Best LLC Formation Services in Rhode Island

Start with the $150. That is the fee printed on Form 400, the state's own Articles of Organization. Plenty of comparison pages quote $156 instead, and the extra six dollars is a portal charge that Rhode Island does not publish next to the filing fee. It does publish one for the annual report, $2.50 on top of the $50. Read any quote above $150 as a fee plus a surcharge, not as the state's price.

Rhode Island does not record who owns your business. The state's LLC filing guide tells filers in capitals not to list the owners on the Articles of Organization, and says the Department of State does not keep a record of who owns any registered business. Ownership lives in your operating agreement. That is unusual, and it is free.

The privacy has one hole. If you tick manager managed on Form 400, you must list each manager by name and address, and that goes on the public record. Member managed LLCs list nobody at all.

The resident agent is the part Rhode Island is strict about. Your agent must be a Rhode Island resident or an entity qualified to do business here. The agent needs a real Rhode Island street address and has to be reachable there from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. P.O. boxes are out. So are virtual business addresses, which the state names on its own page. Your principal office is a separate thing and can be a P.O. Box, or an address in another state. Our Rhode Island registered agent comparison prices that job on its own.

There is no expedited tier to buy. The filing guide says the Department of State processes all filings within two business days, so there is no need to rush. The start a business page puts the window at one to three business days. Nobody can sell you a faster queue here, because the state does not run one.

The number that shapes the decision is the one that never stops. Every Rhode Island LLC not taxed as a corporation owes a $400 minimum corporate fee to the Division of Taxation. It is due every year, whether or not the business earned a dollar or opened a bank account. Year one runs $550 to the state. Every year after that runs $452.50. Our Rhode Island LLC guide walks the filing itself step by step.

1. Get your EIN from the IRS. It is free and it takes minutes online. You need it before a bank account or a first hire.
2. Register for a retail sales permit if you sell taxable goods or services. Rhode Island charges 7% sales tax. The Division of Taxation makes you hold a permit before you collect it. The permit carries a registration fee, expires every June 30, and has to be renewed by February 1.
3. Pay the $400 minimum corporate fee. It goes on the RI-1065 return. Taxed as a partnership means March 15, and a single member LLC means April 15.
4. File the annual report between February 1 and May 1. The window is short. The fee is $50, plus $2.50 if you file online. Miss it and a $25 penalty lands on June 1.
5. Skip the FinCEN report. Since March 2025 every company formed in the United States is exempt from beneficial ownership reporting. A final rule made that permanent on 14 August 2026. Only foreign companies registered to do business here still file.
6. Write an operating agreement. Rhode Island does not require one. It is the only place your ownership is written down, because the state keeps no record of it, and banks ask for it.

• The $400 minimum corporate fee, owed every year, income or not.
• The $2.50 online surcharge on the $50 annual report. Filing late costs more. It is $25 extra from June 1, plus $3 to file that online.
• $20 to change the name of your resident agent. Updating that agent's address costs nothing.
• $50 to reserve a name for 120 days before you file.
• Reinstatement after revocation. The reinstatement process starts with a $50 letter of good standing from the Division of Taxation, then the back reports and penalties the Department of State works out for you.