Staying compliant in Maryland

What is the Maryland annual report and how do you file it?

Maryland's annual report is the Form 1 Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return. It is filed with SDAT, which is the state's assessments and taxation department, by April 15.^{1, 2}

That pairing explains the form's shape. The filing duty sits in the property tax part of Maryland law, Md. Code, Tax-Property § 11-101(a), rather than in the LLC statute. So the same form that confirms your LLC's details doubles as a return of business personal property. Going by its section headings, the form covers these parts. Business identification, personal property screening questions, Maryland business operations and gross sales, signature/attestation, and personal property locations and categories (the property return portion) where applicable.^{1, 2}

Who pays what

• The fee schedule lists one charge for a "Domestic or Foreign Limited Liability Company": $300. A foreign LLC registered here pays the same as a Maryland LLC.¹
• The fee is the same whether or not the LLC owns business property. The property questions decide what else you report, not the filing charge.
• Nothing on the form replaces your tax returns. Income and sales taxes run on a separate track, covered below.

How to file

SDAT's forms page links the current year's report form as a PDF, along with the fee schedule. SDAT accepts formation filings by these routes (Online (Maryland Business Express), by mail, or hand delivery to the SDAT drop box in Baltimore), and its form instructions say which of them apply to the annual report in a given year. Have your SDAT record open when you fill it in, so the name and details match. If the LLC holds equipment, furniture or inventory in Maryland, gather a list by location and category before you start, because the property return portion asks for it.⁴

For how annual reports compare across states, see annual reports explained. Owners with LLCs in neighbouring states can compare staying compliant in Delaware and staying compliant in Virginia.

Does Maryland charge LLCs a franchise tax?

Maryland doesn't publish a franchise or privilege tax for LLCs in the sources gathered for this page. The recurring state charge they do show is the $300 annual report fee, paid with the combined report and property return.¹

The property side of that form is where tax enters the picture at SDAT. The late penalty described in the next section is calculated from the county assessment of the LLC's business property. An LLC that owns little or no business property still files, and the form asks screening questions to sort that out.

This page's sources cover the SDAT report only. Income tax, sales and use tax and payroll withholding are separate obligations; ask the state's tax agency which registrations apply to your business, and ask a tax professional how your LLC's income is taxed given its owners and any election it has made. Keep those dates on their own list. Filing the SDAT report on time does not settle any of them.

What happens if a Maryland LLC files late or not at all?

A late Maryland report draws a penalty tied to your property assessment, and an LLC that skips the report can be forfeited; reinstatement means filing every missed report and paying a fee.

The late penalty

A late filer receives an initial penalty of 1/10 of one percent of the county assessment, plus 2% interest on the penalty per 30 days late. Because the base is the county assessment of your business property, the amount depends on what the LLC owns, so there is no single late fee to quote. One gap in SDAT's annual report instructions is that the PDF does not state a minimum for LLCs without property. If your LLC owns no property and you missed the deadline, ask SDAT what applies to your record.¹

Forfeiture

Under Md. Code, Corps. & Ass'ns §4A-911(c), an LLC can be forfeited when it has not filed an annual report with the Department for the prior year as required by law. A forfeited LLC has lost its standing, which shows up when a bank, landlord or licensing office asks for proof of good standing. A business that kept trading or signing contracts while forfeited should talk to a lawyer about where that leaves the owners.¹

Reinstatement

Maryland lets a forfeited LLC come back by filing Articles of Reinstatement. SDAT charges $100, and under Md. Code, Corps. & Ass'ns §4A-917 two conditions apply first.³

1. All annual reports required to be filed by the limited liability company must be filed.³
2. The LLC must pay all State and local taxes, except taxes on real estate.³

In practice, the cost of reinstating is the fee plus every annual report fee you skipped, plus any property penalties and taxes owed. Filing on time each spring costs less. For what happens when an LLC is left without an agent, see the Maryland resident agent guide.

How do you keep your resident agent current in Maryland?

Keep a resident agent on SDAT's record who is a Maryland resident or a Maryland-formed corporation, LLC or limited partnership (Md. Code, Corps. & Ass'ns § 1-101(x)), and file the change form whenever that agent or your principal office changes.⁵

The form is "Change Principal Office or Resident Agent", and the fee is $25. File it first, and cancel an old service only after SDAT shows the new agent on your LLC's record. An agent that resigns with no successor on file is gone 10 days after filing (unless a later time is specified). SDAT's fee schedule lists that change fee as "(foreign & domestic)", so a foreign LLC registered here keeps its agent current the same way. The step-by-step order is in our guide to changing a resident agent, and cancelling an agent service covers notice periods.^{3, 6, 7}

What providers' compliance features include

What varies is whether a provider reminds you or files for you. The provider facts below describe annual report services in general; none of them says how the service handles the property return portion of Maryland's report. Within each group, providers are in our score order.

• Filing in a plan or yearly subscription. Tailor Brands lists annual report filing by plan: Included in Essential and Elite (annual compliance report filing and updates); not in Lite. ZenBusiness sells Worry-Free Compliance $199/year, or Annual Report Filing $100 per report on its own. Swyft Filings sells ComplianceGuard $199/year (annual report filing included, state fee applies), and Harbor Compliance charges $199 per state per year plus filing fees.^{8, 9, 10, 11}
• A price per filing. LegalZoom charges $99 + state filing fees, bills once; Northwest Registered Agent charges $100 + state fees, charged at filing; Rocket Lawyer lists $100 with Pro membership, excluding state fees; InCorp Services charges $89 + state fees. Bizee (formerly Incfile) lists annual report filing with no standalone price stated, alongside free lifetime compliance notifications.^{12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17}
• Notifications without a published filing service. doola lists annual report notifications. Reminders help you hit the April date, but you still file.¹⁸

Two questions to ask any provider before you pay. First, is Maryland's $300 report fee included in the price or billed on top? Second, will they complete the business personal property questions and any property listing, or only the entity details?

Provider prices and renewals are on the best Maryland resident agent services, and the broader comparison of reminder and filing features is on services with compliance tools.

What does a Maryland LLC compliance calendar look like in the first year and after?

Maryland's calendar centres on one spring deadline, the combined annual report and property return, with resident agent upkeep and tax registrations fitted around it.

Year one

1. Articles accepted. SDAT lists standard processing as 6 to 8 weeks, so start your record once the LLC appears in SDAT's system. Our Maryland LLC formation guide covers the filing itself.⁴
2. Agent details. Confirm the email and mailing address your resident agent will use to reach you, and note its renewal date.
3. First annual report. The report is due by April 15. The sources here don't say whether an LLC formed late in a year files the following spring; ask SDAT when your first report is due rather than assuming.²
4. Taxes. Ask the state's tax agency which registrations apply and put those deadlines on a separate list.

Year two and later

1. Early in the year, list any business property the LLC holds in Maryland by location, ready for the return portion.
2. File the combined report and pay $300 by April 15.²
3. Check SDAT's record for your agent and principal office; if either changed, file the change form ($25).
4. Review your agent's renewal and any notice period in its terms before it bills.

The cheapest ways to form a Maryland LLC page shows how the yearly report fee adds to year-two costs. Terms such as forfeiture and service of process are defined in our glossary.