How to form an LLC in Hawaii (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in Hawaii?

The Business Registration Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) takes the name reservation, the Articles, agent changes and the yearly report, so the steps below all go to the same office.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division. You can reserve a name for $10.
2. Name a registered agent in Hawaii: a person or company with a Hawaii address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Articles of Organization for Limited Liability Company (Form LLC-1), $50 with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division. The state fee is $50. Filing methods: Online, by email, mail or fax, or in person at the service window in Honolulu.
4. Wait for approval. Faster options: Expedited review available for an additional $25 per filing.
5. Recurring filing: Annual Report (Domestic Limited Liability Company Annual Report, Form C5); due by the end of the quarter in which the LLC registered, fee $12.50 online.

Hawaii's $50 filing fee can be set against a median of $100 across the states we track. The timing rules are the unusual part. The yearly report isn't tied to a single statewide date; it follows the quarter your LLC was organized in. That rule sets when the first recurring fee is due, and the section on what the LLC files after formation explains it.²

If you would rather hand the filing to a service, the ranked list of LLC services for Hawaii compares each provider's first- and second-year totals with these state fees included.

How do you check and reserve a Hawaii LLC name?

A name can be held before the Articles are filed. A Hawaii name reservation costs $10, and expedited review of the reservation adds $25 per filing.^{1, 2}

The fee schedule lists the price, but the state doesn't publish how long the hold lasts on that page. If the length is important to your plans, ask the Business Registration Division before you rely on it.

Reserving is optional. It is useful when the Articles will wait a while, for example until co-owners agree on terms or an agent is lined up.

Who can be a registered agent for a Hawaii LLC?

Hawaii law says every LLC shall continuously maintain in this State a registered agent, who shall have a business address in this State. Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 428-107, the first kind of agent the law lists is "An individual who resides in this State". The others are a domestic entity or a foreign entity authorized to transact business in this State.⁴

A registered agent is the person or company that accepts lawsuits and official notices for the LLC. For an owner who lives on the islands, serving as your own agent is allowed, as long as you have a Hawaii business address where papers can reach you. For an owner on the mainland or abroad, the residency rule means the agent has to be a Hawaii resident or a qualifying business entity, such as a commercial agent service.

Agent prices vary more than the state fees do. Northwest Registered Agent lists its agent at $125 per year. Inc Authority includes the agent free for the first year with LLC formation, then renews it at $249/year. Bizee (formerly Incfile) gives a free first year with any Bizee formation package, then charges $149/year. A single renewal at any of these prices costs more than the Hawaii filing fee and the annual report fee put together, so look at the renewal price as well as the free period. The registered agent guide explains the role, and the list of plans that include an agent shows how long each one lasts.^{5, 6, 7, 8, 9}

How do you file the Articles of Organization, and how fast is it?

You can file the Articles online, by email, mail or fax, or on paper at the DCCA window in Honolulu. Hawaii publishes no standard processing time, and no turnaround for expedited filings either.

The state's own wording is short: "Registrations can be filed online, or by email, mail, or fax." Paper filings can also be handed in at 335 Merchant Street, Room 201, Honolulu, HI 96813.¹

Expedited review

Hawaii charges one flat expedite fee rather than tiers. Each filing can get expedited review for $25 per filing on top of its filing fee, so expedited Articles cost $50 plus $25 per filing. The catch sits in the fee page's own note. No expedited turnaround time is published. You pay for priority without a promised date.^{1, 2}

A formation service's stated speed is a separate clock. A service may prepare and submit your Articles within a day, but the DCCA reviews them on its own schedule, and the expedite fee buys expedited review rather than a set date. Our guide to LLC formation timelines separates the two, and the fastest stated filing list compares the providers' published times.

What does a Hawaii LLC cost in the first and second year?

