Do I need an LLC?Arizona LLC cost: $50 to form, $0 a year after
Short answer. For a solo operator in Arizona, the state cost confirmed on official sites is $50 to form (the Articles of Organization, regular processing) and $0 a year after that: Arizona LLCs file no annual report and no annual LLC fee was found. Arizona does tax your profit at a flat 2.5% (2026) whether or not you have an LLC. The one Arizona cost with no official price is newspaper publication, which depends on your statutory agent's county (see the box below). A statutory agent is required but has no price we could confirm. Forming in Wyoming instead costs more ($250 confirmed in the first year), because an Arizona resident still registers in Arizona for $150. Staying a sole proprietor has no state formation fees. City and county business taxes and Arizona transaction privilege tax on software are not computed in the totals.
Informational only. Not legal or tax advice. Confirmed means read on an official government page on 2026-11-03. Estimates are shown apart and are never added to confirmed totals.
The one Arizona cost with no official price: newspaper publication
After the Arizona Corporation Commission files your articles, Arizona law (A.R.S. 29-3201(G)) wants public notice of the filing within 60 days. Which route applies depends on the county of your statutory agent's street address, not where you live.
- Maricopa or Pima county: the Commission posts the notice on its own website. You pay nothing extra and do nothing. The statute's test is a county of more than 800,000 people, and the Commission's instructions name Maricopa and Pima.
- Any other county: you publish a notice in one newspaper of general circulation in that county, three consecutive publications, within 60 days after the Commission files the articles. The newspaper sets its own charge. We found no official price, and this page does not estimate one, so it is in no total.
The Commission's approval letter says whether your filing must be published. Do not publish until the Commission approves the articles. Details, sources and the open questions are on the Arizona LLC publication requirement page. Sources: A.R.S. 29-3201, ACC instructions L010i, ACC Business Services FAQ (read 2026-11-03).
Arizona LLC vs Wyoming LLC vs sole proprietor
| Path | Year one | Each year after |
|---|---|---|
| A. LLC in Arizona | $50 confirmed (Articles of Organization, regular processing) + newspaper publication if your agent's county has 800,000 people or fewer: no official price, not included + Arizona statutory agent: no figure found, not included | $0 confirmed (no annual report, no annual LLC fee found) + Arizona statutory agent if you do not serve as your own: no figure found, not included |
| B. LLC in Wyoming + register in Arizona | $250 confirmed ($100 Wyoming + $150 Arizona Foreign Registration Statement) + Wyoming registered agent and Arizona statutory agent: no figures found, not included | $60 confirmed ($60 Wyoming minimum annual report) Whether Arizona charges a foreign LLC any annual fee: not verified + both agents, no figures found |
| C. Sole proprietor (baseline) | $0: free EIN from the IRS, separate bank account + trade name registration if you use a business name: not verified, not in the total | $0 in state fees; no annual report |
Not in any total above: newspaper publication (no official price), a statutory agent (no commercial price found), expedited processing, a trade name registration, your federal income and self-employment tax, Arizona income tax at 2.5% on your profit, bank fees, the $12 transaction privilege tax license and Arizona TPT on software (not computed in the totals; the sourced rules are in the section below), city and county business taxes and licenses (not covered), and any attorney or CPA time.
