Delaware LLC Annual Requirements

Start with the fact that surprises people: a Delaware LLC never files an annual report. The Division of Corporations states outright that there is no annual report requirement for LLCs. What Delaware wants instead is one payment, once a year: the flat annual LLC tax, also called the alternative-entity tax, set at $400 for tax year 2026 and due on or before June 1. That single obligation, plus keeping a registered agent in place, is the entire recurring relationship between your LLC and the state.

The $400 Tax, Up From $300

The amount changed recently, and most of the internet has not caught up. Delaware's LLC tax sat at $300 for decades; HB400, enacted in May 2026, raised it to $400 beginning with tax year 2026. If a guide, invoice estimate, or old bookmark tells you $300, it is out of date, and budgeting the old number leaves you $100 short in June.

A few properties of the tax worth knowing, all under 6 Del. C. § 18-1107:

• It is flat. Every Delaware LLC owes the same $400 whether it holds one rental property or a nine-figure portfolio. No revenue schedules, no share calculations, nothing resembling the corporate franchise tax worksheet.
• It is not prorated. An LLC on the state's records at any point in a calendar year owes the full amount for that year, and each payment covers the prior year, so a company formed in 2026 meets its first June 1 in 2027.
• It updates nothing. Paying the tax does not refresh your agent, address, or member information; those changes ride on separate filings.

How to Pay

1. Pay online through the Division's tax portal at icis.corp.delaware.gov; the application is open daily from 8:00 am to 11:45 pm Eastern.
2. Or route it through your registered agent. Delaware agents commonly remit the tax on behalf of client companies, and we do this for ours.
3. If you are settling multiple years and the transaction tops $5,000, Delaware requires ACH debit rather than a card.

What Happens After June 1

Payment becomes delinquent June 2. Delaware immediately adds a $200 penalty, then charges 1.5% interest per month on both the tax and the penalty, so the balance compounds while you wait. An LLC that stays unpaid loses its good standing, which blocks certificates of good standing and complicates financings, and continued non-payment ends in cancellation of the LLC. Catching up means paying every open year plus accumulated penalties and interest.

The Registered Agent Duty Never Pauses

Under 6 Del. C. § 18-104, the LLC must maintain a Delaware registered office and registered agent continuously, in every year, active or dormant. Since tax notices and service of process flow through that address, a lapsed agent tends to be how June 1 gets missed in the first place. Our registered agent service keeps the address staffed and the reminders coming.

LLCs Are Not Corporations Here

Delaware corporations live under a heavier regime: an annual franchise tax report due March 1, a $50 report fee, and a calculated franchise tax with a $175 minimum. None of that applies to an LLC. The LLC deal is deliberately simpler: no report, no math, one flat payment each June.

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