What it costs to dissolve an LLC

What does it actually cost to dissolve an LLC?

Two numbers make up the honest answer, and confusing them is where most cost estimates go wrong. The first is the state filing feea fixed charge paid to your Secretary of State to file the dissolution. It doesn't change based on who files it; it's the same whether you do it yourself or a service does it for you. The second is the cost of getting it done , either your own time and attention, or a service fee.

There's a third number that isn't really a “cost of dissolving” at all but shows up on the same bill: taxes and penalties the company already owes. This one is invisible in most estimates and is usually the largest. We'll take all three in order, starting with the state fees, because those are the ones people can look up and compare.

How much are the state filing fees to dissolve an LLC?

Filing fees vary widely from state to state, from nothing at all to a couple hundred dollars. Here is a representative spread of the states people ask about most:

Fees and form numbers change, and some states charge a small extra amount for expedited handling. We confirm the exact current figure for your state before filing, and charge it at cost with nothing added. For processing times behind these fees, see how long dissolution takes by state.

Why do dissolution fees vary so much between states?

States set their own fees, and they reflect different philosophies. Some, like California, Georgia and Washington, waive the dissolution filing fee entirely, they'd rather you close cleanly than leave a dead entity on the register. Others, like Delaware, charge a meaningful fee and tie cancellation to the franchise tax being fully paid, because franchise tax is central to how the state funds itself.

The other reason the “cost” varies is tax clearance. A handful of states won't process your dissolution until a tax authority signs off. Texas requires a Certificate of Account Status from the Comptroller; New York requires tax consent for certain entities. Pennsylvania used to require clearance but repealed that requirement in Act 122 of 2022, which is exactly the kind of detail that's easy to get wrong from an old guide. Clearance doesn't always cost money, but it always costs time, and time is where DIY dissolutions stall.

Is it cheaper to dissolve an LLC yourself or use a service?

On paper, doing it yourself is cheaper, you pay only the state fee. And for a genuinely simple case, a company that never traded and never got an EINthat's often the right call, and we'll tell you so. The state filing is a single form.

The math changes for a company that actually operated. There, the cost isn't the filing fee; it's the pieces that are easy to miss and expensive to miss: closing the IRS business accountfiling final returns in the right order, deregistering state sales and payroll accounts, and clearing franchise tax before the state will accept the filing. A service fee buys you the sequencing and the certainty that none of those are left open. Our fee is $99 for the never-used case and $399 for the operated-and-had-an-EIN case, and the state fee passes through at cost either way.

What are the hidden costs of dissolving an LLC?

The filing fee is frequently the smallest line on the final bill. The costs that actually add up are the ones no one quotes at the start:

• Franchise or minimum tax still owed. Covered in detail below, this is the big one.
• Penalties and interest. If the company sat inactive without filing, late-filing and late-payment penalties may have accrued, and they compound.
• Back annual reports. Some states require you to be current on annual reports before they'll accept a dissolution, so you may owe those first.
• Canceling DBAs, licenses and permits. Usually small, sometimes with their own county or state fees.
• Foreign registration withdrawals. If you registered the LLC to do business in other states, each of those has its own withdrawal filing and fee.

None of these are our service fee, and none are things a service can wave away, they're money the company genuinely owes. What a service does is find them before they surprise you and handle the filings. Read the full sequence on the close-a-business checklist. If the company also has unpaid creditors, the order you pay them in matters, see dissolving an LLC with debts.

How much franchise tax do you still owe when you dissolve?

Franchise tax, sometimes called a minimum or privilege tax, is what several states charge simply for an entity to exist, regardless of income. When you dissolve, you generally owe it up to the point of dissolution, and in a number of states you owe the full year's minimum if the company existed for any part of that year.

California is the clearest and most expensive example: the Franchise Tax Board's $800 annual minimum applies for each tax year the LLC exists. That's why dissolving promptly matters, every year the company drifts unclosed adds another $800, plus penalties. Delaware ties its cancellation directly to franchise tax: the state won't accept your Certificate of Cancellation until the franchise tax is paid in full and up to date. The lesson is the same everywhere: the sooner you dissolve, the less franchise tax stacks up.

So what does dissolving an LLC actually cost, all in?

For a clean, never-used company with no back taxes: often just the state filing fee, plus $99 if you want it handled, sometimes under $100 all in. For an operating company that had an EIN, in a state with no franchise tax and nothing outstanding: the state fee plus $399 for full closure. And for a company that's been sitting inactive in a franchise-tax state, the largest number by far is the accrued tax and penalties, which is the strongest argument for closing sooner rather than later.

The pattern across all three: the filing fee is predictable and small, the service fee is a fixed choice between $99 and $399, and the variable that dominates the total is how much the company already owes. That's the number worth acting on today.

Want the exact number for your company?

Two prices, a specialist call included in both, and the state fee at cost. If you're not sure which package fits, or you want to know what franchise tax and penalties you're looking at before you decide, a specialist is on WhatsApp 24/7 and will give you the real figure, even when the honest answer is the cheaper option or nothing at all.