Foreign LLC registration for Connecticut
Register your out-of-state LLC in Connecticut
The statement, the agent and the clock: file inside 90 days of starting work, then keep to the January to March annual report.
- LLC$120, order on this site
- Corporation$385, see the form page
- LPWrite to us
- Nonprofit$40, see the form page
What you receive
- Registration recordThe LLC is registered with the Secretary of the State.
- Certificate copyThe home-state paper we ordered, for your files.
- Agent on fileOur name or yours, as the Connecticut agent.
- Report datesThe annual report window, January 1 to March 31.
Connecticut- Built around the 90-day window
- Home-state certificate handled
- Connecticut registered agent available
A foreign LLC registers in Connecticut on the Foreign Registration Statement, which costs $120 when filed online through a Business.CT.gov account, and an LLC that registers inside the first 90 days of Connecticut work escapes the monthly penalty. Past that point it is $300 a month, partial months included. For $199 we do our work on the filing.
Connecticut sends a letter. Its Foreign Investigations Unit writes to businesses it finds working in the state without authorization. Everything here is organised around that clock: what to file, what it costs, and the dates that come after.
Included in your order
Clock watched
We note the day your LLC started working in Connecticut and file before the 90 days run out.
Statement prepared
The Foreign Registration Statement is filled in from your checkout answers.
Home-state paper
We request proof of existence from the home state and keep it in your file.
Connecticut agent
Choose us as the Connecticut agent, or keep the one you have.
Annual report season
Reports are filed January 1 to March 31 and cost $80. We tell you when your first one falls.
Answers from one person
Whoever prepares your filing answers your questions.
From order to registered
Order with the date work began
The 90 days run from the day the LLC started transacting business in Connecticut, so that date is the first thing we ask for.
Give us the LLC details
The name exactly as the home-state record shows it, its formation date, the principal office, the entity email and the managers or members.
Choose the Connecticut agent
Use ours, a qualifying person you know, or the Secretary of the State.
We file and pay
The Foreign Registration Statement goes in online with the $120 fee.
You get the record and the dates
We send what Connecticut posts and tell you when your first annual report window opens.
Connecticut foreign LLC registration at a glance
- Form
- Foreign Registration Statement
- Office
- Connecticut Secretary of the State, Business Services Division
- State fee
- $120 for an LLC
- How to file
- Online through a Business.CT.gov account; paper exists but cannot be expedited
- Free of monthly penalty if filed within
- 90 days of starting business
- Registered agent
- Required; choose a resident, a business registered in Connecticut, or the Secretary of the State
- Annual report
- $80, filed from January 1 to March 31 each year
- Expedite
- $50 per transaction, online only
What each entity type pays Connecticut to register
| Entity | Connecticut filing | State fee |
|---|---|---|
| LLC | Foreign Registration Statement | $120 |
| Limited liability partnership | Foreign Registration Statement | $120 |
| Stock corporation | Application for Certificate of Authority | $385 |
| Nonstock corporation | Application for Certificate of Authority | $40 |
The stock corporation figure includes a $285 license fee. Corporations have their own page, the corporation application, and the cost page lists every later charge. A corporation's annual report is $435, or $50 for a nonstock one, and both are filed online.
The 90-day clock
The statute for foreign LLCs sets a penalty of $300 that recurs monthly, a partial month counting as a whole one, for an LLC doing business unregistered, and it spares an LLC that registers inside 90 days of starting (Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-275a(g)). The penalty is in addition to the fees and taxes a registered LLC would have paid. The days count from the first day of business, not from the day you read about the rule. The penalty page and the page on who must register take it step by step.
What the state does to a business that misses the window
Past 90 days, the Foreign Investigations Unit contacts the business about fees and penalties. The notice is a demand letter that says the business has been transacting business in Connecticut in violation of the General Statutes. Payment is made from the business's Business.CT.gov account under Foreign Investigation Penalty, and a dispute goes to the unit's email address in writing, where an affidavit of facts or answers under oath to interrogatories may be asked for. We register LLCs; what to say about months already past depends on your facts, and a Connecticut business lawyer can tell you.
The annual report is the second clock
Once registered, an LLC files an annual report in a fixed window every year, from January 1 to March 31 each year, for $80. A reminder reaches the business about a month before the window closes, by email or postcard, and an overdue report lets the office dissolve the business and blocks a certificate of legal existence. See the annual report page.
A Connecticut agent, three ways
The Foreign Registration Statement offers three ways to name the agent. The Secretary of the State can be appointed. An individual can serve if they are a Connecticut resident aged 18 or over. A business can serve if it is registered with the office and has a Connecticut address. The LLC cannot name itself. The agent page explains each, including a manager or member who resides in the state.