In the first year, a Hawaii LLC costs the $50 filing fee plus any plan, expedite fee or name reservation you choose. In the second year, the state cost is the annual report fee, $12.50 online, plus any plan or agent renewal.^{2, 3}

The table below adds those state fees to each provider's compared plan. Rows follow our rating, with ties in the editorial order set out in how we rate.

First year: state filing fee plus the provider's compared plan. Second year: the recurring state fee plus the plan's renewal, if it renews.

Totals are our arithmetic on the published figures. Registered agent renewals are extra unless a plan includes the agent. Try other plans in the calculator.

Two things shape the second-year column. The state figure is the online annual report fee. The DCCA's LLC fee page lists the annual report at $15.00 without naming a filing method, so a report filed another way may cost a little more than the table shows. The column also leaves out registered agent renewals unless a plan includes the agent for good.³

Those renewals can change the picture. Inc Authority's Free LLC plan comes to $50 in the first year, which is the state fee alone, and $12.5 in the second; its agent then bills $249/year. Northwest Registered Agent is $89 in the first year and $12.5 in the second, and its included registered agent renews at $125/yr after year 1. Read the Inc Authority profile and Northwest's pricing for what each plan leaves out.^{7, 10}

Plans that bill every year show the largest second-year figures. ZenBusiness Premium comes to $311.5, doola Starter to $309.5, Tailor Brands Elite to $261.5 and Rocket Lawyer Standard membership to $161.5 in the second year, because each renews its plan price. Try other combinations in the LLC cost calculator, or see the national guide to LLC costs for how Hawaii's fees compare with other states.

What does a Hawaii LLC file after it is formed?

A Hawaii LLC files an annual report (Form C5) with the DCCA by the end of the calendar quarter it was organized in. The fee is $12.50 online, and nothing is due in the year of formation.^{3, 11}

The deadline works by quarter. In the state's words, "The annual report filing period is related to the business entity's registration date". The statute sets four possible due dates (March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31); for example, for an LLC organized between January 1 and March 31, an annual report shall be filed on or before March 31 of each year. So an LLC formed in late spring owes its first report by the end of June the following year, while one formed in October owes it by the end of December the following year.^{11, 12}

That quarterly rule is easy to lose track of, because the date depends on each LLC's own quarter. Write down your quarter when the Articles are accepted.

A missed report costs $10 per year delinquent. Reinstatement is applied for with Form X-4 for $25. The state doesn't publish the conditions for approval on its fee page, so check with the DCCA before filing.^{2, 11}

Some services will file the report for you, and in Hawaii the service fee is far larger than the state fee. Northwest Registered Agent charges $100 + state fees, charged at filing, LegalZoom lists $99 + state filing fees, and ZenBusiness lists annual report filing at $100 per report. The annual report guide compares due dates and fees across states, and what formation packages include separates plans that file the report from plans that only send reminders.^{13, 14, 15}

How do you change a Hawaii registered agent?

You change agents by filing the Statement of Change of Registered Agent By Entity (Form X-7) with the DCCA. The fee is $25, and expedited review costs the same flat $25 per filing as other filings.^{1, 2, 16}

File the change before cancelling the old agent service, so the LLC is never without an agent on record.

An agent can also step down on its own by filing a Statement of Resignation (Form X-9). The resignation takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after filing or the appointment of a new agent, and the agent must promptly notify the entity of the filing date. Filing Form X-7 before the resignation takes effect keeps an agent on record without a gap.^{16, 17}

What if your LLC was formed in another state?

An LLC formed elsewhere registers to do business in Hawaii with an Application for Certificate of Authority, for $50. It needs a Hawaii registered agent under the same Haw. Rev. Stat. § 428-107 rules as a domestic LLC.^{4, 18}

That fee is the same as the $50 cost of forming a new Hawaii LLC, so cost alone doesn't push the choice one way. Whether to register an existing company or form a new one depends on where the business operates and how it is taxed, so ask an accountant or lawyer. The foreign LLC guide explains the choice, and the state fees table compares Hawaii with California and Alaska.²