Stay compliant in Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s recurring dates are an annual report in the spring, a tax charge that starts the year you form, sales tax due by the 20⁷th of the next month, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. The annual-report reminder goes to your registered agent, so keep that address current.

What’s different in Rhode Island

• The Rhode Island Department of State fee and the tax charge are different bills. The annual report is $50¹ for an LLC or a business corporation. The Rhode Island Division of Taxation charge is $400⁵, including a year with no profit.
• The annual report is not due in the year you form. It starts the calendar year after the business registers¹. The tax charge does not wait.
• Workers’ compensation starts at one employee, with exceptions for owners and partners. Corporate officers are usually covered unless they file a waiver.
• The minimum wage is a state rate, $16 an hour through 2026, with $17¹² already printed for 2027.

Do this

1. File the annual report, February 1 through May 1. It starts the calendar year after the business registers. For an LLC the fee is $50 (form 632). For a business corporation it is $50 (form 630¹⁴). For a limited partnership or limited liability partnership it is $50. Online, add $2.50. A late filing costs $25 on June 1, plus $3 to file online. Any person the entity authorizes may file the annual report. A benefit corporation is not on that calendar: $60, due within 120 days of the fiscal year end, late charge 25 dollars, applied 30 days after the filing period ends¹. A nonprofit’s report is $20, due February 1 through May 1¹⁵.
2. Pay the Rhode Island Division of Taxation charge. File RI-1065, RI-1120S, or RI-1120C through approved software or by paper as applicable. The Tax Portal can take the payment, but not those returns. An LLC that is not taxed as a corporation pays $400 and files Form RI-1065. An LLC taxed as an S corporation files Form RI-1120S by March 15 and pays the same annual charge. It is owed for any year the LLC exists, including the year it is formed and the year it dissolves. It is not pro-rated, and owed no matter how long the business operated that year. The 2026 due date for the March 15 return is March 16, 2026, because March 15 falls on a Sunday. A C corporation pays 7%⁵ or $400⁴, whichever is greater, on Form RI-1120C, due the 15th day of the fourth month after the year ends, for a calendar-year filer and for a fiscal year that does not end June 30⁶. If the annual fee is late, the 2025 partnership instructions add $100¹⁶. A single-member LLC files on its owner’s due date, April 15 for an owner who is a calendar-year individual. People file by April 15¹⁷. The 2026 brackets are 3.75 percent up to 82,050 dollars, 4.75 percent to 186,450 dollars, and 5.99 percent above that¹⁸.
3. Renew the sales permit and file sales-tax returns. The permit runs July 1 through June 30. The renewal application is due February 1. There is no renewal fee for a permit period that begins on or after July 1, 2022⁸. File the return by the 20th of the next month. A return is still required when there were no sales. Quarterly filing is only with permission, after six months under $200⁷ a month. Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
4. If you have employees, keep the employer accounts current. File withholding returns and pay; register unemployment and TDI if you have not yet done so. Withholding follows the size of the month: weekly, if withholding is 600 dollars or more in a calendar month; monthly, if withholding is 50 dollars or more and under 600 dollars in a calendar month; or quarterly, if withholding is under 50 dollars in any calendar month¹⁹. Unemployment reports to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training are due January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31, on the first $30,800 of wages, or $32,300 for the higher experience-rate group named on that page. A quarterly report is still due when no wages were paid¹⁰. Keep withholding temporary disability insurance at 1.1% on the first $100,000⁹. Report new hires and rehires within 14 days. A miss can cost $20¹³ each.
5. Renew the local license and any trade license on their own dates. Renew a trade name in the state system; check the town or agency for other licenses. Town registration, a contractor registration, cottage food, and an alcohol license each renew on that agency’s schedule. Licenses and permits is the map. A trade name renews each year, September 1 through November 30²⁰, and the renewal is free to file²¹. Miss that window and the trade name can be cancelled.
6. Replace an LLC’s registered agent who leaves. Other entity types use their applicable Department of State change forms. The change for an LLC is $20. The office-only change is no fee¹⁴. If the reminder letter cannot be delivered, revocation proceedings start for failure to keep a registered office¹.
7. If the company is revoked, reinstatement is a packet, not a button. Start with the Department of State LLC reinstatement instructions if reinstating an LLC. Revocation means loss of good standing for a missed annual report, unpaid tax, unpaid filing fee, or a missing registered agent or office. It is not a dissolution, so the annual report and the minimum tax keep coming due until you dissolve. A revoked business may lose the right to its name after more than one year. An LLC applies within ten years after the certificate of revocation. You need a letter of good standing from the Rhode Island Division of Taxation⁵. The application fee for that letter is $50, and the letter must be dated within thirty days of the reinstatement filing. The Rhode Island Department of State¹ penalty is $50³ for each year or part of a year since the revocation. You also file the missing reports and pay those fees. Processing is 2 to 4 business days, with no emailed or mailed confirmation². Confirm it in the Corporate Database. The revoked-entities page says the penalty total is calculated by the office.* Email them for the figure before you mail one check. If you are closing instead, the dissolution form goes in the same packet. Questions about what revocation does to a contract or a debt belong with a lawyer.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: required when you have one or more employees, with limited exceptions. Individual owners and partners are exempt. Corporate officers are usually included unless they file a Notice of Claim of Common Law Rights, form DWC-11¹¹. The employer page tells you to report an injury to your insurer, not to send the first report to the division.

Minimum wage, from the Department of Labor and Training: $16 an hour as of January 1, 2026, then $17 an hour on January 1, 2027. A tipped employee may be paid $3.89 an hour in wages, with a tip credit of up to $12.11¹², and the total with tips has to reach the full minimum. The cash wage does not apply to taxi drivers or some small public vehicles. Other exemptions are on the department’s list. This page does not restate them.

Unemployment: Only a business or individual that has hired someone as an employee must register. A sole proprietor or partnership with no workers other than the owners does not register. Domestic employers are the stated exception, at $1,000¹⁰ in a quarter. A new employer’s employment-security rate is 1%, plus the 0.21%⁹ job development assessment. Employers are told their own rate in late December.

What you get back

A filed annual report, filed tax returns, a current sales permit, and current employer accounts. If the company is revoked, it may lose the right to its name after more than one year².