North Carolina — statewide
North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division
In short
North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division issues 4 permits we publish for North Carolina — 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 Organization (LLC)only if it applies to you | North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division | $125 one-time filing | no expiry, but an annual report is due every 15 April | 2026-09-03 |
| Annual Reportonly if it applies to you | North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division | $21–$203 a year — $21 to $25 for a corporation, $200 to $203 for an LLC | annual — 15 April for an LLC | 2026-09-03 |
| Articles of Incorporationonly if it applies to you | North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division | $125 one-time filing | no expiry, but an annual report is due each year | 2026-09-03 |
| General Business License — North Carolina Secretary of State Positiononly if it applies to you | North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division | No fee | not applicable | 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 Organization (LLC)
$125 to form either an LLC or a corporation — North Carolina does not price them differently at formation. What differs is afterwards, and dramatically: an LLC's annual report costs $200 while a corporation's costs $25. A foreign entity registering to do business here pays $250. Filing electronically adds a non-refundable surcharge of $3 by card or $2 by bank transfer, charged even if the filing is rejected.
Annual Report
An eightfold difference by entity type, and the online-versus-paper premium runs in opposite directions for each. An LLC pays a flat $200 statutory fee, so filing online costs more at $203 once the card surcharge is added. A corporation pays $25 on paper but only $18 electronically, so filing online costs less at $21, or $20 by bank transfer. Paper is also punishingly slow — the Secretary of State warns a paper report can take up to a hundred and eighty days to be filed, against immediate filing online. Ignore it altogether and the state may dissolve the business. Nonprofit corporations do not file one at all.
Articles of Incorporation
The same $125 as an LLC to form, but the running cost is a fraction of it: a corporation's annual report is $25 on paper or $21 filed online, against $200 for an LLC. That reversal is worth knowing before choosing a structure in North Carolina, because over ten years it is the difference between $250 and $2,000. A corporation's report is due on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after its fiscal year end rather than on a fixed date.
General Business License — North Carolina Secretary of State Position
There is no state fee to record here. The Secretary of State's licenses and permits page states that North Carolina has no single generic business license that will ensure compliance with all requirements, that there are over 700 regulatory, state-issued and occupational licenses and permits, and that a local license may also be required. The statutes that let cities and counties levy a general privilege license tax, G.S. 160A-211 and G.S. 153A-152, were both repealed by Session Laws 2014-3 effective 1 July 2015, so a municipality can now charge one only where a separate statute or local act says so. Pages still advertising a general municipal privilege license are describing a repealed power. The Department of Revenue's privilege license tax page records the professional privilege tax as repealed effective 1 July 2024, while G.S. 105-88 still levies $250 a year for each location on lending, check cashing and pawnbroking businesses. What replaces the general license is the industry-specific one: the state's Business and Occupational License Database lists over nine hundred license types.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina — statewide
- Phone
- (919) 814-5400
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.
- North Carolina Department of Revenue — privilege license tax, and the 1 July 2024 repeal of professional privilege licensesNorth Carolina Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- North Carolina Secretary of State — annual report fees and due datesNorth Carolina Department of the Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- North Carolina Secretary of State — business registration fee scheduleNorth Carolina Department of the Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- North Carolina Secretary of State — licenses and permits, confirming there is no single generic state business licenseNorth Carolina Department of the Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other North Carolina statewide offices
- North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Environmental Health Section
- North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Investigative Services Unit
- North Carolina Board of Barber and Electrolysis Examiners
- North Carolina Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners
- North Carolina Department of Revenue
- North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education
- North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors
- North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board
North Carolina jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.