How to form an LLC in Maine (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in Maine?

Maine formation runs through one office, the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC, and Commissions, from the name check to the yearly report. Each step below shows the form or fee the state lists.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC, and Commissions. You can reserve a name for $20.
2. Name a registered agent in Maine: a person or company with a Maine address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Certificate of Formation (Form MLLC-6) with the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC, and Commissions. The state fee is $175. Filing methods: By mail (fillable PDF form with fee; credit card via payment voucher). No online formation filing is listed..
4. Wait for approval: 40 to 55 business days. Faster options: 24-hour (next business day) $50; immediate (same business day) $100 per entity.
5. Recurring filing: Annual Report (Form MLLC-13), $85, due January 1 to June 1, fee $85.

The order is worth keeping. Pick the name and the registered agent first, because both go on the Certificate of Formation itself, and Maine law requires the filing to name the agent (5 M.R.S. § 104 and § 105).⁵

The waiting step is the one to plan around. The state lists 40 to 55 business days for corporate filings, so a paper form mailed without an expedite fee can sit in the queue for weeks. If you have a start date in mind, read the expedite section below before you mail the form. To compare formation services instead of filing alone, the Maine LLC services ranking lists each provider's first-year and second-year totals here.¹

How do you reserve a name for a Maine LLC?

Check the state's business records for a matching name first, then reserve the name with Form MLLC-1 if you need time. The state charges $20 for the reservation.¹

A reservation is optional. It is useful when the members are still signing on or the agent isn't chosen yet. The state record we hold doesn't confirm how long a Maine reservation lasts, so ask the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC, and Commissions before you rely on one for a long gap.

Who can be a registered agent in Maine?

Maine splits agents into two kinds, and the Certificate of Formation names one of them. The filing gives the name of the LLC's commercial clerk or commercial registered agent, or, if it has none, the name and address of its noncommercial clerk or noncommercial registered agent (5 M.R.S. § 104 and § 105).⁵

The difference shows on the form. For a commercial agent the filing gives only a name. For a noncommercial agent it gives the name and the address. The statute uses "clerk" and "registered agent" side by side for the same role.

For a noncommercial agent, the statute asks for "An actual street address or rural route box number in this State," plus a Maine mailing address if that differs. A post office box isn't on that list. An owner who lives outside Maine can't use a home address here and needs an agent in the state.⁵

The trade-off is privacy. When you act as your own noncommercial agent, your address goes on the filing. Naming a commercial agent puts only the agent's name there. Northwest Registered Agent lists its agent service at $125 per year, and Bizee (formerly Incfile) includes a free first year of agent service with any Bizee formation package. The list of plans with a registered agent included shows the rest, and the registered agent guide explains the role in more depth.^{6, 7}

How do you file a Maine LLC's certificate, and how long does it take?

You print the completed Form MLLC-6 and mail it with the fee; the forms page lists no online option. Standard review is 40 to 55 business days, and Maine sells next-day and same-day review for an extra fee.¹

The page tells filers to "complete on-screen, print and mail to our office together with the proper filing fee." On payment, the form itself says "Payment can be made by check or money order (payable to Maine Secretary of State) or by credit card," and card payments go through a separate voucher.²

Expedited review in Maine

The two speed options are charged on top of the $175 filing fee.²

• 24-hour (next business day) $50²
• immediate (same business day) $100 per entity²

Compared with the regular queue, even the cheaper option changes the wait from weeks to a day after the state receives the papers. Mail time sits outside both options, since review can't start before the papers reach the office. A formation service's stated processing time is its own work, not the state's review. The LLC timeline guide separates those two waits, and the fastest stated filing list compares providers on what they publish.

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

In year one a Maine LLC costs the $175 filing fee plus any expedite fee and the plan you choose. From year two, the state charges $85 for the annual report, and plans or agents that renew add to that.^{2, 3}

The table gives the first and second year with each provider's compared plan in Maine. Rows follow our rating, highest first, with ties in our editorial order (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.

Read the second-year column with care. It counts the plan's renewal and the $85 report fee, but not agent renewals after a free period or items billed after a trial.³

Inc Authority is the clearest case. Its Free LLC plan totals $175 in the first year, which is the state fee alone, and $85 in the second. Its included agent then bills $249/year, which the second-year figure leaves out. Northwest Registered Agent totals $214 and then $85, but its included registered agent renews at $125/yr after year 1. More detail is on Inc Authority's provider page and Northwest's pricing page.^{8, 9}

To test your own mix of plan, agent and expedite, the LLC cost calculator does the arithmetic. The national guide to LLC costs and the lowest first-year totals give context beyond Maine.

What does a Maine LLC file after it is formed?

A Maine LLC files its annual report (Form MLLC-13) with the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC, and Commissions in the window from January 1 to June 1, and the fee is $85. Per the state, the first report is due the year after formation, so an LLC formed this year files its first report next year.^{1, 3}

The report asks for the registered agent information, the principal office address, a brief statement of the business, and the name/address of at least one member, manager or other authorized person. That last item means at least one person tied to the LLC is named on the report each year. The statute accepts a member, a manager or another authorized person for that line, so it doesn't have to be an owner.¹⁰

Missing the deadline costs extra. The late fee is $50 on top of the report fee. Not filing at all, or not paying that penalty, can lead to administrative dissolution. Reinstatement then costs $150 per ground for dissolution, and the charge for unfiled annual reports is $150 capped at $600.³

Formation services handle this report in different ways. Tailor Brands lists mandatory report filing on its Essential and Elite plans, and ZenBusiness lists filing of state-required annual reports on Pro and Premium. Northwest Registered Agent enrolls its agent customers in a report service at $100 + state fees, and LegalZoom sells a single filing at $99 + state filing fees. The $85 state fee applies in every case, and Northwest Registered Agent and LegalZoom list it on top of their price. The annual report guide and the package contents guide explain which plan items file the report and which only remind you.^{3, 11, 12, 13, 14}

How do you change a registered agent for a Maine LLC?

You change a Maine registered agent by filing Form CLKRA-3, the Statement of Appointment or Change of Commercial or Noncommercial Registered Agent. The fee is $35.^{1, 15}

Have the new agent in place on the record before ending the old service. Maine treats a gap as serious. Having no agent is one of the grounds for administrative dissolution, and so is failing to notify the SOS of an agent change or resignation.¹⁶

An agent can also step down. A resignation takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after the statement of resignation is filed or appointment of a new agent, and the agent must promptly notify the entity in a record of the filing date. That leaves a short window to name a replacement with Form CLKRA-3.^{1, 17}

What if your LLC was formed in another state?

An LLC formed elsewhere that does business in Maine files a Statement of Foreign Qualification (Form MLLC-12) for $250. The facts we hold don't list what else that form asks for, so read Form MLLC-12 itself before filing.³

That fee is higher than the $175 cost of forming a new Maine LLC. Whether a new Maine LLC makes more sense depends on where the business operates and pays tax, which is a question for an accountant. The foreign LLC guide covers the choice, the state fees table compares every state, and New Hampshire's formation guide shows the neighboring state's rules.²