Staying compliant in Wisconsin

How does the Wisconsin annual report work?

The Annual Report (Form 5) is due once a year, starting the calendar year after your LLC registers, and you file it within the calendar quarter that holds your registration anniversary, for $25 online or $40 by mail.^{1, 2}

When it is due

The deadline is a quarter, not a date. Count from the month DFI registered your LLC.

• Registered in February: report during January to March in each later year.
• Registered in May: report during April to June.
• Registered in October: report during October to December.

Nothing is due in the calendar year of formation. An LLC registered in December files nothing until the October to December quarter of the following calendar year. If you assume the report falls on your exact anniversary, you can end up filing in the wrong quarter or missing the window, so put the quarter on your calendar, not the day.

What it costs and how to file

The fee is $25 online or $40 by mail, and the paper form itself notes a $15.00 paper surcharge. Filing online costs less, and the department says online filings are usually accepted on receipt with immediate notice.^{1, 2, 4}

What the report asks for

The form asks for your registered agent's name, e-mail and office address, the principal office address, and at least one manager or member. For a manager-managed LLC the instruction reads: "If management is vested in managers, provide the name of at least one manager." Member-managed LLCs list a member instead.⁵

Because the agent appears on the report, DFI's FAQ notes that the agent can also be changed on the annual report. If you were planning to switch agents anyway and your quarter is close, that can save a separate filing.⁶

Our explainer on how annual reports work across states covers the general idea. For nearby states, see staying compliant in Minnesota and staying compliant in Illinois.

Does Wisconsin charge LLCs a franchise tax?

Wisconsin has no separate LLC franchise tax. The state follows how the IRS classifies your LLC: a pass-through LLC's income flows to its owners, and an LLC taxed as a corporation pays Wisconsin corporate franchise or income tax.³

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue states the rule in its LLC publication: "An LLC that is treated as a corporation under the IRC is treated as a corporation for Wisconsin purposes." Owners of an LLC taxed as a partnership or disregarded entity report its income on their own returns.³

For a pass-through LLC, the recurring DFI filing covered on this page is the annual report ($25 online, $40 by mail). Sales tax, payroll withholding and any local licences are separate obligations that depend on what you sell and whether you have staff. Ask the Department of Revenue which registrations apply, and ask a tax professional before electing corporate treatment, since that changes which Wisconsin tax applies. Keep these tax dates on their own list.²

What happens if a Wisconsin LLC misses its annual report?

DFI charges no late fee for a missed report; instead, the LLC becomes delinquent, and the department's rule is that "Delinquent status may be cured by filing a current annual report and paying the back annual report fees."¹

Delinquency is the first stage, and it is fixable without a penalty on top. You file the current Annual Report (Form 5) and pay for each report you skipped, at $25 online, $40 by mail apiece.¹

The risk grows if delinquency goes unaddressed. DFI runs an administrative dissolution process and keeps a dissolution notice list. DFI's page for that list states: "There are no late fees or penalties." The time a delinquent LLC has before dissolution, and the statute that sets it, were not verified for this guide, so they are not stated here. A dissolution notice from DFI is the point to file the overdue reports at once, without waiting to learn the exact date.¹

The sources checked for this page do not include a published reinstatement fee or form. Ask DFI how reinstatement works after an administrative dissolution and what past-due amounts apply to your record. If the business kept trading or signed contracts while dissolved, talk to a lawyer about where that leaves you.

For what a gap in your registered agent means on its own, see the Wisconsin registered agent requirements.

How do you keep your Wisconsin registered agent current?

Keep a registered agent with a Wisconsin office that is an actual physical location with a street address on record at all times (Wis. Stat. § 183.0115), and update DFI when the agent, the office, or the agent's e-mail changes, either on the annual report or on a standalone statement.⁷

Changes between reports

The Statement of Change of Registered Agent (Form 13) costs $10 online, $25 by mail. It covers more than a new agent. The fee statute lists changes to the registered agent's name, e-mail address, or street address, so an agent who moves offices or changes e-mail also triggers a filing. Online filings are usually accepted on receipt with immediate notice. File the change before you cancel an old service, so the record never shows a gap. The step-by-step guide to changing agents covers the order, and cancelling a registered agent service covers the provider side.^{2, 4, 6}

What a provider's compliance features do in Wisconsin

Most of the plans below charge their own fee on top of the state fee, so compare them with filing yourself. Here is what several providers publish, listed by our score, highest first.

• Tailor Brands puts annual report filing in its Essential and Elite plans, not in Lite.⁸
• ZenBusiness sells a single filing (Annual Report Filing $100 per report) or a recurring plan (Worry-Free Compliance $199/year).⁹
• LegalZoom lists a one-time annual report filing ($99 + state filing fees, bills once).¹⁰
• Swyft Filings sells a filing plan (ComplianceGuard $199/year) whose terms are a 14-day free trial then auto-charged; an owner who plans to file alone would cancel before the trial ends.¹¹
• Northwest Registered Agent files the report for $100 + state fees, charged at filing.¹²
• InCorp Services charges $89 + state fees.¹³
• Harbor Compliance charges $199 per state per year plus filing fees.¹⁴

Set those prices against filing the report yourself, which costs $25 online. What a plan adds is someone else tracking the quarter and filing. Some agent services include reminders on their own; Bizee (formerly Incfile), for example, advertises free lifetime compliance notifications with its agent service.^{2, 15}

Two other terms are worth reading. One is forwarding of DFI notices, including any delinquency or dissolution notice, to an inbox you actually read. The other is clear renewal terms for the agent itself: InCorp Services renews at $129 per year flat rate, and Harbor Compliance renews at $159 annually and needs notice of non-renewal at least 90 days before the end of the current term. Side-by-side prices are on the Wisconsin registered agent comparison, and the compliance-focused list shows which providers file reports for you.^{16, 17, 18}

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

In the first calendar year a Wisconsin LLC has no annual report to file, so year one is about setup; from the next calendar year on, the work centres on one report window each year.

Year one

1. Articles filed. DFI registers the LLC, and the month it does so fixes your report quarter for every later year. The filing steps are in the Wisconsin LLC formation guide, and the full cost picture is on the cheapest ways to form a Wisconsin LLC.
2. Mark your quarter. Write down which calendar quarter your future report window falls in.
3. Confirm the agent's details: name, Wisconsin street office and e-mail, since each one goes on the report.
4. Taxes. Ask the Department of Revenue and the IRS which registrations apply to you, and keep those deadlines on a separate list.

Year two and later

1. File the Annual Report (Form 5) during your quarter; it costs $25 online. Check the agent and office details as you go, and change them on the report if needed.^{1, 2}
2. Renew or replace your agent. If you use a paid service, note its renewal date and any notice period in its terms.
3. If you miss a quarter, file the current report and pay the back fees as soon as you notice, before delinquency moves toward dissolution.
4. File a Statement of Change of Registered Agent (Form 13) between reports whenever the agent, office or agent e-mail changes.⁶

Terms used here, such as administrative dissolution, are defined in our glossary. For what an agent does day to day, read what a registered agent is.