Register your business in Hawaii

LLCs and corporations file with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division¹ through Hawaii Business Express⁹. A sole proprietorship has no formation filing. A name other than the legal name is a trade name, filed with the same division. Partnerships are in the group that must register. Unincorporated nonprofit associations are not.

What’s different in Hawaii

• The annual report follows your registration quarter, and the first year is free of it. That means no annual report in the year the company is organized or registered. After that, an LLC files by March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, matching the quarter the company was organized or registered¹⁰. Stay compliant has the dates.
• The annual report costs less online. The LLC sheet lists $15, or $12.50¹⁰ filed online.
• The company cannot be its own registered agent. The agent is an individual or an entity authorized to transact business in Hawaii, and physically present in the state⁹.
• A trade name lasts five years⁹ and does not give you the name. A sole proprietor does not have to file one.
• Expedited review is an extra $25¹. The registration page does not say how many days that saves.* Check the filing screen.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. A sole proprietor has no formation filing and can skip to the trade name and the general excise license. Pick an entity compares them.
2. Check the name in Hawaii Business Express. An LLC name must contain limited liability company, or L.L.C. or LLC. Limited may be Ltd. and company may be Co.³ A profit corporation name must end in Corporation, Incorporated, or Limited, or an abbreviation of one of those words, and must not be substantially identical to a name already registered. Not ready to file? A reserved name is held for 120⁹ days for $10². Search the web and the federal trademark database too. The division only checks whether the name is substantially identical to one already on its list.
3. Choose a registered agent. The limited liability company cannot be its own registered agent. The agent is an individual or an entity authorized to transact business in Hawaii, and physically present in the state⁹. The address must be a complete street address in Hawaii³. Changing the agent later is $25².
4. File online at Hawaii Business Express, or by email, mail, or fax. Mail goes to P.O. Box 40, Honolulu, HI 96810. In person, the window is 335 Merchant Street, Room 201, Honolulu, HI 96813. Business Action Centers offer in-person help with government filings. The fee depends on the structure, below. A dishonored check costs $25¹. The division does not state an ordinary processing time.* Check the receipt date when the filing is accepted.
5. Ask for expedited review if you need a date. It is $25¹ on an LLC or a profit corporation. A trade name’s expedited fee is different, below. The page does not say the turnaround.*
6. File a trade name if you use another name. Details are below. A sole proprietor can skip it.
7. Calendar the first annual report. It is not due in the year you form. Selling or earning in Hawaii means a general excise license before you start: Get your tax IDs.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization for Limited Liability Company (form LLC-1) for $50, plus a $1 State Archives fee. Expedited review is $25¹. The company is member-managed or manager managed. Its internal rules are an operating agreement the members agree to, which is not the document you file⁹. The instructions do not tell you to attach that agreement.

The annual report is $15 on the information sheet, and $12.50 if you file it online. It is due March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, matching the quarter the company was organized or registered. That means no annual report in the year the company is organized or registered. A late online filing adds $10 for each year you are behind. The same sheet also lists a penalty not exceeding $100 for each 30-day period the delinquency continues. If reports stay unfiled, the director may terminate the LLC if it has not filed an annual report for two years. Reinstatement is listed at $25². The sheet does not say how the $10¹⁰ late fee and that penalty combine.* Use the amount on the notice.

Online formation filings can get a free email reminder the next year, and an annual report filed online can get a free reminder the year after that¹⁰. Anyone else can subscribe to reminders for $2.50⁹ a year. BREG does not use or endorse a third-party company to collect or file annual reports¹¹.

Corporation

File Articles of Incorporation (form DC-1) for $50, plus the $1 archives fee. Expedited review is $25¹. The name must end in Corporation, Incorporated, or Limited, or an abbreviation of one of those words, and must not be substantially identical to a name already registered⁹. On that same fee line, the same $50 filing fee covers a sustainable business corporation, an agricultural cooperative organized with stock, and a consumer cooperative organized with stock⁴.

The corporation fee table lists $15¹⁷ for an annual report, while the division’s 2026 notice explicitly lists $12.50¹¹ for filing online, as with LLCs and LLPs. Use the online filing fee when filing online.

A professional corporation uses Articles of Incorporation for a Hawaii Professional Corporation (Form PC-1), filed by email, mail, or fax⁴. That paragraph does not print a fee.* Check the amount before you pay. S corporation status is a federal election. Hawaii still expects a Hawaii income tax return. Get your tax IDs has that rule.

Nonprofit

An unincorporated nonprofit association is one of the exceptions that does not register with the division. A nonprofit corporation does: it files Articles of Incorporation (Form DNP-1) for $25, plus the $1¹ archives fee. The division’s nonprofit page adds that if the nonprofit is a charity that solicits for donations, it must also separately register with the Attorney General⁵, through its Charity Registration site. The October 2026 notice sets the online annual report at $2.50¹¹. Past formation, the rest of this series is written for businesses that operate for profit.

Partnership

The division requires registration from every form of business except a sole proprietorship, an unincorporated nonprofit association, and a foreign insurance company⁹. A general partnership files the Registration Statement for Partnership (Form GP-1) for $15, within 30 days after the partnership is formed. If it is late, each partner owes the state $25 for every month the filing is late⁶. A limited partnership files the Certificate of Limited Partnership (Form LP-1) for $25⁷. A limited liability partnership files the same registration statement as a general partnership, plus a Statement of Qualification (Form LLP-1) for $25⁸. Each filing also carries the $1¹ archives fee. The October 2026 online annual-report notice charges $5 for partnerships, and it puts LLPs in the $12.50¹¹ group with LLCs and profit corporations.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing. A name other than your own is a trade name, and that filing is optional for a sole proprietor using a business name¹⁵. Banks sometimes ask for it. The general excise license still applies if you have business income in Hawaii.

Trade names

File when you use a name other than the legal name. The form is Application for Registration of Trade Name (Form T-1). The trade-name page charges $50, plus a $1 archives fee. Expedited service on that filing is $20, not the $25¹ charged for an LLC. The Business Action Center prints the trade-name filing as $51¹⁵, which is the $50 fee and the $1¹² archives fee added together.

Form T-1 is not how you name a new corporation, partnership, or LLC. On ownership, registration does not grant ownership of the name. The registration lasts five years. Renew it any time in the six months before it expires, for another five years. The Department does not send a reminder before a trade name expires⁹. If it expires, someone else may register the name. A trademark or service mark is a different filing, for a product or a service, at the same $50¹² fee.

Formed in another state

An LLC formed elsewhere files Application for Certificate of Authority for a Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form FLLC-1) for $50¹³, plus expedited review of $25 and the $1¹ archives fee. A corporation files Application for a Certificate of Authority for a Foreign Corporation (Form FC-1)⁹, also $50¹⁴. The foreign-LLC page does not say when an LLC’s registration takes effect.* Use the date on your acceptance notice. You need a Hawaii registered agent before you apply. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

An accepted filing you can use for an EIN and a bank. A certified copy, if a bank asks for one, is $10 to certify plus the copy charge, and two division pages price that charge differently. The LLC registration page says $0.25¹ a page. The registration FAQ says $3⁹, flat, for a regular copy.* Check the total when you order. The annual report is not due until the year after you form. Watch for mail that is not from the Business Registration Division. BREG does not use or endorse a third-party company to collect or file annual reports¹¹.