How Much Does It Cost to Dissolve an LLC? Fees by State

Does It Cost Money to Dissolve an LLC?

Yes, it costs money to dissolve an LLC in 14 of the 16 states we checked, although the filing fee is the small part of what you'll pay. Articles of dissolution, the document that tells the state your LLC is closing, cost $25 in Florida, $40 in Kentucky and $60 in New York.

The cost to dissolve an LLC starts with the state filing fee, which runs from $0 to $220 in the 16 states listed below. Add any annual taxes or reports you still owe the state, preparation of your final tax returns, and whatever you pay a filing service, accountant or lawyer.

Asking how much it costs to dissolve an LLC assumes a fixed price, like buying software or filing an annual report. Dissolution is a process with several steps instead. Each step carries its own cost, depending on where you're registered, how long the LLC has been open and what obligations remain. So two owners in the same state can pay quite different amounts. With one registration and the annual taxes paid, you're left with the filing fee and your final return. With registrations in three states and a year of annual tax unpaid, each of those goes on the bill as well.

If you're closing a corporation, a partnership or a sole proprietorship instead, our breakdown of the cost of shutting down a business covers every entity type and cost category.

LLC Dissolution Fees by State

LLC dissolution fees run from $0 to $220 in the 16 states this table covers. Each fee for a domestic LLC was checked on the state's own fee page or form in October 2026. Each state name links to our guide for that state, and states outside the table have guides of their own.

A few of these fees come with conditions the state prints beside them:

• Delaware: the $220 is charged "plus annual taxes to cancel", with another $50 for each registered series named in the certificate.
• Missouri and Tennessee: each state lists two LLC filings, one that starts the wind-down and one that ends the company, and charges for both.
• Pennsylvania: the form has to arrive with tax clearance certificates from the Department of Revenue and the Department of Labor and Industry.
• Texas: Form 651 requires a certificate from the Comptroller of Public Accounts showing that the LLC's state taxes are paid.

State fees change. Delaware's schedule was last revised on August 1, 2026, so open the linked page for your state before you pay.

What Dissolving An LLC Involves

Dissolving an LLC means telling the state your company is closing, paying what it owes, filing your final tax returns and closing its accounts. Owners often treat "closed" and "dissolved" as the same thing, though your business is closed the day you stop trading and the LLC leaves the state's records only once the state accepts your filing. Each step between the two has its own price. The filing fee alone understates the total.

You'll find the steps themselves, and the order they go in, in our guide on how to dissolve an LLC. Some states split the state filing into two documents. Our explainer on LLC termination vs. dissolution sets out what each one does. For how long it takes to dissolve an LLC, see our post on how long a shutdown takes.

The Real Cost Of Dissolving An LLC (Full Breakdown)

The full cost of dissolving your LLC has five parts: the state filing fee, annual state taxes still owed, final tax returns, professional help and small administrative charges. Only the first is a fixed number you can look up today. The other four depend on your company's own history. So the real expense sits less in the filing fee than in everything it takes to find out what the state requires of your LLC.

State Filing Fees

The filing fee is set by the state where you formed your LLC. You pay it once, when you submit the dissolution document. The state prices the filing by entity type, so a startup's LLC pays the same fee as any other small business. In the 16 states we checked it ranges from nothing in California and Washington to $220 in Delaware, and 12 of the 16 charge between $25 and $100 in total.

Outstanding Taxes And Annual Fees

Most founders expect to pay the filing fee and move on. A state that charges an annual LLC tax bills you for every year your company exists, including the quiet years with no revenue. You settle that bill as part of closing. California's Franchise Tax Board says every LLC organized or doing business in the state pays an $800 annual tax. The tax is due even when the company isn't conducting business, until the LLC is canceled. Delaware charges LLCs a $400 annual tax due on or before June 1.

Final Tax Returns

The IRS requires a final return for the year you close, and it lists the forms by how the business is taxed on its closing a business page:

• Sole proprietors: Schedule C, filed with your individual return for the year the business closes.
• Partnerships: Form 1065, with the "final return" box checked near the top of the first page.
• Corporations: Form 966, Corporate Dissolution or Liquidation, and a final income tax return with the "final return" box checked.
• Employers: a final Form 941 or Form 944, and a Form 940 with box "d" checked.

Which of these applies to your LLC depends on how it is taxed. Confirm the filing list with your CPA. The forms and their sequence are covered in our guide on how to close a business with the IRS.

Professional Fees And Administrative Costs

Pricing for business closure and compliance support is the most variable line on your list. Published prices exist for only part of it. Online filing services quote a service fee with the state fee added on top: LegalZoom's dissolution pricing, for example, lists each package "+ state filing fees". Accountants and lawyers price by the hour or by the engagement. Before you agree to either, or to the most comprehensive package a service offers, ask for a written quote that names the filings it covers.

Smaller costs add up, too, and they're easy to miss until you're already paying them. Administrative extras are optional and priced per document. New York offers expedited handling at $25 for 24-hour processing, $75 for same-day and $150 for two-hour. Florida charges $30 for a certified copy of the dissolution. Delaware charges $50 for each certified copy.

Where LLC Dissolution Costs Increase Unexpectedly

Your dissolution costs rise in three places: annual taxes that keep accruing while your LLC stays on the state's records, tax clearance steps that have to finish before the state will accept your filing, and registrations in other states. You can check all three before you file.

Costs go up in the weeks and months before you file. You stop operating, assume your obligations pause with you, and find the state's annual charges kept coming due. Nobody wants to keep paying for a company they've stopped running, so the assumption is a natural one.

