wisconsin.gov

  3. Reinstatement

    no single figure

    as the record reads No separate reinstatement fee is published; DFI's own dissolution FAQ states there are no late fees or penalties, and reinstatement (requested from DFI by email) requires only the back annual reports at $25 each (Wis. Stat. 183.0709(2)).

    dfi.wi.gov

one record, verified 2026-08-11

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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