Massachusetts Foreign LLC Registration

Massachusetts LLC registration at a glance

Filing

Foreign Limited Liability Company Application for Registration (no form number)

State fee

$500 filing fee ($520 with the charges Massachusetts collects at filing)

Total with us

$719, first year of Massachusetts resident agent service included

Home-state certificate

Required, dated within 90 days

Massachusetts yearly filing

Yearly report (named below), $500, every year

Filed with

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division

What the Massachusetts filing asks for

For the filing, Massachusetts needs:

• The exact name of your LLC as formed
• The state it was formed in and its date of formation
• A Massachusetts resident 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 Massachusetts receives it

LLC into Massachusetts, by home state

The first-year total adds the home state's certificate fee to the $719 checkout total; the certificate is ordered from that state.

When Massachusetts expects an LLC to register

Massachusetts sets out what does not count as doing business in G.L. c. 156D, 15.01. Interstate commerce alone, such as shipping into Massachusetts from outside, is also on the list. An office, staff, or regular sales and contracts there are what typically lead to registration.

If you do business in Massachusetts without registering

An unregistered LLC doing business there cannot start a lawsuit in Massachusetts 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. Massachusetts penalties for unregistered business: a civil penalty of up to $500.

Massachusetts resident agent rule

Massachusetts requires every registered foreign LLC to keep a resident agent there. The agent must agree to serve before Massachusetts accepts the appointment. Our $199 includes the first year of Massachusetts resident agent service, then $149 a year.

Massachusetts yearly filings

Once registered, your LLC files the Massachusetts Annual Report every year, at $500, due on or before the anniversary date of registration to do business in Massachusetts. From year two, keeping the Massachusetts registration costs $649 a year with our resident agent service.

How long Massachusetts takes

We file it on Massachusetts's paper form with the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Paid speed-ups: expedite $20; they are optional and not in the total.

Leaving Massachusetts later

If your LLC stops doing business there, it ends the registration by filing a Certificate of Withdrawal ($100). Until that is filed, Massachusetts's yearly filing stays due.