Stay compliant in Iowa

Iowa’s recurring dates are the biennial report, income tax in the spring, sales tax on the schedule you were given, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. There is no yearly Secretary of State report to put on the calendar.

What’s different in Iowa

• The company filing is biennial, not yearly. LLCs file in odd-numbered years and profit corporations in even-numbered years. The statute sets the window from January 1 to April 1, and the forms page says due by April 1¹, while the Secretary’s FAQ says by March 31².* Check the filing instructions; the earlier date satisfies both.
• Sales tax is 6% plus a local 1%¹⁰ only where it has been adopted. Annual filers are the ones under $1,200⁹.
• Unemployment is due the month after the quarter, and the 2026 wage base is $20,400¹³. It is $21,100¹⁴ in 2027. The handbook also prints the 2025 base, which is higher.
• Workers’ compensation starts with most employment, not with a headcount printed on the agency page. The exemptions are real and easy to over-read. There is a state minimum wage, with a small-enterprise exception.

Do this

1. File the biennial report in the right year. An LLC’s first report is between January 1 and April 1 of the first odd-numbered year after the calendar year of formation, and then each following odd-numbered year³, under section 489.212. The forms page says LLC, LLP, and nonprofit reports are due by April 1, at $30 online or $45 on paper. Nonprofit corporations have no filing fee for the biennial report. A limited partnership’s report is between January 1 and April 1 of the first odd-numbered year after the calendar year of formation, and then each following odd-numbered year⁸, under section 488.210. A profit corporation’s report is between January 1 and April 1 of the first even-numbered year after the calendar year of incorporation, and then each following even-numbered year⁷, under section 490.1621, for $60. A Department of Revenue page still says corporations pay the Secretary of State an annual fee. The filing is biennial.⁹ The Secretary of State’s FAQ says reports are filed by March 31, while the statutes and forms page say due by April 1¹.* Check the filing instructions in Fast Track before submitting; filing by March 31 satisfies both. The registered agent begins to receive notice in January of the filing year².
2. Do not wait for a dissolution letter. For an LLC, the secretary may start an administrative dissolution if the report is not delivered within 60 days after it is due, if fees stay unpaid for 60 days, or if the company is without a registered agent for 60⁴ days. Reinstatement is $5¹.
3. File income tax. People: the last day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, at 3.8%¹⁹ of taxable income for 2026. The tax is not imposed when net income is $13,500 or less for a joint return, a head of household, or a surviving spouse, or $9,000 or less for everyone else. If the tax would push net income under those amounts, the tax is reduced so the person keeps that net income. The statute tells you what to add back before you measure net income.²⁰ C corporations: by the last day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, at 5.5% on the first $100,000 and 7.1% above that. The descriptions page labels those rates as the 2024 through 2027 tax rate. Pass-through entities: IA 1065 or IA 1120S¹¹ by the last day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. Nonresident composite tax: 3.8% for 2025 or later, for a nonresident estate, trust, S corporation, partnership, or individual. A nonresident C corporation uses the corporate rates, listed as 7.1% for 2024 or later. An electing partnership or S corporation pays at the entity. The department’s rate list stops at 3.8%⁹ for 2025.* Use the instructions for the year you are filing. This page does not calculate your tax.
4. File sales tax on the schedule you were given. Under $1,200 collected, the return is annual, due January 31 for tax collected the prior year. At or above that, it is monthly, due on the last day of the month after the month you collected the tax⁹. File a zero return when you have no sales or taxable purchases to report. If the due date is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday defined in Iowa Code 421.9A, it moves to the next day that is not one of those¹⁰. Rates and the local split are on Get your tax IDs.
5. If you have employees, keep the employer accounts current. Withholding returns are due the last day of the month after the quarter¹². The deposit speed follows the amounts on Get your tax IDs. Unemployment reports are due the last day of the month after the calendar quarter. A Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday moves the due date to the next business day¹⁵. The wage base is $20,400 in 2026 and $21,100¹⁴ in 2027. In 2026 the rate is 1.000% for a new non-construction employer and 5.4% for a new construction employer, until an experience rate applies. File the quarterly report even when that quarter had no employment. Employers do not deduct unemployment tax from pay¹³. Report new hires and rehires within 15 days. A willful failure to report is punishable as contempt.¹⁶ Contractor reports are a separate rule, on the tax ID page.
6. Renew the local license and any trade license on their own dates. Iowa has no general business license to renew statewide. A contractor registration renews every year²¹. An alcohol license renews on the term you bought. A food license, if you need one, is on the health department’s schedule. Licenses and permits.
7. Keep a registered agent in Iowa. For an LLC, section 489.115 says the company must keep one, and the agent must have a place of business in Iowa⁵. Under section 490.501, a corporation’s agent may be an individual who lives in Iowa, or an entity formed or registered to do business in Iowa, whose business office is the registered office⁶. Changing the agent is no fee for an LLC or a corporation¹. A resignation does not leave the company without the duty to name a new one.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: Most employers must carry workers' compensation insurance or be approved to self-insure. Exemptions exist, including limited ones for agriculture and for work for a relative, and some depend on earnings under $1,500. The agency says the exemptions are complex and tells you not to decide from the website alone. Independent contractors are outside the law. A contract that uses that label does not decide the question by itself.¹⁷ The agency says to ask an attorney before you treat yourself as exempt. This page does not make that call.

Minimum wage: $7.25 an hour as of January 1, 2008, or the current federal minimum wage, whichever is greater. The state requirement does not apply to an enterprise whose yearly gross volume is under $300,000, except that the small-enterprise exception does not cover laundry and clothing repair, construction or reconstruction, the hospitals and schools listed in the statute, or a public agency. For the first 90 days, the statute allows $6.35. For a tipped employee of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn, or cabin who regularly receives more than thirty dollars a month in tips, the employer may count tips toward the wage, up to 40%¹⁸ of the minimum. Federal wage law can still be higher, or can cover a worker the state exception does not. Check both before you set a wage.

Unemployment: A non-farm employer becomes liable after paying wages in any calendar quarter of the current or preceding year. Liability goes back to the first quarter wages were paid. Agriculture and domestic work use the other tests on Get your tax IDs. Family employment exclusions apply to an individually owned business, and to a partnership only when the exempt relationship exists with each partner. They do not apply to a corporation or an LLC. A new non-construction rate for 2026 is 1.000%, on the first $20,400¹³.

What you get back

A filed biennial report in the year the form says you owe one, filed income and sales tax returns, and current employer accounts if you have employees.