Arizona LLC fees, line by line
| Fee | Amount | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Articles of Organization (Form L010) | $50 regular processing | verified 2026-11-03 | ACC Fee Schedule - LLCs; ACC instructions L010i |
| Expedited processing of the Articles | +$35 ($85 total); +$100 next day, +$200 same day, +$400 two-hour | verified 2026-11-03, optional, not in totals | ACC instructions L010i. The ACC FAQ says "You can file Articles of Organization online for $85", which equals the expedited total; which price the online screens charge was not checked. |
| Annual report / annual LLC fee | none: "No, LLCs are not required to file annual reports." | verified 2026-11-03 | ACC Business Services FAQ |
| Statement of Change of statutory agent or principal address | $5 ($40 expedited) | verified 2026-11-03 | ACC Fee Schedule - LLCs |
| Application for Reinstatement after administrative dissolution | $100 ($135 expedited), plus all fees and penalties due | verified 2026-11-03 | ACC Fee Schedule - LLCs; A.R.S. 29-3709 |
| Foreign LLC Foreign Registration Statement (Form L025) | $150 ($185 expedited) | verified 2026-11-03 | ACC Fee Schedule - LLCs; ACC instructions L025i |
| Penalty for registering a foreign LLC late | no amount found | not verified, not in totals | The statute states no fine, only that an unregistered foreign LLC cannot bring a lawsuit in Arizona (A.R.S. 29-3902). |
| Newspaper publication of the notice of filing | no official price; set by the newspaper | unresolved, not in totals | A.R.S. 29-3201. Applies only if the agent's county has 800,000 people or fewer. |
| Filing an affidavit of publication with the ACC | no fee found | not verified | Optional; the ACC fee schedule lists no such item (ACC FAQ). |
| Arizona statutory agent | no figure | unresolved | Required (ACC instructions L010i); free if you act as your own agent from an Arizona street address, and private companies set the price otherwise. |
| Arizona transaction privilege tax (TPT) license | $12 per location | verified 2026-11-03, not in totals | ADOR TPT License |
| Arizona annual LLC tax or franchise tax | none found | not verified | No official page states it; absence is not proof. Confirm with the Department of Revenue. |
| Wyoming Articles of Organization | $100 | verified | Wyoming SOS fee schedule, effective July 1, 2026 |
| Wyoming annual report license tax | $60 minimum | verified | Same schedule: $60 or two-tenths of one mill on Wyoming assets, whichever is greater. |
| Wyoming registered agent | no figure | unresolved | Private companies set the price. |
| EIN | $0 | verified 2026-10-31 | IRS: "You never have to pay a fee for an EIN." |
| Trade name registration (sole proprietor) | $10 for five years, reported in a search summary | not verified, not in totals | The Secretary of State handbook page was not read. |
Why Wyoming does not help an Arizona resident
A Wyoming LLC doing business in Arizona must register with the Commission first: a foreign LLC "may not do business in this state until" it registers (A.R.S. 29-3902). The Foreign Registration Statement costs $150 and needs a certificate of existence or good standing from Wyoming dated not more than 60 days before delivery, plus a certified copy of the organizational documents (ACC instructions L025i). You pay Wyoming's $100 and $60 on top, and Arizona taxes your profit at the same flat 2.5% wherever the LLC was formed. Arizona's newspaper publication requirement does not apply to foreign LLCs (L025i: "Is publication required? No."), which is the one thing the Wyoming route skips, and it is not enough to offset $200 of extra confirmed fees in year one.
Arizona taxes: what an LLC does and does not change
The IRS treats a single-member LLC as "disregarded as separate from its owner": you report profit on Schedule C and pay self-employment tax as a sole proprietor would. Arizona's flat income tax rate is 2.5% (Arizona Department of Revenue), paid by the owner on the owner's return. Federal estimated tax for 2026 is due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15, 2027 (Form 1040-ES). Arizona's own estimated payments use the same dates but a different trigger, covered below.
What is different about forming in Arizona: publication, the statutory agent and TPT
Six Arizona-specific points for a solo app or SaaS founder, each from an Arizona government page read on 2026-11-03. Informational only, not legal or tax advice.
- Publication depends on your statutory agent's county. If the agent's street address is in a county of more than 800,000 people (Maricopa and Pima per the Commission), the Commission posts the notice itself. Anywhere else, you publish three times in a local newspaper within 60 days, at a price no official source states. See the publication requirement page. Sources: A.R.S. 29-3201, ACC instructions L010i.
- No annual report and no annual LLC fee. The Commission's Business Services FAQ answers: "No, LLCs are not required to file annual reports." That is why Arizona's recurring state cost is $0. Source: ACC Business Services FAQ.
