Wisconsin — statewide
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services
In short
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services issues 4 permits we publish for Wisconsin — 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 | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services | $100 one-time filing, on paper or online | perpetual, but an annual report is due each year | 2026-09-03 |
| General Business License — Wisconsin positiononly if it applies to you | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-03 |
| Articles of Organization (LLC)only if it applies to you | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services | $130 one-time online filing plus a $1 portal fee; $170 on paper | perpetual, but an annual report is due each year | 2026-09-03 |
| Annual Reportonly if it applies to you | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services | $25 a year online; $40 on paper, which is the $25 plus a $15 paper surcharge | annual — due at the end of the calendar quarter containing the anniversary 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
A flat $100 with no authorised-shares component at all, which is worth stating because several states — Texas, Delaware and Nevada among them — scale this fee by how many shares you authorise. Wisconsin makes you declare a share count on the application and then charges the same regardless. Filing online adds only the one-dollar portal fee, so unlike an LLC there is no meaningful paper-versus-online difference. A nonstock corporation is much cheaper at $35.
General Business License — Wisconsin position
No fee is recorded. Wisconsin's One Stop Business Portal, the state's single point of entry for opening a business, describes the basic requirements most new businesses need as three registrations — entity registration with the Department of Financial Institutions, business tax registration with the Department of Revenue and an unemployment insurance assessment for the Department of Workforce Development — and that list contains no general licensing step. What applies beyond those registrations is activity-specific licensing plus whatever the municipality requires. The portal page does not itself use the words 'general business license'; this record rests on its list of what a new business must do.
Articles of Organization (LLC)
Forty dollars cheaper online than on paper, and the saving applies only to LLCs — a corporation costs $100 either way. Expediting is available and steep: $100 for next business day, $250 for four hours over the counter and $500 for one. All fees are non-refundable. Note that the department's fee table shows foreign entities at a hundred dollars with a plus sign, and what the plus covers is not explained anywhere published, so no foreign registration figure is recorded here.
Annual Report
An LLC and a corporation pay the same, and the paper price is simply the online price plus the fifteen-dollar surcharge the department introduced in March 2024 — the two documents reconcile exactly. The due date is not a fixed calendar day: it is the end of whichever calendar quarter contains the anniversary of your registration, so a business formed in February files by 31 March every year. Foreign entities always file by 31 March. There is no monetary late penalty at all — the consequence is delinquent status and, after an extended period, administrative dissolution, with reinstatement requiring the accumulated per-year fees.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Wisconsin — statewide
- Phone
- (608) 261-7577
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.
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — annual report due date and the consequence of delinquencyWisconsin Department of Financial Institutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — business entity feesWisconsin Department of Financial Institutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Wisconsin form 5-I — annual report instructions, the paper surcharge and the quarterly due-date tableWisconsin Department of Financial Institutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Wisconsin form CORP2 — Articles of Incorporation, stating the $100 filing feeWisconsin Department of Financial Institutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Wisconsin form CORP502 — Articles of Organization, stating the $170 filing feeWisconsin Department of Financial Institutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
- Wisconsin One Stop Business Portal — the three registrations the state says most new businesses needState of Wisconsin · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other Wisconsin statewide offices
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Food and Recreational Safety
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, Division of Industry Services
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Bureau of Consumer Protection
- Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, Bureau of Early Care Regulation
- Wisconsin Department of Revenue
- Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, Barbering and Cosmetology Examining Board
- Wisconsin Veterinary Examining Board
Wisconsin jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.