Washington — statewide
Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division
In short
Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division issues 3 permits we publish for Washington — 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 | Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division | $180 one-time filing on paper; $200 online | no expiry, but a $70 annual report is due each year | 2026-09-03 |
| Certificate of Formation (LLC)only if it applies to you | Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division | $180 one-time filing on paper; $200 online | no expiry, but a $70 annual report is due each year | 2026-09-03 |
| Annual Reportonly if it applies to you | Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division | $70 a year | annual — due the last day of the month the entity was formed or registered | 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 rule treats an LLC's certificate of formation and a corporation's articles as the same thing — the public organic record — and prices both at $180, with no share-based component. So Washington gives no filing-cost reason to prefer one structure over the other, at formation or afterwards, since the annual report is $70 either way. There is also an initial report due within a hundred and twenty days of formation, free if filed with the formation document and $10 if left until later.
Certificate of Formation (LLC)
$180 by post and $200 online, because Washington charges a $20 surcharge for filing online rather than a discount — the reverse of most states, and easy to miss since the fee tables print only the $180. Annual reports are expressly exempt from that surcharge. A corporation costs exactly the same $180; a nonprofit is $80, or $40 if it grosses under half a million. Expediting adds $100 for three days or $150 for same day. Name reservation is $30 for a hundred and eighty days and cannot be done online at all.
Annual Report
$70 for an LLC and $70 for a corporation, with no online surcharge — annual reports are one of the few filings the $20 charge does not touch. The due date is the last day of the entity's own formation month rather than a common calendar date, and filing up to a hundred and eighty days early does not move it. Late costs $25, taking it to $95, and reinstatement after administrative dissolution is $140 plus every missed year. The Secretary of State sends a courtesy notice sixty days out but the statute is explicit that failing to send it does not excuse the filing. A nonprofit pays $10.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Washington — statewide
- Phone
- (360) 725-0377
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.
- WAC 434-112-060 — annual report due dateWashington Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- WAC 434-112-075 — the $20 online processing fee and its exemptionsWashington Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- WAC 434-112-085 — Secretary of State corporations and charities fee scheduleWashington Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other Washington statewide offices
- Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
- Washington State Department of Health, Food Safety Program
- Washington State Department of Revenue, Business Licensing Service
- Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families
- Washington State Department of Health, Veterinary Board of Governors
- Washington State Department of Licensing, Cosmetology Program
- Washington State Office of the Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division
Washington jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.