Vermont LLC filing: $125 to form, a $35 annual report, and one election you can only make at the start

Every figure on this page comes from the Vermont Secretary of State and the Department of Taxes, not an aggregator. For an ordinary LLC, Vermont’s filing is unremarkable: $125 to form and a $35 annual report. The decision that makes Vermont’s filing distinctive is one no other state offers in the same way, and it is a formation-time choice: whether to elect blockchain-based LLC status. That election lives in the articles of organization and has to be backed by an operating agreement containing the statutory blockchain provisions, so a DAO or blockchain business that wants the Vermont wrapper has to build it correctly from the start rather than convert an ordinary LLC informally later.

Forming the company

Formation is a single filing with the Secretary of State.

Vermont forms an LLC on a Certificate of Organization filed with the Secretary of State for $125.

You create a Vermont LLC by filing the Certificate of Organization with the Secretary of State for $125, naming the company and a registered agent with a Vermont address. There is no publication requirement, so $125 is the cost of forming an ordinary company, and the recurring obligation is modest.

Vermont requires a $35 annual report, due within about three months of the fiscal year end, and missing it leads to administrative termination.

Every Vermont LLC files an annual report with the Secretary of State for $35, due within roughly three months after the close of its fiscal year, and letting it lapse leads to administrative termination, which ends the good standing the liability shield on the protection page depends on. The fee is small, but the deadline is real, so it belongs on the calendar. For most companies that is the whole filing picture. For a blockchain venture, there is a decision to make first.

The election you make at the start

Here is the Vermont-specific filing point.

Blockchain-based LLC status must be elected in the articles of organization at formation, and the operating agreement must contain the required blockchain provisions.

To be a blockchain-based LLC, a company must elect that status in its articles of organization, and its operating agreement must include the statutory elements the governance page describes: a summary of mission and purpose, the type of decentralized ledger, the access and permission structure, whether it issues a virtual currency, and its on-chain voting procedures. That is a formation-time architecture, not a box to check casually. A DAO or blockchain business that wants the Vermont liability wrapper has to structure the articles and the operating agreement correctly at the outset, because the election and the compliant agreement are what make the entity a blockchain-based LLC in the first place. An ordinary LLC that later decides it wants blockchain-based status would need to make the election and put the required provisions in place formally, not simply begin operating on-chain. So for the ventures Vermont built this statute for, the filing is the moment the structure is set, and getting the articles and the operating agreement right at formation is the whole point.

Multiple entities and the missing series

Vermont’s lack of a series LLC shapes the filing load for a property investor.

Because Vermont has no series LLC, each property held in a separate LLC is a separate filer with its own report.

Vermont has no series statute, so an investor who wants each property insulated forms a separate LLC for each, and each files its own $125 formation and $35 annual report. Combined with the high acquisition and income taxes on the structure and cost page, that makes Vermont a costly state to run a multi-property real estate structure, which is another way of saying Vermont’s filing system, like the rest of its law, is built more for the blockchain ventures it pioneered than for a conventional rental portfolio.

The bottom line

A Vermont LLC forms on a Certificate of Organization filed with the Secretary of State for $125, with a Vermont-address registered agent.

The annual report is $35, due within about three months of the fiscal year end, and missing it leads to administrative termination.

Blockchain-based LLC status must be elected in the articles at formation and backed by a compliant operating agreement, so it cannot be added informally later.

A DAO or blockchain venture that wants the Vermont wrapper has to structure the articles and the operating agreement correctly from the start.

Because Vermont has no series LLC, a multi-property investor files a separate formation and report for each entity, which suits blockchain ventures more than rental portfolios.

What this page does not cover

This page is about fees, forms, and deadlines. How creditors reach a member’s interest, the homestead, and the DAO liability shield are on the protection page. How the blockchain-based LLC is governed by code, and the duties in a conventional Vermont LLC, are on the governance page. Vermont’s high income tax, the 3.4% transfer tax on investment property, and the lack of a series LLC are on the structure and cost page.

Last verified August 2026.