Stay compliant in Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s recurring dates are the annual report in your anniversary quarter, income tax in the spring, sales tax on the department’s assigned period, and the employer accounts if you have people on the payroll.

What’s different in Wisconsin

• The annual report is not due on the same day for every company. It is due in the quarter of the anniversary, starting the year after you form. Online is cheaper than paper.
• A missed report does not dissolve the company the next morning. The statute uses one year past the due date, then a notice, then 60 days after the notice takes effect⁴.
• A C corporation and an S corporation file in different months. The 4th month and the 3rd month are both printed, on different pages.
• Workers’ compensation can start with one employee if the quarter’s wages reach $500¹⁷. The state does not sell the policy.

Do this

1. File your annual report through Wisconsin One Stop in your anniversary quarter if you are a domestic LLC or business corporation. For a domestic LLC, each year after the calendar year the articles became effective, during the calendar quarter of the anniversary¹. The quarter ends are March 31, if the anniversary is from January 1 through March 31, June 30, if the anniversary is from April 1 through June 30, September 30, if the anniversary is from July 1 through September 30, and December 31, if the anniversary is from October 1 through December 31. A domestic corporation uses each year after the calendar year of incorporation, during the calendar quarter of the anniversary²⁰. Other entity types file through DFI’s online filings. Online the domestic LLC report is $25. Paper adds $15, which is the $40 line on the fee schedule. A foreign LLC files by March 31 of each year after the year the company registered, at $80² on the instructions or $65³ online.
2. If the report is late, do not wait out the year. The department may start a proceeding if the annual report is still missing one year after it was due. Being without a registered agent for a year is a separate ground. After the notice, you have 60 days after the notice takes effect. If the company is dissolved, it can only wind up, and the company's exclusive right to its name ends on the date of the administrative dissolution. To be reinstated, the fees and penalties the company owes the department have to be paid⁴. Neither the statute nor the fee schedule prints a separate reinstatement charge.* A voluntary ending, if you close on purpose, is $20³ online.
3. Keep a registered agent who can be handed papers. As at formation, the company may not name itself as its own registered agent. The office stays an actual street address in Wisconsin, not only a P.O. Box, a mailbox service, or a telephone answering service²¹. Changing the agent is $10 online and $25³ on paper.
4. File income tax. People: the individual filing deadline is April 15, 2027 for a 2026 calendar-year return, subject to the corresponding federal filing-date and extension rules⁹, under the DOR’s filing rule. The older deadline FAQ still says April 15, 2026, for the 2025 return. A late return without an extension can incur $50⁸. The 2026 brackets and the estimated-tax dates are on Get your tax IDs. C corporations: the 15th day of the 4th month after the taxable year ends, at 7.9%. A federal filing extension moves the Wisconsin due date to 30 days after the federal extended due date⁶. S corporations: the 15th day of the 3rd month after the taxable year ends, from the tax year 2025 Form 5S instructions. An extension to file does not move the payment: interest runs on tax not paid by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the taxable year ends. A late S corporation return after the extension is $150⁷. Partnerships that elect the entity tax owe interest on tax not paid by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the taxable year ends²². The economic development surcharge applies to corporations, insurance companies, certain exempt organizations, and tax-option (S) corporations with at least 4 million dollars of gross receipts, with a floor of $25 and a cap of $9,800²³.
5. File sales tax through My Tax Account on your assigned schedule if you are registered. The period is monthly, quarterly, or annually, as the department assigns. The return is due the last day of the month after the reporting period, or the 20th of the following month⁵ if you are an early monthly filer. Annual sales returns are due January 31 for a calendar-year annual filer; fiscal-year annual returns are due the last day of the month after the fiscal year ends¹⁰. File even when the tax is zero. The business tax registration renews every two years for $10²⁴. Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
6. If you have employees, keep withholding deposits current through My Tax Account. Form WT-7 is due January 31. A monthly or quarterly WT-6 is due the last day of the month after the month or the quarter¹⁴. The department assigns your filing frequency.
7. Keep your unemployment account current through the DWD Employer Portal once you are liable. The wage base for 2026 is $14,000. A new employer pays 3.05%, or 2.5% in construction, when its payroll is under $500,000. At that payroll or more, it pays 3.25%, or 2.7%²⁵ in construction. The statute counts that payroll over the 12 months ending with the computation date before the year the rate applies¹⁶. The latest 2026 due date on the employer report is January 31, 2027¹⁵, and earlier dates depend on when you became liable. Once you are set up, quarterly reports are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31, the end of the month after each quarter²⁶. Report new hires through the state reporting center within 20 days¹³.
8. Renew the local license and any trade credential on their own dates. A dwelling contractor renewal is $25²⁷ on the fee table. An alcohol license and a food license follow the agency that issued them. The details are on Licenses and permits.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: coverage is required if you employ 3 or more full-time or part-time employees. It starts the day you employ the third person. It is also required if you pay $500 in a quarter, starting the 10th day of the first month of the next quarter. A farmer is covered after 6 or more workers on the same day for any 20 days in the calendar year. Some relatives of a farmer do not count. Sole proprietors, partners, and members of limited liability companies are not employees under the Act. Corporate officers are covered. In a closely held corporation, up to two officers can be excluded. A corporation with no more than two officers and no other employees does not have to carry the insurance if those officers file the option notice. The state does not sell the policy. Buy it from an insurer licensed in Wisconsin, or from the pool if insurers refuse you¹⁷. An out-of-state employer with employees working in Wisconsin has to carry it too.

Minimum wage: $7.25 an hour. An opportunity employee, an employee who is not yet 20 and who has been with that employer for 90 or fewer consecutive days, is paid at least $5.90. The cash wage for a tipped employee is $2.33¹⁸, and $2.13 for an opportunity employee. Tips plus the cash wage have to reach the full minimum. The employer pays the difference¹⁹. The poster states that rule. The rates page dates the minimum wage to July 24, 2009.

Unemployment: liable at $1,500 in a quarter or at one person in each of 20 or more weeks¹⁵, with the farm test above. Reports are still required if your rate is zero.

What you get back

A filed annual report in the quarter that matches your anniversary, filed income and sales tax returns, and current employer accounts if you have people on the payroll. If the annual report is a year late, the next thing the statute describes is a notice, not a silent dissolution. The year’s form is the page to trust for the tax return, especially where the 2025 instructions are still the latest file on the site.