A Nevada LLC shows up on almost every "best state to form an LLC" list, usually right next to Wyoming and Delaware. No state income tax, a reputation for privacy, business-friendly rules. Most of that holds up. What the lists tend to skip is the actual bill: Nevada is one of the more expensive states to form an LLC in, and one of the more expensive ones to keep open every year after that. Here is what it really costs, where the privacy claim gets oversold, and the one tax exception almost nobody selling Nevada LLCs bothers to mention.
What a Nevada LLC actually costs to form
Some registered agent sites advertise Nevada LLC formation as a "$75 filing fee." That covers the Articles of Organization only, and it is not the whole bill. Nevada requires three filings submitted together through the state’s SilverFlume portal: the Articles of Organization ($75), an Initial List of Managers or Members ($150), and a State Business License ($200). Total: $425 before a registered agent or an attorney gets paid anything. You cannot file just the Articles and call the LLC active. The state will not activate it until all three pieces are in.
For comparison, Wyoming’s formation fee is $100 by mail or $102 online, full stop, and Delaware’s is $110. Nevada’s $425 buys the same underlying structure plus a state with no personal or corporate income tax, which is the real selling point once the marketing number gets corrected.
The $350 a year that does not make the headline
Formation is one-time. Staying open costs an Annual List ($150) and a Business License renewal ($200) every year, filed together, due by the last day of the LLC’s anniversary month rather than a fixed calendar date. That is $350 a year, indefinitely. Wyoming charges $60 a year for its annual report. Georgia charges $60. New Mexico charges nothing at all, no annual report of any kind. Nevada is not the cheap option among the no-income-tax states, and treating it as one only works if the comparison stops at "no income tax" and never reaches the annual bill.
Miss the deadline and Nevada adds a $75 late penalty on the Annual List (NRS 86.272) and a separate $100 late penalty on the Business License renewal (NRS 76.130), on top of the $350 already due. Stay unpaid and the LLC’s status changes to "default" on the public record, then to "revoked" after roughly a year. Reinstatement is possible for five years after revocation, paying every year of back fees plus penalties in one lump sum. Past five years, standard reinstatement is off the table under NRS 86.276, though Nevada’s own instructions describe a separate revival process, filed as a Certificate of Revival, for entities in that position. Revival is not the same as reinstatement and does not restore the entity’s unbroken existence through the lapsed years. See our Nevada business search guide for how the status labels and the revival process actually work.
No income tax does not mean no tax at all
The headline claim is accurate: Nevada has no personal income tax and no corporate income tax, real savings for an LLC taxed as a pass-through entity. What most Nevada LLC pitches leave out is the Commerce Tax, a gross-receipts tax that applies once an entity’s Nevada-sourced gross revenue passes $4 million in a fiscal year running July 1 to June 30. The rate depends on industry classification, and the return is due 45 days after the fiscal year closes, which puts this year’s deadline at August 14, 2026. Below $4 million, there is nothing to file, and most small LLCs never get close. But "Nevada has no business tax, period" is not accurate for a company that scales past that line, and it gets stated as unconditional more often than it should.
The privacy claim needs a caveat
Nevada often gets grouped with Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico as a state where LLC ownership never touches the public record. Our own Delaware guide lists it that way too. That grouping does not actually hold for Nevada. The Initial List, and every Annual List after it, does not require non-managing members to be named, so a passive owner with no management role can stay off the public filing. But a manager, or a managing member if the LLC is member-managed, has to be named, and that name is public on the Secretary of State’s website, refiled every year for as long as the LLC exists.
Wyoming’s formation filing, by contrast, does not ask for any member or manager names at all. That is a meaningfully lower bar than Nevada’s. Real privacy in a Nevada LLC takes a deliberate structuring choice: setting the LLC up as manager-managed and putting a third party, often a registered agent’s nominee service, in the manager slot, while the actual owners stay listed only as non-managing members. It does not happen automatically just by filing in Nevada.
How to actually set one up
Pick a name that clears the Secretary of State’s business search and is distinguishable from existing entities. Appoint a Nevada registered agent with a physical Nevada street address, commonly $50 to $150 a year through a commercial service. File the Articles of Organization, Initial List, and State Business License together through SilverFlume. Get an EIN from the IRS, free and immediate online with a Social Security number; the process runs slower by fax without one, which is common for non-US owners. Write an operating agreement even though Nevada does not require filing one anywhere. Banks generally ask to see it before opening a business account, and it is the document that actually defines who owns what.
One more note: we have not purchased a Nevada formation service ourselves yet, so there is no comparison table or recommended provider on this page. Our testing methodology requires actually using a service before we recommend it. When that testing is done, this guide gets a real comparison section instead of a placeholder.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Nevada LLC really tax-free?
No income tax, personal or corporate, applies to a pass-through LLC’s profits. But once the LLC’s Nevada-sourced gross revenue passes $4 million in a fiscal year, the Commerce Tax applies regardless of income tax status. Most small LLCs never reach that threshold.
Do I have to live in Nevada to form an LLC there?
No. Nevada does not require owners or managers to live in the state or hold US citizenship. You do need a registered agent with a physical Nevada address, which is a service you pay for rather than a place you live.
What happens if I miss the Annual List deadline?
A $75 late penalty applies to the Annual List and a separate $100 penalty applies if the Business License renewal is also late, on top of the $350 already owed. Continued non-payment moves the LLC to default status, then to revoked after about a year, with a five-year window to reinstate before the entity is gone for good.
Is a Nevada LLC actually anonymous?
Partly. Non-managing members are not named on the public Initial or Annual List. Managers or managing members are, and that filing is public and searchable every year. Full anonymity for the actual owners generally requires a manager-managed structure with a third party in the manager role.
