Stay compliant in Massachusetts

Massachusetts comes back every year for an LLC on the company’s own anniversary, for a corporation after the fiscal year, for income tax in the spring for calendar-year filers, and for sales tax on the 30th when you collect it. Employer accounts run on their own calendar once you pay people. The dissolution notice goes to the office on the state’s records, so keep that address current.

What’s different in Massachusetts

• An LLC and a corporation do not share a due date. The LLC report is on or before the anniversary of the original certificate of organization¹⁵. The corporation report is within two and one half months after the fiscal year ends³.
• One missed LLC report does not dissolve the company. 2 consecutive years of missed annual reports² can trigger dissolution after notice. Reinstatement is available later.
• An S corporation still owes the excise. The rates page charges it. The starting-a-corporation page’s line that the profits are not taxed is the federal rule.
• Sales tax follows the amount you owe, not one calendar for every seller. Small amounts are annual. Larger amounts are quarterly, then monthly. Meals are monthly at any amount.
• Workers’ compensation starts with employees, not with the owner in every case. The minimum wage is $15¹³ an hour.

Do this

1. File the annual report on the company’s own date. For an LLC, the fee is $500¹ and the report is due on or before the anniversary of the original certificate of organization¹⁵. For a stock corporation, the fee is 125 dollars, 150 dollars if late, and 100 dollars if filed electronically, and the report is due within two and one half months after the fiscal year ends³. A nonprofit pays $15, due November 1¹⁶ on the starting-a-corporation page. File even if nothing changed. Fax and electronic corporation filings also pick up the fee page’s expedite fee, 10 dollars when the fax or electronic subtotal is from 85 dollars to 149.99 dollars⁵.
2. If a dissolution notice arrives, use the deadline on the notice. An LLC can be dissolved after 2 consecutive years of missed annual reports. The company has 90 days after the notice. If it does not fix the problem, it still exists, but it may only carry on business needed to wind up and liquidate². Reinstatement is at any time, after every owed annual report is filed and the application is $100¹⁵. A corporation can be dissolved after 2 or more consecutive years of missed reports, or of missed chapter 62C or chapter 63 tax returns or payments⁴. It has 90¹⁷ days. Reinstatement on the fee page is $100⁵.
3. Replace an agent who leaves. An LLC’s change is 25 dollars on paper or by fax, and no fee online. A corporation’s change is 25 dollars on paper or by fax, and no fee online⁵. The office is a street address in Massachusetts¹⁵. The LLC notice goes to the office the statute requires the company to keep. If that address is dead, you will not see the notice.
4. File individual income tax if you are in the group that has to file. The rate on wages and most other income is 5%. For tax year 2026, income over 1,107,750 dollars also pays 4%⁹. The return is due April 15, or the next business day if the 15th is a weekend or holiday¹⁸. The due-dates page prints April 15, 2026 for the 2025 resident return. An extension moves the filing date, not the payment. A return with no tax due that is not filed by the due date gets an automatic extension to October 15, 2026. A paid extension needs at least 80 percent of the tax, paid by April 15, 2026, for a 2025 income extension⁶. A single-member LLC that is disregarded federally is disregarded for Massachusetts income tax¹⁹. An LLC taxed as a partnership still has the partnership return in the next step.
5. File the entity return that matches the classification. A C corporation return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year closes. The excise is 8% of net income plus 2.60 dollars per 1,000 dollars of taxable tangible property or net worth, and at least $456²⁰. The extension is automatic if the greater of half the tax ultimately due, or the minimum excise, is paid by the original due date⁶. That extends filing, not payment. An S corporation return is due the 15th day of the third month after the tax year closes⁷. The rates page charges 2 percent of net income when total receipts are 6 million dollars or more and under 9 million, 3 percent of net income when total receipts are 9 million dollars or more, and 8 percent on net income that is taxable to the S corporation at the federal level, including certain built-in gains and passive investment income⁹, plus the minimum. The starting-a-corporation page says, citing the IRS, that an S corporation is not taxed on its profits, because those pass to the shareholders¹⁶. That is the federal rule. Use the rates page for the Massachusetts excise, and ask a CPA before you drop a return. A partnership return is due the 15th day of the third month after the tax year closes⁸. The DOR due-dates page still shows 2025 calendar-year filing examples; use the recurring rules above for the current tax year.
6. File sales tax on the schedule your amount uses. Once a year, by the 30th day after the year, when the tax is 100 dollars or less. Each quarter, by the 30th day after the quarter, when the tax is from 101 dollars to 1,200 dollars. Each month, by the 30th day after the month, when the tax is over 1,200 dollars. The rate is 6.25%. Restaurant meals are 6.25%⁹ at the state level, plus 0.75% only if the city or town accepts the local-option section²¹. Meals are each month, by the 30th day after the month, at any amount⁶. Who registers, and who is a remote seller with more than 100,000 dollars of Massachusetts sales in a calendar year, if the seller has no store, employees, inventory, or representatives in the state²², is on Get your tax IDs. Close the account if you stop selling. Do not leave a registration open and silent.
7. If you are a liable employer, keep the unemployment account current. Reports are due by 3 p.m. on April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The wage base is $15,000²³. A new employer in 2026 pays 2.42%, or 6.08% in construction. After three years, you pay a rate the Department of Unemployment Assistance calculates each year. Interest after the due date is 12%¹⁰ until the amount is paid. Report new hires within 14 days of the start of work, or of a return after 30 or more days off the payroll. The report covers every newly hired employee who works in Massachusetts, no matter how many people you pay. A miss can mean up to 25 dollars for each person missed or reported wrong, and 500 dollars if the miss is a conspiracy not to report¹².
8. Send paid family and medical leave contributions for covered individuals. For 2026, the contribution is 0.88 percent of eligible wages with 25 or more covered individuals. Up to 0.18 percent for family leave and 0.28 percent for medical leave can be withheld from wages, and the employer pays the other 0.42 percent. Otherwise it is 0.46 percent of eligible wages with fewer than 25 covered individuals, all of which can be withheld from wages, with no required employer share. On January 1, 2027, the employer share moves from medical leave to family leave¹¹. The contribution page is the source for the year’s split.
9. Carry workers’ compensation for employees. Coverage is required of every employer, for employees and for the owner if the owner is an employee, no matter how many hours or how many employees. A domestic employee is covered only at 16 hours a week or more. Members of an LLC, partners of an LLP, and sole proprietors are not required to cover themselves. Their employees still have to be covered. A corporate officer who owns at least 25 percent can ask for an exemption. Other employees still have to be covered. A stop-work order means at least 100 dollars a day from the stop-work order, or 250 dollars a day if you appeal and stay open¹⁴.
10. Pay at least the state minimum wage. It is $15¹³ an hour. For a tipped employee, the cash wage is at least $6.75. The employer counts tips toward the full minimum wage at the end of each shift, and the tip credit cannot be more than the tips actually received²⁴. The employer also has to tell the employee about the tip rules, and the employee has to keep the tips, except a valid pool. Read section 7 before you set a tipped rate.
11. Renew the other credentials on their own dates. A home-improvement registration, a local permit, and a business certificate do not renew on the company anniversary. Those rules are on Licenses and permits.

