Form an LLC · WV

How to form an LLC in West Virginia

West Virginia LLCs are formed by filing Articles of Organization with the West Virginia Secretary of State, Business & Licensing Division — the official filing fee is $100 (see the fee notes below). Corpus prepares and files it for $250 all-in, including your first year of registered-agent service.

Form your West Virginia LLC

What West Virginia requires

Formation document
Articles of Organization verified 2026-09-24
Filing office
West Virginia Secretary of State, Business & Licensing Division verified 2026-09-24
West Virginia filing fee for the Articles of Organization
$100 LLC registration / articles fee. verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $1 online processing fee (additional fee on online filings). source
  • The SOS startup page lists the LLC/PLLC fee at $100 and adds $1 for every online filing. source
Online filing
Yes — You can form a West Virginia LLC through the state’s One Stop Business Portal. verified 2026-09-24
Standard processing time
Standard service is 5 to 10 days. verified 2026-09-30
Expedited options
24-hour expedite $25 (in addition to the regular filing fee); 2-hour expedite $250 (in addition to the regular filing fee); 1-hour expedite $500 (in addition to the regular filing fee) verified 2026-09-30
  • The contact page states standard service of 5 to 10 days; expedite fees are on the Business Division expedite page. source · source 2
Name requirement
The name must contain “limited liability company,” “limited company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.” verified 2026-09-24
Registered agent
Not required — A West Virginia LLC may appoint an agent for service of process, but appointment is optional. verified 2026-09-24
LLC statute
West Virginia Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, W. Va. Code ch. 31B 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?

West Virginia also asks:

  • Trade name.

What it costs with Corpus

State fees (filing fee + the state's processing charges)
$103
Registered agent, year one
$100
Corpus service
$47
Total at checkout
$250

$103 = West Virginia’s $101 in formation fees for an online filing + $2 of other state processing charges for the way Corpus files (expedite, card or online-portal fees).

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 — SOS: file and pay between January 1 and June 30. Statute: first report between January 1 and July 1 of the year after organization; after July 1, 2026 the annual fee is $25. verified 2026-09-30
  • The statute's first-report window ends July 1, while the SOS fee pages use a June 30 deadline for the $25 amount. source · source 2 · source 3 · source 4
Report fee
$25 (if received by June 30 on the SOS page; statute states $25 after July 1, 2026) verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $50 late addition (SOS LLC page: after June 30 the total is $75, which includes a $50 late fee). source
  • Optional: $50 biennial report fee if elected (after five consecutive timely annual reports and while in good standing; electing the $50 biennial report replaces the $25 annual report fee). source
  • Conditional: $1 online processing fee (additional fee on online filings). source
Franchise or privilege tax
Only if the LLC elects the pass-through entity tax, is treated as a corporation, or operates a public utility. verified 2026-09-30
  • Rates, caps, thresholds, apportionment and exemptions: see West Virginia Tax Division. The $30 registration tax is one-time; guidance says non-partnership LLCs are taxed as corporations without resolving the default single-member case. source · source 2 · source 3 · source 4 · source 5

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 West Virginia’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 West Virginia for me with Corpus (corpuslaw.us). Use its formation tools to get West Virginia'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 West Virginia 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.