What Is the Illinois LLC Annual Report?
Every LLC registered in Illinois must file an annual report with the Secretary of State. It confirms your LLC's address, registered agent, and member information. The state uses it to verify your LLC still exists and is still operating.
The report itself is straightforward. It asks for your LLC name, file number, principal office address, registered agent details, and the names and addresses of your managers or members. There are no financial disclosures and no tax calculations. It takes about ten minutes if you know where to look and what to enter.
The filing fee is $75, paid to the Illinois Secretary of State. That fee applies whether you file online or by mail, and whether your LLC is domestic or foreign-registered.
When Is Your Annual Report Due?
Your report is due before the first day of your LLC's anniversary month. That's the month your Articles of Organization were originally approved by the Secretary of State. If your LLC was formed on June 15, your annual report is due by June 1 every year.
The Secretary of State mails a reminder to your registered agent about 45 days before the deadline. If you're your own registered agent, that reminder goes to whatever address you listed on file. I've seen plenty of landlords miss it because they moved and forgot to update their registered agent address.
What Happens If You Miss It
Missing your annual report is not a slap on the wrist. It starts a chain of consequences that gets expensive fast.
First, the $100 late penalty kicks in. That turns your $75 filing into $175, and you still have to file the report on top of paying the penalty. If you continue to ignore it, the Secretary of State will administratively dissolve your LLC. That means your LLC no longer exists as a legal entity in Illinois.
When your LLC is dissolved, the liability protection it provided disappears with it. Your rental properties, your bank accounts, and your personal assets are all exposed. If a tenant sues over a security deposit violation or someone gets hurt on your property, there is no LLC standing between that lawsuit and your personal finances.
Reinstatement is possible, but it costs more and takes longer than just filing on time. You'll owe all back annual report fees, all late penalties, and a reinstatement application fee. For an LLC that's been dissolved for two or three years, that bill can reach $500 to $700 in state fees alone before you even talk to an attorney.
How to File It Yourself
I'm going to walk you through the online filing process. If your LLC has 8 or fewer members, you can file online. LLCs with more than 8 members have to file by mail using Form LLC-50.1.
Go to the Secretary of State Portal
Visit the Illinois LLC Annual Report Filing page on the Secretary of State's website. You'll need your LLC's file number to get started. If you don't have it, search for your LLC on the Business Entity Search page first.
Enter Your LLC File Number
Enter the file number assigned to your LLC when it was formed. This is an 8-digit number that starts with your filing year. The system will pull up your LLC's current information on file.
Review and Update Your Information
The form will pre-populate with whatever the Secretary of State has on record. Review everything carefully. Confirm your LLC name, principal office address (must be a physical address, not a P.O. box), registered agent name and address, and the names and addresses of all managers or authorized members.
If anything has changed since your last filing, update it now. This is the most common place where landlords create problems for themselves. If you moved your office, changed your registered agent, or added a new member, the annual report is where you make those changes official.
The portal pre-populates your LLC's general information. Verify everything matches your records.
Review your managers and their addresses. Mismatches here cause problems at closings.
Pay the $75 Filing Fee
The Secretary of State accepts credit cards for online filings. Once you submit payment, the filing is processed immediately. You'll get a confirmation page and a receipt. Save both.
The payment page confirms the $75 fee. A payment processor surcharge applies on top.
Verify Your Filing
After filing, go back to the Business Entity Search and look up your LLC. It should show "Good Standing" with an updated annual report date. If it doesn't update within a few hours, something went wrong with your submission.
After filing, your entity search should show ACTIVE status with the current annual report year.
Why Landlords Hire Us Instead
Filing the annual report itself is not complicated. What's complicated is catching the problems that the form doesn't warn you about.
When I file an annual report for a client, I'm not just submitting a form. I'm checking whether their registered agent is still valid, whether their principal address matches their Operating Agreement, and whether their member and manager information is consistent with what their bank and their insurance company have on file. Mismatches in any of these areas create problems at closings, during lawsuits, and when you try to refinance.
I also flag clients whose LLCs have issues beyond the annual report. If your Operating Agreement hasn't been updated since you formed the LLC, or if you added a property and never amended your records, the annual report filing is when I catch that. A registered agent service won't look at any of this. They submit the form and move on.
