Virginia LLC Cost: Average Fees Explained

Virginia is one of the more affordable states for forming an LLC, and it is also one of the more forgiving about what it charges later. The main recurring cost is a modest annual registration fee, and the optional extras are small.

Amounts on this page come from the sources named in each table and were checked on Oct 11, 2026. Confirm current fees with the Virginia State Corporation Commission before you pay.

Virginia requires every LLC to pay an annual registration fee to stay in good standing.

The fee is $50/yr, according to ZenBusiness. Missing the deadline adds a late penalty, listed below at $25. Because the penalty is small, owners sometimes ignore it, but unpaid registration can eventually lead to the State Corporation Commission cancelling the LLC's registration, which causes bigger problems.

If you hire a commercial registered agent, expect $100 – $300/yr per year. You can serve as your own agent if you have a Virginia address and are reachable during business hours.

• Name reservation for 120 days: $10
• Certificate of Assumed or Fictitious Name: $10
• Foreign LLC registration: $100
• Certified copy of business documents: $6 per request

Virginia charges the same amount to register an out-of-state LLC as to form a new one, so a business formed elsewhere does not face a big penalty to operate here.

Virginia sells expedited processing for filings made online.

• Next-day: $50 – $100, depending on the form
• Same-day: $200

Standard processing creates an identical LLC. Choose a rush option only when a deadline demands it.

State fees are not the whole bill. Virginia cities and counties commonly require a business license, and many charge a local business tax tied to gross receipts. These are collected locally, not by the State Corporation Commission, so they will not appear in any state fee table. Contact the commissioner of the revenue where you operate, and ask a licensed CPA what applies to your type of business. This page does not offer tax advice.

Four sources quote the same base amount, and one quotes more.

The higher figure from Inc Authority includes the first annual fee on top of formation. That is a sensible way to budget, but it can look like a disagreement if you compare it to a filing-fee-only number. Watch for sites that add a formation-service charge or a registered agent plan to the total.

You can file online with the State Corporation Commission and pay only government fees. A formation service handles the paperwork for an added price and sometimes includes a year of registered agent service. The LLC is the same either way.

An LLC with more than one owner should write an operating agreement. Virginia does not make you file one, but it spells out ownership and voting rules. Ask a licensed attorney for help with anything beyond a simple setup.

The core Virginia budget is short: the Articles of Organization at $100, then the annual registration fee of $50/yr each year. Everything else is conditional. You pay for a name reservation only if you want one, a fictitious name only if you trade under a different name, and rush processing only if you are in a hurry.

A registered agent is the largest optional line for most owners. If you are comfortable listing your own Virginia address as the registered office, you can avoid that charge, but your address becomes part of the public record. Some owners pay a commercial agent mainly to keep it private.

When a formation company quotes a price, ask what is government fee and what is service fee. The state portion should match the Articles of Organization amount above. Anything beyond that is the company's own charge. That may be worth paying for convenience, as long as you know it is not the state's cost. Look at renewal pricing for any bundled registered agent plan too, since first-year discounts commonly end after twelve months.

Good standing in Virginia mostly comes down to paying the annual registration fee on time and keeping your registered agent information current with the State Corporation Commission. Put the due date on a calendar when you form, because a late fee is easy to avoid and hard to justify. If you change your address or agent, update the state promptly, since official notices go to the address on file.