What does Connecticut actually require of an LLC each year?
Connecticut keeps this relatively simple compared with states that layer a franchise tax on top. A Connecticut LLC's core recurring obligation is a single annual report filed with the Connecticut Secretary of the State. It is an informational filing, not a tax return: its job is to keep the state's record of your company current.
The annual report confirms the LLC's principal office address, its mailing address, the name and address of its registered agent, and the managers or members responsible for the company. None of that is complicated, but it has to be refreshed every year, even when nothing has changed since the last filing. The point of the report is not to collect new facts so much as to confirm the state still has accurate ones and that the entity is still active and reachable.
Because the report is what keeps the LLC in good standingskipping it has consequences that go well beyond a late fee. Good standing is what banks, lenders, and counterparties check before doing business with you, and it is what the state relies on to know the entity is still operating. Let the report lapse and that standing erodes.
When is the Connecticut annual report due?
For LLCs, the annual report is generally due by March 31 each year. Connecticut uses a fixed annual deadline rather than tying the due date to your formation anniversary, which makes it easy to remember but also easy to assume it does not apply to a company formed late in the year, it still does, starting the year after formation.
The state sends reminders to the address and email on file, but those notices get lost, filtered, or sent to an old registered agent, and the deadline does not move because a reminder never arrived. The safest habit is to treat the first quarter of each year as annual-report season. Because the exact date and any change to the schedule can be confirmed on the Secretary of the State's business portal, check there if you are unsure of your specific deadline.
How much does it cost and how do you file?
The filing fee for an LLC annual report is commonly around $80. That amount has been steady, but fees are the kind of figure that changes without much fanfare, so treat $80 as the expected amount and confirm the current fee at the point of filing. It is a flat fee for the informational filing and does not scale with the LLC's revenue.
You file online through the Secretary of the State's business portal, which is the fastest route and gives you immediate confirmation. You will need your entity's business ID, the current addresses, your registered agent details, and the names and addresses of the managers or members. If nothing has changed since last year, you still file, Connecticut expects an annual confirmation even when the answer is “no change.”
One practical note on who files: the report can be submitted by a member, a manager, or an authorized agent, and many owners have their registered agent or accountant handle it as a matter of routine. That is fine, but it creates a trap, if you assume someone else is filing and they assume you are, the report gets missed by both. If you use a third party, confirm in writing each year whose job the annual report is, and keep a copy of the filed confirmation for your own records. That confirmation is also what you point to if a bank or counterparty asks for evidence the entity is current, which they often do before a loan, a lease, or a sale closes.
Whatever happened to Connecticut's Business Entity Tax?
This trips up people reading older guides. Connecticut used to charge every LLC a separate Business Entity Taxa flat biennial tax paid to the Department of Revenue Services on top of the annual report. That tax was repealedso LLCs no longer pay it. Many outdated articles still list it as a current cost; it is not.
What remains is the annual report fee. An operating Connecticut LLC also files income tax returns and may owe pass-through entity taxes depending on how it is taxed, but the flat entity-level tax that once applied to the mere existence of the LLC is gone. If a source tells you a Connecticut LLC owes a separate biennial entity tax, check the date on it, that guidance is out of step with the current rules.
What happens if you file late, or not at all?
Miss the annual report and the LLC falls out of good standing. Continued failure to file can lead the Secretary of the State to administratively dissolve the entity. An administratively dissolved LLC loses the legal right to carry on business under its name, and the loss of standing can surface at the worst possible moment, when you are trying to open an account, sign a contract, or sell the business.
Bringing a lapsed LLC back means reinstatement: filing every overdue annual report and paying the associated fees to restore good standing. That is always more expensive and slower than filing on time, and it is far more expensive than closing an entity you were never going to use again. If the LLC has quietly gone dormant, the reinstatement math is a strong argument for closing it instead.
Updating information you already filed
If your principal office, mailing address, registered agent, or management changes, the annual report is where that information gets refreshed each year, and you can file an update when a change happens outside the annual window. Keeping it current matters because the address on file is where the state sends the reminders you are relying on. Changing the LLC's legal name or other formation details is a separate step, an amendment to the certificate of organization, not an annual report update.
How does dissolving the LLC end the obligation?
Here is the part most compliance guides skip. The annual report exists only because the LLC exists. Formally dissolving the LLC ends it.
In Connecticut, an LLC winds down by filing a Certificate of Dissolution with the Secretary of the State. Once the dissolution is processed, the entity no longer exists, and no further annual reports accrue for future years. You should wrap up your final federal and state tax returns as part of winding down, but the recurring annual report obligation ends with the entity.
This is why, if you have stopped using a Connecticut LLC, the honest math usually favours closing it rather than filing another annual report and paying another fee to keep a dormant company on the books. We walk through the exact steps, forms and order on our guide to dissolving an LLC in Connecticutand the broader mechanics on how to dissolve an LLC. If the company ever obtained an EIN, remember that the state dissolution does not close your IRS business accountthat is a separate final step.
Deciding what to do next
If the LLC is active and you intend to keep it, the path is simple: file the annual report by March 31, pay the fee, and keep your addresses and agent details current. If the LLC has served its purpose, the more sensible move is usually to close it cleanly so the annual report stops for good rather than paying to keep a dormant company on life support.
We do not sell annual-report filing, our work is dissolution, closing a Connecticut LLC properly so the Secretary of the State agrees it is done and your federal tax account is closed too. If you are weighing keep-it versus close-it, a specialist can talk it through with you first and tell you plainly which way the numbers point for your situation. Compare the wider picture on the LLC annual report hub.