Minnesota — statewide
Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division
In short
Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division issues 4 permits we publish for Minnesota — statewide, last verified 2026-09-03. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles of Incorporationonly if it applies to you | Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division | $135 one-time filing by post; $155 online or in person | perpetual, subject to a free annual renewal every December | 2026-09-03 |
| General Business License — Minnesota state positiononly if it applies to you | Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division | No fee | set by the city | 2026-09-03 |
| Articles of Organization (LLC)only if it applies to you | Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division | $135 one-time filing by post; $155 online or in person | perpetual, subject to a free annual renewal every December | 2026-09-03 |
| Annual Renewalonly if it applies to you | Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services Division | No fee | annual — due by 31 December every year after the year of formation | 2026-09-03 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Articles of Incorporation
The same $135 as an LLC, with no share-based component, so Minnesota gives no filing-cost reason to prefer either structure — and the annual renewal is free for both. The same twenty-dollar expedited premium applies online or in person. A foreign corporation pays considerably more to qualify, at $200 by post.
General Business License — Minnesota state position
Minnesota's own start-up guide, A Guide to Starting a Small Business in Minnesota, describes state licensure entirely in terms of specific activities, trades and professions, and reserves the words general business license for the local tier, noting that some local governments require one involving no more than registration and payment of a fee; that guide names no state general business license, so there is no state fee for one. The state's directory of licenses is organised by regulated activity with no omnibus entry. Minneapolis and St Paul both run licensing departments, so a city license is a real possibility even though a state one is not.
Articles of Organization (LLC)
Post is the cheap channel in Minnesota, which is the reverse of almost everywhere else. The extra twenty dollars online or over the counter is an expedited-service premium, not a convenience charge: the Secretary of State processes mail on an ordinary first-come queue and treats online and in-person filings as expedited, typically two to five business days. A corporation costs the same $135, a nonprofit $70. The recurring obligation is free but real — see the annual renewal.
Annual Renewal
No fee at all for a domestic LLC, corporation, nonprofit, cooperative or limited partnership, on any filing channel — but it is compulsory, and free does not mean optional. Miss it and a corporation is administratively dissolved and an LLC administratively terminated at the end of that calendar year, with a foreign entity's authority revoked. The saving grace is that reinstatement is retroactive: it restores the entity as of the dissolution date and validates contracts entered in the meantime. An entity inactive more than six years cannot be reinstated online at all. Foreign corporations and limited liability partnerships do pay, at $115 and $135 by post.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Minnesota — statewide
- Phone
- (651) 296-2803
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- A Guide To Starting a Business in Minnesota, forty-third edition, January 2025 — the state's own start-up guide and directory of licenses and permitsMinnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Minnesota Secretary of State — business filing and certification fee scheduleOffice of the Minnesota Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- Minnesota Statutes section 302A.821 — the annual corporate renewal, its December deadline and administrative dissolutionMinnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Minnesota Statutes section 322C.0201 — an LLC is formed when articles are filed with a payment of $135Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Minnesota Statutes section 322C.0705 — an LLC that has not filed a renewal is administratively terminatedMinnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other Minnesota statewide offices
- Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Construction Codes and Licensing Division
- Minnesota Department of Health, Food, Pools and Lodging Services
- Minnesota Board of Barber Examiners
- Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners
- Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine
- Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families
- Minnesota Department of Revenue, Business Registration
Minnesota jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.