Register your business in West Virginia

LLCs and corporations file with the West Virginia Secretary of State⁷. A sole proprietorship and a general partnership are not on the formation fee table. The filing creates the company. It does not give you the tax certificate. Get your tax IDs is that step. Licenses and permits covers permission to do the work.

What’s different in West Virginia

• There are two registrations, and they are not the same filing. The company files here. The Tax Division’s business registration certificate is a separate $30 step. Registration with the Secretary of State is not a substitute for a business registration certificate from the Tax Division¹⁷.
• The annual report is due on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30⁹. On the LLC page the fee is $25 if the office receives it by the deadline, and $75² after that.
• A DBA is a trade name filed with the state, not the county. A sole proprietorship pays no filing fee. An LLC pays $25³.
• A fee waiver is not a deadline waiver. A veteran-owned or active-duty-owned business can skip the annual report fee for the first four years after initial registration. The fee waiver does not waive the filing deadline or other fees⁹. A young entrepreneur’s waiver covers only the initial filing fee.
• Ignore a letter that sells you the annual report. A solicitation for annual-report help has to say you can file directly with the Secretary of State for the statutory fee⁹.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, limited liability partnership, or sole proprietorship. Pick an entity compares them. The Secretary of State will not choose for you.
2. Check the name in the business organization search. An LLC name must contain "limited liability company" or "limited company," or an abbreviation such as L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. "Limited" may be "Ltd." and "company" may be "Co." It must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records from names already on file, unless the current user consents or a court judgment gives you the name¹¹. A corporation name must contain "corporation," "incorporated," "company," or "limited," or an abbreviation such as corp., inc., co., or ltd.¹² Search the web and the federal trademark database too. A state search does not clear a federal trademark.
3. Reserve the name only if you are not ready to file. It is $15⁸, and it lasts 120 days from filing. The same applicant who reserved the name must sign the formation documents. A reservation does not apply to a sole proprietorship, general partnership, joint venture, or association registered only with the Tax Division⁴. File it through the One Stop Business Portal.
4. Decide whether to name an agent. The company may keep an office in West Virginia, which need not be a place of business, and an agent for service of process. An agent, if you name one, is an individual who lives in West Virginia, a domestic corporation, another limited liability company, or a foreign corporation or company authorized to do business in West Virginia¹³. A later change of agent, address, or officers is $15⁸. The annual report asks for the agent of process.
5. File the formation document in the portal. Online filings add $1¹. The fee schedule also lists a 24-hour expedite fee of $25, a 2-hour fee of $250, and a 1-hour fee of $500⁷.
6. Calendar next year’s annual-report deadline: on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30⁹. The report is required for active limited liability companies formed on or before December 31 of the previous year that have not terminated or withdrawn². A company formed this year does not file the report this year. Details are below and on Stay compliant.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization⁷ for $100¹. A professional LLC is the same formation fee. It also has to carry at least $1 million of professional liability insurance at all times, or a segregated fund, bank letter of credit, or insurance bond in that amount¹⁵.

The report covers active limited liability companies formed on or before December 31 of the previous year that have not terminated or withdrawn. The fee is $25 by the deadline and $75² after. The statute’s due line is on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30⁹.

A company that has filed every required annual report on time for five consecutive calendar years and is in good standing may elect biennial reporting. The fee is then $50. The first biennial report is due on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30 of the second calendar year after the year of the election, and every two years after that. The statute also says the report is delivered between January 1 and July 1 of that year. The due-date subsection covers both reports, so both use the deadline on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30. A late biennial report adds $100 under the statute. The biennial option took effect July 1, 2026⁹. Missing a biennial report, or losing good standing, can send you back to five more annual years before you can elect again.

The Secretary of State may start dissolution if the company does not deliver the report within 60 days after the report is due, or if fees, taxes, or penalties under the LLC chapter stay unpaid for the same period. Before dissolving a company for an unpaid report fee, the office has to send notice by certified mail postmarked at least 30 days before the dissolution date⁹. Reinstatement is available within two years after the effective date of dissolution¹⁴. The application has to say the ground is gone, that the name still works, and it needs a certificate from the Tax Commissioner that taxes are paid. The fee statute sets reinstatement after administrative dissolution at $25⁸. A certificate of existence is $10⁷.

The statute exempts a veteran-owned business commenced on or after July 1, 2015, or an active-duty member-owned business commenced on or after July 1, 2021 from the annual report fee for the first four years after initial registration. The fee waiver does not waive the filing deadline or other fees⁹. The register page also says a veteran may have the initial Secretary of State fee waived. That waiver is the initial fee, not the four-year report waiver.

Corporation

File articles for $100¹. The name must contain "corporation," "incorporated," "company," or "limited," or an abbreviation such as corp., inc., co., or ltd.¹² The annual report statute covers corporations under the same annual-report deadline, at the same $25² fee, with the same option to elect $50 after five on-time years. The late fee in the statute is $50⁹ for a for-profit annual report.

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

Nonprofit

File articles for $25¹. The annual report statute includes nonprofit corporations. The nonprofit late fee is $25 on an annual report and $50 on a biennial report. That is lower than the $50⁹ annual late fee inside the $75² line on the LLC page. Past formation, the rest of this series is written for for-profit businesses.

Limited liability partnership

The register page lists a domestic limited liability partnership at $250¹. Use that filing only if a limited liability partnership is the structure you chose.

Young entrepreneur

The statute exempts a person under 30 who lives in West Virginia¹⁰ from the Secretary of State filing fees for a domestic for-profit or nonprofit corporation where that person is an incorporator, a domestic LLC where that person is a member, or a domestic partnership where that person is a partner. It applies to a business formed on or after July 1, 2016⁶. The register page describes the same waiver as age 18-29, but the statute is the rule, and it sets only the under-30 limit. Read the waiver page before you file. The register page says the waiver covers the initial Secretary of State fee only¹. It does not waive the Tax Division’s certificate.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing on the register page. You still get the tax certificate when the exemption on Get your tax IDs does not fit, and you still check local licenses. A name other than your own is the trade name below.

Business names

A trade name is how you register a name that is not the legal name. File it in the One Stop Business Portal. A sole proprietorship, an individual, and a general partnership pay no filing fee. An LLC pays $25. A corporation pays $25. A sole proprietor, an individual, or a general partnership checks the name with the State Tax Department, not in the Secretary of State business search³. The Tax Department’s address is on the trade name page. A company that already files with the Secretary of State searches the business organization database, then calls the Business Division for an informal check. The page says a trade name has to be distinguishable and must not be likely to be confused with a name already on file. Adding “Inc.” or “LLC,” or making a word plural, does not make a name distinguishable. That registration is not a substitute for the federal trademark search.

Formed in another state

A foreign company files a Certificate of Authority. The registration has to include a certificate of good standing or a certificate of existence from the home state. A foreign LLC is $150. A foreign profit corporation is $100. A foreign nonprofit corporation is $50. A foreign limited liability partnership is $500. Some activity can file an exemption from the certificate instead. The exemption filing is $25⁵ for a corporation or an LLC, and the instructions list the activities that qualify. If the home name is already taken, the page says you register a forced trade name for use in West Virginia. You still file the annual report on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30⁹. 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 company you can use for your EIN and your bank, and a certificate of existence if you order one for $10⁷. The annual report is a separate filing next year, unless you later qualify for the biennial election. The business registration certificate is a separate step on Get your tax IDs.