Register your business in Missouri

LLCs and corporations file with the Corporations Division² of the Missouri Secretary of State¹. A sole proprietorship or a general partnership has no creation filing there. The filing creates the company. Licenses and permits is the step that covers permission to do the work.

What’s different in Missouri

• An LLC filed online is $50. Paper is $105. The statute’s lines are lower by the $5² technology-fund fee. The secretary may collect that fee through December 31, 2026¹⁰.
• An LLC does not file an annual report. A corporation does. The fee is $20 online, or $45² on paper.
• A corporation’s formation fee follows authorized capital. The schedule’s first line is $58². It is not one flat price.
• A DBA is a fictitious name filed with the Secretary of State. It costs $7² and lasts 5 years from the filing date, if it was filed on or after August 28, 2004³. It is not a county filing.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Pick an entity compares them. The Secretary of State will not choose for you. The starting-a-business page says to ask an attorney or another professional.
2. Check the name on the business entity search. The name must be distinguishable from every other business name already registered or reserved in Missouri. An LLC name includes Limited Liability Company, Limited Company, LC, L.C., L.L.C., or LLC⁶. A corporation name includes corporation, company, incorporated, or limited, or an abbreviation of one of those words. A phone search is preliminary and does not guarantee the name¹. Search the web and the federal trademark database too.
3. Reserve the name only if you are not ready to file. It is $25 and lasts 60 days. It can be renewed for two more 60-day periods. The cap is 180 days. After the third 60-day period, that person cannot reserve that same name again. A limited liability partnership reservation is $30¹. File it with the Corporations Division.
4. Choose a registered agent. For an LLC, the agent is an individual who lives in Missouri, or a corporation authorized to do business in Missouri, and that person's or company's business office has to be the registered office¹³. The office is a street address. A post office box is allowed only if the street address is there too⁶. A later change is $10² on the schedule. The statute’s change fee, before the technology-fund fee, is five dollars⁹.
5. File the formation document. Online business filings are the Secretary of State's online business portal. The fee schedule also takes mail and walk-in filings at the Jefferson City office and the Kansas City, Springfield, and St. Louis branch offices. Card and e-check payments add a small convenience fee, which the state does not keep². A pre-clearance look at a document, before you file it, is $55¹.
6. Put the corporation’s report month on a calendar. An LLC has no annual report. A corporation’s first report is not a year away. Details are below and on Stay compliant.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization⁶ online for $50, or on paper for $105. The statute says the online fee is forty-five dollars and the paper fee is one hundred dollars⁹. The schedule adds $5². That add-on runs through December 31, 2026¹⁰.* If you file after that date, check the total on the form. The paper form still prints the paper fee.

The effective date is the day the Secretary of State files it, unless you pick a later day, and that later day is no more than 90 days after the office files it⁶. The LLC statute says the members shall adopt an operating agreement¹⁴. The startup guide calls it an internal document that is not filed with the Secretary of State⁸.

A series LLC is optional. Each series also files an attachment, form LLC 1A⁶. The fee schedule does not print a separate series-attachment fee.

LLCs do not have to file annual reports with the Secretary of State⁸. Keep the registered agent. If that office is empty, the filings page says a missing agent can cancel the registration of a business that is not a corporation.

Active-duty military, including the Missouri National Guard, can have the formation fee waived for an organizer who is listed as a member in the operating agreement, lives in Missouri, and shows proof of active service. The office cannot waive the fee on an electronic filing. Ask the same day and it will refund the fee⁷.

Corporation

The fee is $50 for the first block of authorized shares, then $5 for each additional block or fraction of a block. No-par shares are assessed at $1 a share. Then add $3¹ for the certificate. The starting-a-business page also adds the technology-fund fee. The schedule’s line for that first block, with those pieces included, is $58². The same technology-fund statute for corporations expires December 31, 2026¹⁵.* Check the total if you file after that date.

The name includes corporation, company, incorporated, or limited, or an abbreviation of one of those words¹. A close corporation is optional. Missouri's close corporation law is meant for a corporation with fewer than 50 shareholders. A close corporation can choose not to have a board, annual meetings, or bylaws if the articles say so³.

