Staying compliant in Missouri

Do Missouri LLCs file an annual report?

No. The Secretary of State's FAQ asks and answers the question directly (Do limited liability companies have to file an annual report? No.), and its startup guide repeats the point: "Limited liability companies also do not have to file annual reports with the Secretary of State."^{1, 5}

So there is no report to name, and no fee to budget for it. That answer covers LLCs; if you also run a Missouri corporation, check its obligations separately.

What changes when there is no yearly report

Three practical things follow from having no report.

1. Nothing comes due at the Secretary of State on your formation anniversary.
2. There is no report to be late on, so there is no late-filing penalty for one (None (no annual report)).⁵
3. The record does not refresh itself. Your agent and registered office stay exactly as last filed until someone files a change, such as your statement of change or an agent's resignation.

That third point is where Missouri LLCs drift. In a state like Illinois or Kansas, the recurring report is a built-in moment to correct stale details. Here, catching an outdated agent is up to you. Our explainer on how annual reports work in other states shows what you are not filing.

Does Missouri charge LLCs a franchise tax or yearly state fee?

The Secretary of State charges a Missouri LLC no yearly report fee, so there is no yearly report charge from that office. Whether any state tax applies to your LLC is a separate question, handled by different agencies.

This page's sources do not include an official Missouri statement on franchise tax for LLCs, in either direction, and it does not cover Missouri tax rules. Ask the Missouri Department of Revenue which registrations and returns apply, based on what you sell, whether you hire staff and where you operate. Federal returns go to the IRS. A tax professional can explain how your LLC's income is taxed given its owners and any election it has made.

Keep tax dates on their own list. The absence of an annual report at the Secretary of State says nothing about your tax deadlines.

What can get a Missouri LLC cancelled, and how do you reinstate it?

With no report to miss, the cancellation ground most tied to everyday upkeep is losing your registered agent. Missouri's cancellation statute is plain about it. Failing to maintain a registered agent is grounds for administrative cancellation of the LLC.

The statute lists failing to keep an agent among its grounds. An LLC can lose its agent without anyone noticing in a few ways.

• A relative or employee who served as agent moves out of Missouri and no longer qualifies.
• A paid service resigns after a renewal goes unpaid. Its resignation is effective 30 days after receipt, or earlier if a new agent is appointed, and its written notice goes to the LLC at whatever contact details it holds.⁶
• The agent's office moves and nobody files the change, so the registered office on record is no longer the agent's business office.

A cancelled LLC can run into trouble with a loan, a licence or a contract that asks for proof of standing. If the Secretary of State contacts you about your agent, act on it promptly.

Reinstatement is possible. The fee is $100 plus any delinquent fees and penalties, and the LLC must show grounds for cancellation no longer exist. The statute also allows for such greater amount as required by state regulation in place of the base fee, so confirm the current amount with the Secretary of State. For a missing agent, a qualifying agent and registered office have to be back on file. Ask the Secretary of State which delinquent items apply to your record, and speak to a lawyer if the business kept trading or signed contracts while cancelled. The Missouri registered agent guide explains who qualifies as a replacement.⁴

How do you keep your registered agent and office current?

Keep an agent on file who is an individual resident of Missouri or a domestic or foreign corporation authorized to do business in Missouri, whose business office is identical with the registered office (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 347.030), and file a Corp. 59 when the agent or registered office changes. With no annual report, that is the main recurring task for a Missouri LLC.^{2, 6}

When a statement of change is due

File one when you switch agents, when your agent moves to a different Missouri office, or when a person serving as agent leaves the state. The fee is $10, and the Secretary of State doesn't publish a processing time for it. File the change before you cancel an old service, so there is no day without an agent. The full step order, and what happens when an agent resigns, is in the Missouri registered agent guide and the general guide to changing a registered agent.

Foreign LLCs registered in Missouri (registration costs $105) carry the same duty. Missouri's foreign registration statute applies the same agent and office rules to them, and the Corp. 59 form ($10) covers foreign LLCs too.^{2, 3, 7}

What provider compliance features do for a Missouri LLC

Most of the compliance products below are described in terms of annual reports, so in Missouri check what a feature would actually do for your LLC before you pay for it. Providers below appear in order of our score, highest first.

• Tailor Brands includes annual compliance filing in its Essential and Elite plans, and its site says its agent sends regular reminders.^{8, 9}
• ZenBusiness sells Annual Report Filing $100 per report and Worry-Free Compliance $199/year.¹⁰
• LegalZoom lists its annual report service at $99 + state filing fees, bills once.¹¹
• Bizee (formerly Incfile) advertises free lifetime compliance notifications with its agent service.¹²
• Swyft Filings sells ComplianceGuard $199/year, which starts with a 14-day free trial and then bills automatically.¹³
• Northwest Registered Agent charges $100 + state fees for its annual report renewal service and says agent customers are enrolled in it automatically. The fee is charged at filing, and a Missouri LLC has no annual report for it to file.¹⁴
• InCorp Services sells annual report filing at $89 + state fees and its agent service sends email reminders before anything comes due.^{15, 16}
• Harbor Compliance charges $199 per state per year plus filing fees.¹⁷

For an LLC with no annual report, report-filing plans and report reminders have little to act on. Ask any provider in writing which Missouri filings, if any, its plan would handle.

The part of the service that does apply here is forwarding. Court papers and state notices arrive at the registered office, so what counts is how the provider passes them on and whether your contact details in its account are current.

Renewal terms come next. With no report fee, a paid agent is likely the only recurring cost tied to your state record: Bizee (formerly Incfile) renews at $149/year, ZenBusiness at $199/yr, and Swyft Filings bills $149 per quarter. Harbor Compliance wants notice of non-renewal at least 90 days before the end of the current term. Compare these side by side on the Missouri registered agent comparison or the services with compliance tools list, and read how to cancel an agent service before you switch.^{18, 19, 20, 21}

What does a Missouri LLC compliance calendar look like?

Missouri's calendar has no fixed state report date, so it is built around your own records and your agent's renewal.

Year one

1. Articles accepted. Filing online costs $50. Once the Secretary of State accepts your articles, look up the LLC and confirm the agent and registered office read as you filed them. The Missouri LLC formation guide covers the filing itself, and the cheapest ways to form a Missouri LLC adds up the costs.⁵
2. Set up agent contact details. Give your agent an email and phone you check, and note its renewal date and any notice period.
3. Decide on compliance add-ons. If a formation package included a trial of a compliance plan, decide before it converts to a paid term, given there is no Missouri report to file.
4. Sort out taxes. Ask the Missouri Department of Revenue and the IRS what applies, and keep those dates on a separate list.

Year two and later

1. No state report is due on your anniversary.
2. Your agent service renews on its own cycle. Keep it or switch before any notice deadline.
3. Once a year, check the state record. If the agent or registered office has changed, file the statement of change ($10).³
4. If an agent resigns, name a replacement within the notice period, since the resignation is effective 30 days after receipt, or earlier if a new agent is appointed.⁶

Terms such as administrative cancellation and service of process are defined in our glossary, and what a registered agent is explains the role day to day.