Florida Foreign LLC Registration: Form CR2E027

Florida LLC registration at a glance

Filing

Form CR2E027

State fee

$125 filing fee

Total with us

$324, first year of Florida registered agent service included

Home-state certificate

Required, dated within 90 days

Florida yearly filing

Annual Report, $138.75, every year

Filed with

Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations (Sunbiz), Registration Section

What Form CR2E027 asks for

For Form CR2E027, Florida needs:

• The exact name of your LLC as formed, with an ending Florida accepts: Limited Liability Company, L.L.C. or LLC, or an alternate name if that name is taken there
• The state it was formed in and its date of formation
• A Florida registered agent with a street address there; we fill in ours
• A principal office address
• A certificate of good standing from the home state, no older than 90 days when Florida receives it

LLC into Florida, by home state

The first-year total adds the home state's certificate fee to the $324 checkout total; the certificate is ordered from that state.

When Florida expects an LLC to register

Florida law lists 13 activities that do not, on their own, count as doing business in Florida. A one-off transaction completed within 30 days, and not one of a series, does not count either. An office, staff, or regular sales and contracts there are what typically lead to registration.

If you do business in Florida without registering

An unregistered LLC doing business there cannot start a lawsuit in Florida courts until it registers. Its contracts stay valid, and it can still defend a case brought against it. Members and managers do not become personally liable just because the LLC skipped registration. Florida penalties for unregistered business: a civil penalty of up to $1,000 and a fine of at least $500. When it does register, Florida collects the fees it would have charged for the years it went unregistered. With no registered agent on file, legal papers can be served through the Florida Department of State.

Florida registered agent rule

Florida requires every registered foreign LLC to keep a registered agent there. The agent's address must be a street address in Florida, not a P.O. box. Switching agents later costs $25. Our $199 includes the first year of Florida registered agent service, then $149 a year.

Florida yearly filings

Once registered, your LLC files the Florida Annual Report every year, at $138.75, due May 1. The Florida filing window opens January 1 and closes May 1. Filing it late adds $400. From year two, keeping the Florida registration costs $287.75 a year with our registered agent service.

How long Florida takes

We file Form CR2E027 with the Florida Department of State.

Leaving Florida later

If your LLC stops doing business there, it ends the registration by filing a Notice of Withdrawal of Certificate of Authority ($25). Until that is filed, Florida's yearly filing stays due.