Employer rules

Unemployment, from the contributions page: you are liable at one or more employees for at least one day in each of 13 weeks in the year, or 1,500 dollars of wages in any quarter. File by 3 p.m. on April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The wage base is $15,000²³. The 2026 new-employer rate is 2.42%¹⁰.

New hires: within 14 days of the start of work, or of a return after 30 or more days off the payroll¹², to the child-support program, through MassTaxConnect.

Paid leave in 2026: 0.46 percent of eligible wages with fewer than 25 covered individuals, all of which can be withheld from wages, with no required employer share, or 0.88 percent of eligible wages with 25 or more covered individuals. Up to 0.18 percent for family leave and 0.28 percent for medical leave can be withheld from wages, and the employer pays the other 0.42 percent¹¹.

Workers’ compensation: every employer, for employees and for the owner if the owner is an employee, no matter how many hours or how many employees¹⁴. The owner exceptions are on the insurance page. They are not a blanket exemption for every employee.

Minimum wage: $15¹³ an hour. A tipped cash wage is at least $6.75²⁴, with the makeup at the end of the shift.

What you get back

A filed annual report, an income-tax filing if you are in the group that has to file, sales-tax filings on the schedule your amount uses, and current employer accounts. If an LLC is dissolved for missed reports, reinstatement is at any time, after every owed annual report is filed¹⁵.