When we file for you, the attestation shows your attorney submitting on your behalf.
For landlords with multiple LLCs or a Series LLC, keeping track of anniversary dates across all your entities is a real administrative burden. We track every deadline and file every report. You get a confirmation email when it's done, and you never think about it again until next year.
Pricing
| Service | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Report Filing | $200 | We file your report and pay the $75 state fee for you. You pay one flat fee, nothing else. |
| State filing fee | Included | The $75 Secretary of State fee is covered in our $200 price. |
| Reinstatement (dissolved LLC) | $250 | Attorney fee to prepare and file your reinstatement application. |
| Reinstatement state fees | Varies | Back annual reports ($75/yr), late penalties ($100/yr), and reinstatement fee. You pay these directly to the state. |
- Cheapest option
- No compliance review
- No error checking
- You track the deadline
- No legal guidance
- We track every deadline
- We file and pay the state
- Compliance review included
- Registered agent verification
- Operating Agreement flag
- They track deadline
- They submit the form
- No compliance review
- No legal guidance
- Agent fee billed separately
Never Miss an Annual Report Again
$200. State fee included. We handle everything.
Already Late? Reinstatement Services
If your LLC has already been administratively dissolved, you can bring it back. The Secretary of State allows reinstatement as long as you file all outstanding annual reports, pay all accrued late penalties, and submit a reinstatement application.
The reinstatement filing interface on the Secretary of State's website.
The cost depends on how long your LLC has been dissolved. If you missed one year, you're looking at the $75 annual report fee plus the $100 late penalty plus a reinstatement fee. If you've missed three years, those fees stack. I've seen reinstatement bills from the state reach $600 to $800 for LLCs that have been lapsed for multiple years.
Our fee for handling a reinstatement is $250. That covers preparing the application, filing all back reports, and confirming your LLC is restored to good standing. The state fees are separate because they vary depending on your situation, and you pay those directly to the Secretary of State.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your annual report is due before the first day of your LLC's anniversary month. That's the month your Articles of Organization were approved. For example, if your LLC was formed in March, your report is due by March 1 every year. The first report is due the year after formation.
The state filing fee is $75. If you're late, there's an additional $100 penalty. If you hire us to handle it, our flat fee is $200 and that includes the $75 state fee. You pay one amount and we take care of everything.
If you're within about 60 days past your deadline, you can still file with a $100 late penalty on top of the $75 fee. If you've gone past that window, the Secretary of State will administratively dissolve your LLC. Once dissolved, your liability protection is gone. You'll need to file for reinstatement, which means paying all back fees, penalties, and a reinstatement application. Call us at 630-839-9195 if you're in this situation.
Yes, if your LLC has 8 or fewer members. You file through the Secretary of State's LLC Annual Report portal. You'll need your LLC file number. Online filings are processed immediately. LLCs with more than 8 members must file by mail using Form LLC-50.1.
You need to file all outstanding annual reports, pay all accrued late penalties, and submit a reinstatement application to the Secretary of State. The total cost depends on how many years you've missed. We handle reinstatements for a flat $250 attorney fee, plus whatever state fees are owed. The sooner you reinstate, the lower the total bill.
No. You can file it yourself for $75 on the Secretary of State's website. The form is not complicated. The reason landlords hire us is not the form itself. It's the compliance review that comes with it. We check your registered agent, verify your address matches your Operating Agreement, and flag issues that could cause problems under the 2025 veil-piercing law. For $25 more than a registered agent service, you get an attorney reviewing your LLC's standing.
Yes. The parent Series LLC files a $75 annual report, and each individual series files its own report at $50 per series. So a Series LLC with three series pays $75 + $150 = $225 per year. Compare that to three separate LLCs at $75 each ($225). The savings come from not needing three separate formations, three separate Operating Agreements, and three separate EINs. Learn more in our Series LLC guide.
Further Reading
External resources: Illinois Secretary of State: LLC Annual Report Filing · ILSOS: Annual Report Instructions
$200. State Fee Included. Filed and Done.
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