The Compounding Effect of Delayed Action

Your LLC continues to exist legally even when it's dormant. Its annual charges continue until you file the dissolution. Delaware assesses its annual tax on any entity that is active at any point between January 1 and December 31, with no proration, so a cancellation filed in late December and one filed in early January can sit a full year's $400 tax apart. Delaware's late penalties on a missed June 1 payment are $200 plus 1.5% interest a month. The state collects the annual taxes with the cancellation filing, so you settle both at once.

California works on a similar clock. The Franchise Tax Board's guide to canceling a California business entity lists three requirements for avoiding the annual tax for the current year:

1. A final tax return for the preceding taxable year, filed on time, including any extension.
2. No business done in California after the last day of that preceding taxable year.
3. The cancellation documents filed with the Secretary of State within 12 months of the date the final return was filed.

When Paperwork Gets Rejected

Some states will only file your dissolution document when it arrives with proof that the LLC's taxes are paid, and Pennsylvania's form says an LLC may not file without it. That proof is called tax clearance: a certificate from the state tax agency confirming what the LLC has paid. Send Pennsylvania a Certificate of Termination without its tax clearance certificates, and the filing bounces back. Pennsylvania's certificates come from two departments and are requested on Form REV-181. Texas asks for a certificate from the Comptroller.

Filing quickly helps only when you file in the right order. Waiting on one agency before you can send a form to another is the slow part of an LLC dissolution. Each certificate is a separate request to a separate agency. Send those requests before the dissolution form. Keeping those requests and their dates straight is the kind of work Starcycle takes off your plate. We prepare and file the state dissolution paperwork, track the key dates and keep your documents in one place.

Registrations In Other States

If your LLC registered to do business outside its home state, you pay a separate fee to withdraw from each one. An LLC registered in three states that dissolves only at home still has two registrations open until it withdraws from each. The same fee schedules list those charges for an out-of-state LLC:

• Arizona: $10 for a Certificate of Cancellation of Foreign LLC Registration.
• Texas: $15 for a withdrawal or termination of registration.
• New Jersey: $100 for a foreign LLC's Certificate of Cancellation.
• Delaware: $200 for a foreign LLC's cancellation, plus annual taxes.
• Washington: no fee for a Statement of Withdrawal.

How To Estimate Your LLC Dissolution Cost

To estimate your LLC dissolution cost, add up the figures below. You can look up each one on a state website or request it from your accountant. Finding out about all the fees, taxes and requirements before you file keeps the cost predictable. Costs you discover partway through are harder to control. Work through them in this order, because the first three tell your CPA and any filing service what they're quoting on.

1. Look up your formation state's filing fee in the table above, and open the linked page to confirm it.
2. List every other state where the LLC is registered, then find each state's withdrawal fee on its fee schedule.
3. Check the LLC's standing with the state: which annual reports or taxes are open, and what is due before the end of the year.
4. Ask your CPA for a quote on the final federal and state returns, including payroll returns if you had employees.
5. Decide which extras you want, such as expedited handling or certified copies, and add the state's price for each.

The total of those five lines is your cost if you do the filing yourself. If you'd like someone else to prepare and submit the paperwork, add that provider's quote and check that it names the same filings you listed in steps one to three.

What A Cost-Efficient LLC Dissolution Should Look Like

A cost-efficient dissolution means completing the process once, correctly, so you never pay for the same obligation twice. That matters more than finding the cheapest filing service or skipping a step. The cheapest route in dollars is to file the state paperwork yourself, which costs you the state fee and your own time.

Filing yourself is simplest when your LLC has one state registration, no employees and its annual taxes up to date. You complete the state's form, pay the fee in the table and keep the confirmation the state sends you.

Paying for help earns its price when your work is spread across several agencies. If your LLC is registered in three states, has payroll accounts to close and a tax clearance to request, each of those is a separate filing with its own deadline. If you're weighing providers, our comparison of business shutdown services sets out what each type of service includes.

Dissolutions get expensive in stages: you close the state registration, then find the registered agent subscription still running. Whichever route you take, three habits keep the total down:

• Check the calendar first. Find your state's annual tax or report date and plan the filing around it.
• Close every registration. Withdraw from each state where the LLC is registered, so that none of them bills you for a future year.
• Cancel private subscriptions. Your registered agent, the person or company named to receive legal mail for the LLC, is a private service that you cancel separately from the state filing.

How Starcycle Helps You Dissolve An LLC

We prepare and file the state dissolution paperwork for your LLC, track the key dates and keep every confirmation in one place. That takes the forms and the calendar off your plate while you decide the rest.

We also track the cancellation timelines for your contracts and subscriptions, and your final tax returns are coordinated with a partner CPA or your own. Where your wind-down needs legal or tax advice, we can also make intros to lawyers and accountants.

Closing an LLC is a decision, and a known price makes it easier to act on. If you'd like to hand the paperwork over, tell us where your LLC is registered and we'll take it from there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I dissolve my LLC for free?

In California and Washington the state charges no fee to file your LLC's dissolution documents. The filing fee is the only part that's free. California's $800 annual tax and your final tax returns are billed separately.

Does a filing service charge on top of the state filing fee?

Yes. A filing service's price covers preparing and submitting the paperwork, and the state's own fee is added to it. LegalZoom's pricing page shows this, with each dissolution package listed at a price "+ state filing fees".

Do you keep paying fees after dissolving an LLC?

You keep paying state annual charges only while your LLC is on the state's records. California's annual tax is due "until you cancel your LLC", and Delaware assesses its tax on entities active during the calendar year. The final tax returns for the closing year are still due after the state filing is accepted.

What happens if you don't dissolve an LLC?

An LLC that isn't properly dissolved stays on the state's records, and a state that charges an annual tax keeps charging it: California's is due even when you're not conducting business. What a state does with an LLC that stops filing is covered in our guide to involuntary dissolution of an LLC.