Delaware and Wyoming LLCs
A Delaware LLC pays Delaware $400 a year whatever it does in Connecticut, which puts the combined yearly cost at $480. A Wyoming LLC pays its home-state minimum, and the Wyoming page has the sum. The Delaware page and the Wyoming page give the detail. If you want to file without us, the page on filing it yourself shows the route.
Leaving Connecticut later
For a registered foreign LLC, the Business.CT.gov fee list shows no form to withdraw the registration. It shows a statement of withdrawal only for a pending filed record, at $120, with no form available. Corporations and LLPs do have a withdrawal application, free of charge, covered on the withdrawal page. Tell us before you stop filing annual reports, and we confirm the filing that closes a registered LLC.
Who this site is built for
This site is written for the owner of a limited liability company formed in another state who has begun, or is about to begin, work in Connecticut. Corporations and LLPs register in the same state under the same clock, so they get their own pages, and the fees in the table above are the state's for each. Partnerships formed as limited partnerships are better handled by a direct question to us.
Registering is not licensing
A registration with the Secretary of the State lets a foreign LLC do business in Connecticut. It is not a business license. The state says that before you apply for a license there may be other steps, among them registering the business and getting a Connecticut tax registration number, and it points licence applications to the eLicense website. Banking, childcare, driving and transportation, environmental and energy, healthcare and insurance businesses each answer to a different department. Treat our filing as one box on a longer checklist, and use the state's New Business Checklist tool to find the rest.
What becomes public
The content of every document submitted to the Secretary of the State is public record. That includes the principal office address on the statement, and if you run the LLC from home, the office says so plainly: your address will be publicly available on its website. Manager and member names and addresses go on the form as well. Decide who is listed, and with which address, before you sign.
Have these ready before you order
- The day the LLC began or will begin work in Connecticut.
- The LLC's name as its home state spells it, with the ending.
- The home state, the date of formation and the state-of-formation office address, if the LLC must keep one.
- The principal office street address, which can be anywhere and cannot be a P.O. box.
- A company email address and a six-digit NAICS code.
- At least one manager or member, with business and residence addresses.
The form needs a signer with authority to sign for the LLC. That is the whole list.
Which page answers what
| Question | Page |
|---|---|
| What each charge is | The cost page |
| Whether the LLC needs to register | Do I need to register |
| What goes in each item of the form | The Foreign Registration Statement |
| What the annual report involves | The annual report page |
| What happens after a demand letter | The penalty page |
| Who may be the agent | The agent page |
Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year
$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Our rate, then the Connecticut fee
Register in Connecticut
+ $120 Connecticut fee
- The Foreign Registration Statement, prepared from your answers
- Proof of existence from the home state, requested where the filing calls for it
- A Connecticut registered agent: ours, or one you already have
- The filing and the date your annual report window opens
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
$199
Start my Connecticut filingOur rate and the state fee are separate lines at checkout. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Connecticut foreign LLC questions
How much does Connecticut charge to register a foreign LLC?
$120 for the Foreign Registration Statement. Adding one annual report of $80, the state cost for the first year comes to $200.
What is the 90-day rule?
An LLC that registers inside 90 days of its first Connecticut work escapes the monthly penalty. After that it is $300 for every month, partial ones included.
Can I file by mail?
Paper filings exist, but expedited service is available only for filings made online.
Does Connecticut sell faster service?
Online filings can be expedited for $50 per transaction. The state says most Business.CT.gov filings are accepted automatically, .
Can the Secretary of the State be my registered agent?
Yes. The foreign registration form lets the LLC appoint the Secretary of the State, and the office says foreign entities may use it as agent.
Does my principal office have to be in Connecticut?
No. The office says the principal business address does not need to be a Connecticut address.
When is the annual report due?
Every year from January 1 to March 31, for $80.
What if I already missed the 90 days?
Register now, since the penalty runs per month.
Sources
- Business.CT.gov, foreign LLC forms and fees
- Connecticut Secretary of the State, Foreign Registration Statement for a limited liability company (PDF)
- Business.CT.gov, foreign annual report forms and fees
- Business.CT.gov, foreign stock corporation forms and fees
- Business.CT.gov, foreign nonstock corporation forms and fees
- Connecticut Secretary of the State, Application for Certificate of Authority, foreign corporation (PDF)
- Connecticut General Statutes, chapter 613a (foreign LLCs)
- Business.CT.gov, foreign investigations penalties
- Business.CT.gov, expedited services
- Business.CT.gov, foreign limited liability partnership forms and fees
- Delaware Division of Corporations, LLC/LP/GP annual tax
Already working in Connecticut?
Tell us when the LLC started. We check it against the 90-day window when we prepare the filing.