Stay compliant in Hawaii

Hawaii’s recurring dates are an annual report in the quarter you registered, general excise tax on the 20th, income tax on the 20th day of the fourth month, and a stack of employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. The report goes through Hawaii Business Express. Keep the registered agent current so official mail has somewhere to land.

What’s different in Hawaii

• The annual report is not the same day for every business. An LLC files at the end of its registration quarter. The year of formation is skipped.
• General excise tax is not sales tax, and it is still due when you had no sales. A year with $100⁴ or less of tax can skip the periodic returns. The annual return stays.
• Income tax is due the 20th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. Corporate rates stay 4.4%, 5.4%, and 6.4%⁷.
• Employers carry more than unemployment. Workers’ compensation, temporary disability insurance, and prepaid health care are part of the same labor department. Prepaid health care is the one most states do not have.

Do this

1. File the annual report in your quarter. You can file any time during that quarter. For an LLC, the deadlines are 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. The information sheet lists $15, or $12.50¹ filed online. The October 2026 notice lists the online fees: $12.50 for LLCs, profit corporations, and LLPs, $2.50 for nonprofit corporations, and $5² for partnerships.
2. If the report is late, check both charges. Online, $10 is added for each year you are delinquent. The LLC sheet also lists a penalty not exceeding $100 for each 30-day period the delinquency continues. It does not say how the two combine.* Then the director may terminate the LLC if it has not filed an annual report for two years¹. Reinstatement is $25¹⁸. BREG does not use or endorse a third-party company to collect or file annual reports². A paid reminder, if you want one and you are not already getting the free online reminder, is $2.50³ a year.
3. Renew a trade name before the five years run out. It lasts five years. Renew any time in the six months before it expires, for another five years. The fee pages list registration at $50 plus the $1¹⁹ archives fee and do not print a separate renewal fee.* The Department does not send a reminder before a trade name expires³. The name does not belong to you just because it was registered. Details are on Register your business.
4. File income tax. People: 1.4% to 11% of taxable income, due the 20th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. Estimates are due April 20, June 20, September 20, and January 20. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2026, Act 24 of 2026 adds a top individual rate of 13% on taxable income over $500,000 for a single filer, $750,000 for a head of household, and $1,000,000⁸ on a joint return, and lowers the second and third brackets. Get your tax IDs has those rates. C corporations: 4.4% up to $25,000, 5.4% through $100,000, and 6.4% above that, due the 20th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. An S corporation files federal and Hawaii income tax returns, and the income is generally taxed to the shareholders, and it still pays general excise tax. A partnership or S corporation may elect entity-level tax at 9%⁷. For income tax, an LLC follows this rule: more than one member is treated as a partnership, a single member as a disregarded entity, unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a corporation²⁰.
5. File general excise tax if you are registered. Periodic returns are due on the 20²¹th. The schedule is monthly above $4,000 a year, quarterly at $4,000 or less, and semiannual at $2,000 or less. Monthly returns must be filed online²². File even when you had no gross income. If the year’s tax does not exceed $100, periodic returns stop, and you still file the annual return. The annual return is due the 20th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, April 20 for a calendar year. A weekend or holiday means the next business day when the due date is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. There is no extension for the periodic return. Late filing is 5% a month, up to 25%. Tax still unpaid 60 days after a timely return is 20%⁴. Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
6. If you have employees, keep every employer account current. Tax Facts lists what an employer needs: withholding, a federal EIN, a Hawaii Tax ID, an unemployment account, workers' compensation, temporary disability insurance, and prepaid health care²⁰. Withholding is Form HW-14, quarterly, on or before the 15th day of the following month⁷. At year end, provide W-2 or HW-2 forms to employees and submit them to the Department of Taxation by January 31. Form HW-30 is a transmittal only for paper W-2/HW-2 submissions, not an annual tax return⁶. Starting January 1, 2026, employers filing 10 or more W-2 or HW-2 forms in a calendar year must submit them electronically, regardless of withholding liability⁵. Unemployment reports are Form UC-B6, due the last day of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31, on the first $64,500¹⁰ of wages. File the quarterly report even when no wages were paid. A late unemployment report is $30⁹. Report new hires within 20 days. A late new-hire report is $25¹⁷.
7. Replace a registered agent who leaves. An agent’s resignation takes effect on the 31st day after it is filed, or sooner if a new agent is appointed¹. The change is $25¹⁸. The limited liability company cannot be its own registered agent²³. File the change before the resignation takes effect.
8. Renew the county license and any trade license on their own dates. Contractor, food, and liquor licenses are on Licenses and permits. A trade name’s five-year clock is yours to remember.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation is required of any employer, other than those the statute excludes, with one or more employees, full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary. The employer pays the premium. The employee cannot be required to contribute¹¹. Coverage is from an insurer authorized in Hawaii, or from approved self-insurance. The about page cites section 386-1 for exclusions and does not restate them.* If you are not sure a worker counts, read that section or ask the Disability Compensation Division.

Prepaid health care: an employee may enroll after 4 consecutive weeks of at least 20 hours each week. The 2026 wage test for a regular employee is $1,387¹² a month, which is 86.67 times the minimum wage. The employee’s share is no more than half the premium, and no more than 1.5% of monthly wages, whichever is less¹⁴. The employer pays the rest. The plan has to be one the department approves.

Temporary disability insurance: the law requires employers to provide partial wage-replacement coverage to their eligible employees for an injury or sickness that is not work-related, including pregnancy. An employee is eligible after at least 14 weeks of Hawaii employment, each with 20 or more paid hours, and at least $400 earned, in the 52 weeks before the disability¹³. The 2026 wage-base letter says an employer may withhold up to half the premium, not more than 0.5% of the weekly wage, and not more than $7.50¹² a week. You cannot deduct a share from an employee who is not eligible. Ask the Disability Compensation Division which plan you need before the first paycheck.

Unemployment: the handbook says an employer who hires one or more people, or who does business in Hawaii, may be covered, and the handbook lists exclusions. For 2026, schedule C, new employers 2.4%, maximum 5.6%, wage base $64,500, plus 0.01%¹⁰ for employment and training. A $30⁹ penalty applies to a late quarterly report, and a missing report can put you at the maximum rate.

Minimum wage, from the Wage Standards Division: $16 an hour beginning January 1, 2026, and $18¹⁵ an hour beginning January 1, 2028. On tips, an employer may pay a tipped employee less than the minimum wage if the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $20 a month in tips, and wages plus tips come to at least $7.00 an hour more than the minimum wage. In 2026 and 2027 the credit is at most $1.25¹⁶ an hour.

New hires: every Hawaii employer, including nonprofits, no matter how many employees, within 20 days. Also, a returning employee counts again after 60 consecutive days away. How to send it: fax or mail a copy of the employee's W-4 with your employer details filled in, or set up electronic reporting by SFTP with the agency¹⁷.

What you get back

An accepted annual report, filed tax returns, and current employer accounts. If the annual report stays unfiled long enough, the director may end the LLC’s registration.