Form an LLC · MA

How to form an LLC in Massachusetts

Massachusetts LLCs are formed by filing a Certificate of Organization with the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division — the official filing fee is $500 (see the fee notes below). Corpus prepares and files it for $640 all-in, including your first year of registered-agent service.

Form your Massachusetts LLC

What Massachusetts requires

Formation document
Certificate of Organization verified 2026-09-24
Filing office
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division verified 2026-09-24
Massachusetts filing fee for the Certificate of Organization
$500 Certificate of Organization filing fee. verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $20 fax or electronic expedite fee (added when filed by fax or electronically; the mail or hand-delivery column is $500.00 without this fee). source
  • Optional: $30 application for reservation of name (separate filing; the schedule does not state it must precede the certificate). source
  • Mail or hand delivery of the certificate is $500, and fax or electronic filing adds a $20 expedite fee. source · source 2
Online filing
Yes — You can file the Certificate of Organization through the state’s online portal. verified 2026-09-24
Standard processing time
Not yet verified by Corpus — check with Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division
Expedited options
None listed by the state. verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $20 fax or electronic expedite fee on the certificate of organization (stated in the fax and electronic columns of the fee schedule). source
  • The fee schedule states the fax and electronic expedite add-on but does not state a standard processing time. source
Name requirement
The name must contain “limited liability company,” “limited company,” or an accepted abbreviation such as LLC, L.L.C., LC, or L.C. verified 2026-09-24
Registered agent
Required — A Massachusetts LLC must name and continuously maintain a resident agent in the Commonwealth. verified 2026-09-24
LLC statute
Massachusetts Limited Liability Company Act, M.G.L. c. 156C, § 1 et seq. verified 2026-09-24

What you’ll need

The Corpus intake collects this information to prepare the filing. Some questions are asked only when they apply — for example, the management question is asked only when the company has more than one owner.

  • What do you want to name the company?
  • In a sentence, what will the business actually do?
  • Where should official mail go — street, city, state, ZIP?
  • What email should we use for this order?
  • Which industry code fits this business?
  • Besides you, will anyone else have authority to make decisions for the business?
  • Who owns this company?

Massachusetts asks nothing beyond the standard questions.

What it costs with Corpus

State fees (filing fee + the state's processing charges)
$520
Registered agent, year one
$100
Corpus service
$20
Total at checkout
$640

Registered agent renews at $99/yr after the included first year — cancel anytime. Itemized pricing for every state is on the price grid; how Corpus compares to other formation services is on the comparison page.

After you form: staying in good standing

Annual report
Annual report — on or before the anniversary date of organization. verified 2026-09-30
  • The annual report is due on or before the anniversary of organization, and fax or electronic filing adds a $20 expedite fee. source · source 2
Report fee
$500 verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $20 fax or electronic expedite fee (added when filed by fax or electronically). source
Franchise or privilege tax
$456 minimum corporate excise — only if the LLC is classified as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. verified 2026-09-30
  • Rates, caps, thresholds, apportionment and exemptions: see Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The $456 minimum applies to corporate-classified entities. source · source 2

Comparing what registered-agent service costs after year one across providers? The comparison page publishes renewal prices.

Form it with your AI agent

You don’t have to do the intake here. Any agent that can open a link can run the whole thing — Corpus’s formation tools give it Massachusetts’s requirements and live price, it asks you the questions above, and it hands back a prefilled link you review and pay. Paste this into your assistant:

Form an LLC in Massachusetts for me with Corpus (corpuslaw.us). Use its formation tools to get Massachusetts's requirements and price, ask me what you need, and give me the prefilled link.

The guide is on /agents, the protocol reference is /docs/mcp, and the installable skill for this state is the Massachusetts SKILL.md.

Sources

Every verified fact above names where Corpus read it and the date it was last verified. Sources marked secondary are third-party write-ups used only where an official page did not publish the answer.

Corpus is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Fees and rules change — each verified fact above shows the date Corpus last verified it; anything marked “not yet verified” should be confirmed with the filing office.