How to form an LLC in Mississippi (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in Mississippi?

Every filing below goes to the same office, the Mississippi Secretary of State, and each one can be done through its online system.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the Mississippi Secretary of State. You can reserve a name for $25.
2. Name a registered agent in Mississippi: a person or company with a Mississippi address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Certificate of Formation (F0100) with the Mississippi Secretary of State. The state fee is $50. Filing methods: Online (preferred); paper filings accepted but much slower.
4. Wait for approval: Online filings that need staff review: generally within 24 hours; paper filings take significantly longer.
5. Recurring filing: Annual Report (F0108), $0 for domestic LLCs, due April 15, online only, fee $0.

Most of the rules sit in the agent step, which gets its own section below. The last step is the easiest to forget: the annual report is free, so there is no payment to prompt it, yet leaving it unfiled can end with the state dissolving the LLC. The section on yearly filings covers how that happens.

The Mississippi Secretary of State doesn't publish a newspaper publication step or a franchise tax filing for new LLCs, so neither appears above. If you would rather hand the filing to a company, the Mississippi LLC services ranked by first-year total compare what each one charges on top of the state fee.

How do you check and reserve a Mississippi LLC name?

Check that no existing business already uses the name, then reserve the name with an Application for Name Reservation (F0110) if you aren't filing yet. The reservation fee is $25.¹

A reservation is optional. It's useful when you have the name but still need a co-owner to sign on, or money to open the business, before you file the Certificate of Formation. If you are ready to file the same day, the reservation adds a fee and no benefit.

Like the other filings here, the reservation needs no paper form, because all business filings may be submitted and paid for online.³

Who can be a registered agent for a Mississippi LLC?

Mississippi lets two kinds of registered agent serve a Mississippi LLC. A noncommercial agent is an individual or a domestic or foreign entity that is not listed as a commercial registered agent under Section 79-35-6; a commercial agent is one listed with the state under that section. The rules come from the Mississippi Registered Agents Act (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-35-2).⁵

In practice, a noncommercial agent can be an owner, a relative or a local lawyer who agrees to take legal papers for the LLC. A commercial agent is a person or business listed with the state as one, usually serving many companies. Both kinds accept lawsuits, subpoenas and state notices on the LLC's behalf.

Whoever serves fills the agent field of the LLC's record with a name and an address. An owner who serves from home puts the home address there. A commercial agent puts its own address there instead; Northwest Registered Agent states that Northwest's address is listed on public filings instead of the owner's. It sells that agent service at $125 per year, and Inc Authority includes the agent free for the first year with LLC formation, then charges $249/year. More prices are on Northwest's pricing page and Inc Authority's pricing page, and the list of formation plans that include an agent puts them side by side. The registered agent guide explains the role in general terms.^{6, 7, 8}

How do you file the Certificate of Formation, and how long does it take?

You file the Certificate of Formation (F0100) through the Mississippi Secretary of State online system. Online filings that need staff review are handled generally within 24 hours.^{1, 3}

Paper is still accepted, but the state warns that paper registrations will take significantly longer to process than online filings. It doesn't publish a standard time for paper filings, so the online route is the only one with a published review window.³

Some online filings are accepted on the spot. Others wait for a staff member, and that review is the step handled generally within 24 hours. The state doesn't publish a paid expedite option, so this page lists no rush tier.

That changes the math on formation services. A service's stated speed is how fast it prepares and submits your order, a separate clock from the state's review. In Mississippi the state's part is short, so a service that takes several business days to submit can be slower overall than filing yourself. Compare stated times on the fastest filing list, and see how the two clocks add up in the LLC timeline guide.

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

A Mississippi LLC costs $50 in state fees in year one, plus any service's plan price. In year two the state charges $0 for the annual report.²

So any second-year cost comes from plan renewals and registered agent fees.

The table below gives each provider's totals in Mississippi with the plan we compare. Rows follow our rating, highest first, with ties kept in the editorial order described 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.

Because the state charges nothing for the yearly report, the second-year column here is mostly a list of plan renewals. Plans billed once show nothing in year two. Plans billed yearly show their renewal: Tailor Brands Elite comes to $249 in year two and ZenBusiness Premium to $299.

The column leaves out registered agent renewals after a free period, and for several one-time plans that renewal is the whole year-two bill. Inc Authority totals $50 in year one, the state fee alone, and $0 in year two, but its agent then renews at $249/year. Northwest Registered Agent totals $89 in year one, and its included agent renews at $125/yr after year 1. The profiles for Inc Authority and Northwest list what else each plan leaves out.^{8, 9}

Run your own mix of plan and agent through the LLC cost calculator. The list ordered by cost across both years and the national LLC cost guide answer the same question beyond Mississippi.

What does a Mississippi LLC file after it is formed?

A Mississippi LLC files an Annual Report (F0108) with the Mississippi Secretary of State every year. It is due April 15 each year, it may be filed from January 1, it is filed online only, and the fee for a domestic LLC is $0.^{1, 2, 4}

The report is short work. The state's form comes pre-populated with the information already in the system, so the filer checks the company's details, corrects anything that changed, and submits.³

Mississippi lists no late fee for the report. A late report still carries a risk: the statute treats a report still missing 60 days after due date as a ground for administrative dissolution. A dissolved LLC can apply for reinstatement with F0109; the fee is $50, and certain LLCs also need a tax clearance letter from the Department of Revenue.^{1, 4}

Formation services treat this report in different ways. Some file it as part of a yearly plan, some sell it as a separate service, and some only send a reminder. Northwest Registered Agent, for example, charges $100 + state fees for its annual report service, which in Mississippi means paying for a filing the state itself doesn't charge for. The package contents guide sorts plan items into filings and reminders, and the annual report guide covers how other states handle the same filing.¹⁰

How do you change a Mississippi registered agent later?

You change the agent by filing the LLC Registered Agent/Office Statement of Change (F0010) with the Mississippi Secretary of State. The fee is $10, and the state notes that agent changes are handled as an amendment in the online system.^{1, 2}

Name the new agent before cancelling the old service. Mississippi can dissolve an LLC that has no registered agent in Mississippi for 60 days or more, or one that fails to notify the SOS within 60 days that its agent changed or resigned.¹¹

An agent can also quit. Under the Registered Agents Act, a resigning agent must give the LLC written notice at least 30 days before filing, and its resignation takes effect on the 31st day after filing or when a new agent is appointed, whichever is earlier. The notice period gives the owner time to line up a replacement and file the change before the old agent drops off the record.¹²

What if your LLC was formed in another state?

An LLC formed elsewhere registers in Mississippi by filing an Application for Registration of Foreign Limited Liability Company (F0200). The fee is $250.¹

That registration costs several times the $50 fee for a new Mississippi LLC, but the two filings do different jobs, and which one fits depends on where the business is based and taxed. An accountant or lawyer can answer that for your case. The foreign LLC guide explains the choice, and the state fees table compares Mississippi with Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee.²