New York LLC filing: the $200 fee is the cheapest thing about it

Forming a New York LLC costs $200 at the Department of State. That is the least interesting number on this page. Two deadlines start the day the articles become effective, neither is announced to you, and both cost more than the filing fee.

The day you form a New York LLC, a 120-day publication clock and a 90-day operating agreement clock both start running.

Naming the company

A New York LLC’s name must include “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.,” and it must be distinguishable from other names on the Department of State’s records. Certain words require consent or approval from other agencies before the department will accept them, so check the name before building around it.

Forming the LLC

Formation is a single filing, the Articles of Organization, with the New York Department of State.

The Articles of Organization cost $200, which is the only cheap part of forming in New York.

The filing can be made online or by mail. New York offers expedited handling for additional fees. The articles designate the Secretary of State as agent for service of process and give an address for forwarding, and an LLC may also name a registered agent. That forwarding address appears on the public record.

Clock one: publication within 120 days

The publication requirement is the expensive New York obligation, and it is covered in full on the structure and cost page. The mechanics belong here.

Publish once a week for six successive weeks in two county-designated newspapers, then file the certificate with $50, all inside 120 days.

The county clerk designates which two newspapers you must use, one printed daily and one weekly, in the county where the LLC’s office is located. After the six weeks, each paper issues an affidavit of publication. You file both affidavits with a Certificate of Publication and a $50 fee. Because six weeks of publication is 42 days, and newspapers need lead time and take a week or two to issue affidavits, the 120-day window is tighter than it reads. Start within the first month.

Newspaper charges depend on the county and run from roughly $230 to more than $1,950. Missing the deadline suspends the LLC’s authority to do business, which is curable by publishing late and filing, and which does not void contracts or create personal liability, but which can get the company’s own lawsuit dismissed while it lasts.

Clock two: the operating agreement within 90 days

New York is one of the few states that requires the document, and it sets a deadline the state never checks.

New York law requires the members to adopt a written operating agreement within 90 days of filing, and no agency verifies it.

The agreement is not filed with the state. Nobody sends a reminder. The consequence shows up later, when a bank, a lender, a buyer, or an opposing lawyer asks to see it, and the governance page explains why the deadline is worth treating as real rather than aspirational. Adopting even a short interim agreement inside the window preserves your ability to build a full one later.

The Biennial Statement

New York’s recurring filing is small and easy to forget.

Every two years, in the month you formed, file a Biennial Statement for $9.

The Biennial Statement updates the address to which the Secretary of State forwards process, and it costs $9. It is due in the calendar month of formation, every second year. It is the least expensive recurring obligation of any state in this project, and missing it puts the company out of good standing, which surfaces at exactly the wrong moments in financings and closings.

The annual tax filing

Separate from the Department of State, New York’s tax department collects an annual LLC fee based on New York source gross income, reported on Form IT-204-LL. A disregarded single-member LLC with New York income owes a flat $25; multi-member LLCs pay on a tiered schedule. Confirm the current tiers with the Department of Taxation and Finance. Foreign LLCs authorized in New York are in the same system, and they must publish as well.

The bottom line

Forming a New York LLC costs $200, and expedited handling is available for more.

Publication must be completed and certified within 120 days, in two county-designated newspapers, with a $50 certificate fee and newspaper charges from about $230 to over $1,950.

A written operating agreement is required within 90 days by statute, is not filed with the state, and is not checked by anyone.

The Biennial Statement costs $9 and is due in your formation month every second year.

An annual LLC fee based on New York source gross income is filed with the tax department, $25 flat for a disregarded single-member LLC.

The $200 filing fee is the smallest number in the first year of a New York LLC, and the two clocks that start with it are the ones to calendar.

What this page does not cover

This page is the mechanics: fees, forms, and deadlines. How creditors reach you in New York is on the protection page. What the required operating agreement should say, and the defaults if it says nothing, are on the governance page. Publication costs, the Transparency Act, and transfer taxes are on the structure and cost page.

Last verified July 2026.