- The agent is a "statutory agent", and a non-resident founder probably needs a paid one. An individual agent "must be a permanent, full-time resident of the State of Arizona" with a permanent, full-time Arizona street address, and "an LLC cannot be its own Statutory Agent". If you live outside Arizona, you will probably need a commercial agent, whose price no official source states. Losing the agent or address matters: the Commission may start administrative dissolution if the LLC goes 60 consecutive days without a statutory agent or principal address, and after notice the LLC has 60 days to cure. Reinstatement costs $100 plus the fees and penalties due. Sources: ACC instructions L010i, A.R.S. 29-3708, fee schedule, A.R.S. 29-3709.
- Arizona taxes gross receipts through transaction privilege tax (TPT), not a sales tax. A TPT license costs $12 per location (ADOR). Whether your software is taxable is not verified. One Department of Revenue ruling, LR 17-001 (January 3, 2017), treated one taxpayer's web-hosted software as taxable under the personal property rental classification when received from Arizona customers, but it binds only the taxpayer who asked. It is not verified for your product: ask the Arizona Department of Revenue before you sell to Arizona customers.
- Remote-seller threshold: $100,000. The Department of Revenue says a remote seller or out-of-state marketplace facilitator must hold a TPT license once it meets the economic threshold, stated as $100,000 of sales to Arizona customers in the current calendar year; the license costs $12. Whether your product is taxable at all is a separate question (previous item). Source: ADOR licensing and renewal.
- Flat 2.5% income tax, paid on the owner's return. The Department of Revenue states the rate for tax year 2023 and beyond as 2.5% (ADOR); a single-member LLC is disregarded, so you pay it on your own Arizona return. Estimated payments for 2026 are due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15, 2027, but Arizona's trigger is not the federal $1,000: ADOR says estimated payments are required if Arizona gross income was at least $75,000 (single, head of household, married filing separately) or $150,000 (married filing jointly) in both 2025 and 2026, and payments must total 90% of the current-year tax or 100% of the prior-year tax. Source: ADOR individual estimated tax payments.
City and county business taxes, licenses and city transaction privilege tax are not covered here and are not in any total. Arizona has no statewide business license, but most cities and towns issue their own.
What this Arizona page doesn't tell you
Whether you need an LLC yet, which line of the table applies to you, your statutory agent's county, your own dates (estimated taxes), or whether to ask a CPA about an S-corp. The calculator takes your answers and returns a verdict, your numbers and a dated checklist you can download as a PDF and calendar file.
Arizona LLC questions
How much does it cost to form an LLC in Arizona?
The confirmed state cost to form is $50 for the Articles of Organization (Form L010) at regular processing, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission fee schedule. Arizona has no annual report and no annual LLC fee, so the state cost is $50 in year one and $0 a year after that. Newspaper publication, which applies only in some counties, is a separate cost with no official price. A statutory agent is required, but no commercial price was found, so none is included.
What does an Arizona LLC cost every year?
The confirmed recurring state cost is $0. The Arizona Corporation Commission says LLCs are not required to file annual reports, and no annual LLC fee was found. A statutory agent costs extra if you do not serve as your own, and that price is not included. Filing a change of agent or address costs $5.
Does an Arizona LLC have to publish a notice in a newspaper?
It depends on the county of your statutory agent's street address. If that county has more than 800,000 people (the Commission names Maricopa and Pima), the Commission posts the notice on its website and you do nothing. In any other county, A.R.S. 29-3201(G) requires a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in that county, three consecutive publications within 60 days after the Commission files your articles. No official price exists, so none is included in any total.
Is a Wyoming LLC cheaper for an Arizona resident?
No. An Arizona resident forming in Wyoming still registers the LLC in Arizona for $150 and also pays Wyoming's $100 formation fee and $60 minimum annual report, so the confirmed total is $250 in year one and $60 a year after, against $50 and $0 for an Arizona LLC.
Do I need a statutory agent in Arizona?
Yes. Arizona calls the registered agent a statutory agent. An individual agent must be a permanent, full-time Arizona resident with an Arizona street address, and the LLC cannot be its own statutory agent. A non-resident founder will probably need a paid agent, and no commercial price was found.
Do I pay less income tax with an LLC?
Not by default. A single-member LLC is disregarded for federal tax, so you report profit on Schedule C and pay self-employment tax as a sole proprietor would. Arizona taxes the profit at a flat 2.5% on your own return either way.