Michigan LLC

Setting one up, and what it costs you every year. Researched 14 Aug 2026.

Short answer to "are there annual taxes": Michigan has no annual franchise or privilege tax on LLCs. What you owe every year is a $25 filing — the Annual Statement — which is a fee, not a tax. The business itself normally pays no Michigan income tax; the profit flows onto your personal return and is taxed there at 4.25%.

Setting it up

Pick a name and check it isn't taken — LARA has a Business Entity Search. It must include "Limited Liability Company", "LLC" or "L.L.C.".
Nominate a resident agent and a registered office address in Michigan. This is a real Michigan street address, not a PO box. It can be you if you're there, or a paid service.
File the Articles of Organization — form CSCL/CD-700 — with LARA's Corporations Division, online via the MiBusiness Registry Portal. $50.
Get an EIN from the IRS. Free, online, immediate.
Write an operating agreement. Michigan doesn't file it, but it's what actually governs the thing, and banks ask for it.
Register with Treasury only if you'll owe sales/use/withholding tax.

Same-day expedited processing is available for an extra $100 if you're in a hurry. There's a fee waiver route if a majority of membership interests are held by veterans.

Doing it online — yes, and go direct

Michigan runs its own filing portal and it covers the whole job. Use it rather than a formation service. The state charges $50; the middlemen charge that plus their own fee to fill in the same form.

Where	michigan.gov/FILEONLINE — the MiBusiness Registry Portal
What it does	Files the Articles of Organization, searches names, handles annual statements, orders certificates and copies. Shopping cart, so several filings pay at once.
What you need	A MiLogin for Business account. All filings now require that login.
Name check	michigan.gov/corpentitysearch, before you file.

It replaced the old system on 23 June 2025, and annual statements are now online-only — there is no paper route to keep track of.

A formation service (LegalZoom, Northwest, ZenBusiness and the like) buys you a registered-agent address and reminder emails. If you have a Michigan street address to use and can put 15 February in a calendar, it buys you nothing else. The registered agent is the one thing worth paying for if you are not physically in Michigan.

Every year after that

What	When	Cost
Annual Statement to LARA	By 15 February	$25
Late penalty	After 15 February	$50
Annual franchise / privilege tax	—	None. Michigan doesn't have one.

If you form the company after 30 September, you skip the Annual Statement on the 15 February immediately following. Miss it repeatedly and after two years the company stops being in good standing and the name becomes available to anyone else.

Tax, by situation

Set-up	Michigan treatment
Single member (default)	Disregarded. Profit goes on your personal MI-1040 and is taxed at 4.25%. The LLC files nothing of its own.
Two or more members (default)	Partnership. Profit flows to each member's personal return, taxed at 4.25%.
Elects corporate treatment	Falls under the Corporate Income Tax at 6%. Rarely what you want for a small holding entity.
Flow-Through Entity tax (optional)	A multi-member LLC may elect to pay Michigan tax at entity level, with members claiming a refundable credit. It exists as a federal SALT-cap workaround, not a saving in itself. Single-member LLCs are explicitly excluded.

Separately, and only if they apply to you: sales/use tax if you sell goods, and payroll withholding plus unemployment insurance if you have employees. Neither is triggered by simply existing.

What I could not verify directly, and you should treat as needing a second look. I read the LARA annual-filing rules and the 4.25% rate on the state's own pages (verified). The dollar figures — $50 to file, $25 annual, $50 penalty, 6% CIT — came from search results quoting LARA's fee-schedule PDF, which my browser could not open (not read at source). They match the published schedule as quoted, but I have not seen the document myself, and fee schedules change.

What this doesn't cover

Whether an LLC is the right wrapper at all, how it interacts with the UK side, and whether the FTE election is worth making are questions for an accountant who can see the whole picture. This is the mechanics and the running cost, not advice on structure.