File the registration report even if nothing changed. Online it is $20. On paper it is $45². The statute’s report fees, before the technology-fund fee, are fifteen dollars online and forty dollars on paper¹⁶. File it in the online portal. Filing online reduces the fee.

The deadline is set by statute, RSMo 351.120. A corporation formed on or after July 1, 2003 files within 30 days of incorporation or qualification, and then every year in the month the company was incorporated or qualified, unless that month was changed. A corporation that existed before July 1, 2003 uses the month on its last registration report¹¹. The filings page says the annual report is due at the end of the month the corporation incorporated or qualified⁴. For the first report, the statute’s deadline is the one to meet.

A corporation can change its report month on its first report or a later one. It names the new month on the report and includes an additional fee of twenty dollars¹¹. That is subsection 8 of the same statute. The Secretary of State's filings page says Missouri statutes do not allow a corporation to change the month⁴. The statute is the rule.

A biennial report is optional, and only if the system accepts it. A company formed in an even year can choose a biennial report only in an even year, and a company formed in an odd year only in an odd year. The registration reports page says a red error means you are not eligible this year, so you file the annual report and can try biennial next year. Once you choose biennial, you stay on it for 24 months. The schedule prices a biennial report at $40 online and $90² on paper. The statute’s own lines are thirty dollars online and eighty dollars on paper, plus an additional ten dollars the secretary may collect on a biennial report¹⁷.

A late report adds $15 for each 30 days. If the report is not filed within 90 days, the secretary of state may start administrative dissolution¹⁶. The filings page says the office mails a notice first, and the company then has 60 days after the mailed notice to correct the problem or explain it. Reinstatement of a domestic corporation starts at $55, plus the missing reports and a Certificate of Tax Clearance from the Department of Revenue, valid for 60 days, or a payback plan with the department⁴.

S corporation status is a federal election on Form 2553¹⁸. Missouri’s treatment of that election is on Get your tax IDs. This page does not pick the election.

The same military waiver can cover articles of incorporation when the service member is a majority shareholder, an officer, or a director, lives in Missouri, and shows proof of active service. The office cannot waive the fee on an electronic filing. Ask the same day and it will refund the fee⁷.

Nonprofit

The schedule prices nonprofit articles at $25. A timely annual report is $10 online and $15 on paper. A biennial report is $20 online and $30² on paper. The Secretary of State does not grant tax-exempt status. That application goes to the IRS and the Department of Revenue. The due-month statute quoted above is the general-corporation statute. A nonprofit should use the report and the month the portal opens for it.* Past formation, the rest of this series is written for for-profit businesses.

Partnership

A sole proprietorship or general partnership is not created by a Secretary of State filing. A limited partnership’s certificate is $105¹. Limited partnerships are not required to file annual reports⁸.

A general partnership can elect to be a limited liability partnership. The first application is $55 for two partners, $80 for three, and $105 for four or more. The first registration expires one year after it is filed. After that, renew it every year. A renewal is $105, plus $50 for each new partner, and not more than $205¹.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing. You still register for the taxes that apply on Get your tax IDs, and you still check local licenses. A name other than your own is the fictitious name below.

Business names

A fictitious name is for anyone who transacts business under a name other than their true name¹. File it online at bsd.sos.mo.gov for $7. It lasts 5 years from the filing date, if it was filed on or after August 28, 2004³. There is no fee to cancel². That registration is not a substitute for the federal trademark search.

Formed in another state

A foreign corporation pays $155 for a certificate of authority and includes a certificate of existence and good standing from the home state, no more than 60 days old¹. A foreign LLC registers before it transacts business. The statute’s registration fee is one hundred dollars⁹, and the schedule’s paper line for a domestic or foreign LLC certificate is $105. The online $50² line is marked domestic only. Include a current certificate of good standing or existence from the home state, dated within 60 calendar days of the filing¹⁹. You still need a Missouri registered agent. If you are not sure the work counts as transacting business, check with a legal professional. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

A filed LLC or corporation you can use for your EIN and your bank. An LLC does not get an annual-report deadline out of this filing. A corporation must file within 30 days of incorporation or qualification, and then every year in the month the company was incorporated or qualified, unless that month was changed¹¹. The state tax accounts are a separate registration on Get your tax IDs.