Arizona LLC vs Maryland LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Arizona.
Based in Maryland? Read Maryland LLC vs Arizona LLC →
Compare Arizona LLC vs Maryland LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.
Last updated: September 23, 2026
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Maryland's $100 formation fee is the small number here. Form 1, the combined annual report and business personal property return, costs $300 every April 15, three times what the company cost to create, and standard review runs 6 to 8 weeks unless you pay to expedite. Arizona charges $50 once and levies no annual report or franchise tax. The Arizona duty that never appears in that figure is newspaper publication, performed free by the Commission when the statutory agent's address is in Maricopa or Pima County. Foreign qualification here costs $150.
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| Factor | Arizona | Maryland |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $50 | $100 |
| Processing Time | Live queue, not fixed | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Annual Report Fee | None | $300 |
| Annual Report Due | None required | April 15 |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| Publication Requirement | Yes (waived in Maricopa & Pima counties) | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $150 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Arizona LLC cost and Maryland LLC cost.
Business Climate: Arizona vs Maryland
| Factor | Arizona | Maryland |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 52.1% (#22 of 51) | 50.1% (#31 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +23.9% YoY (#13 of 51 by volume) | +11.8% YoY (#18 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: Arizona vs Maryland
Arizona
Maryland
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.
Filing Fees & Formation Costs
Arizona charges $50 to form an LLC, while Maryland charges $100. Arizona is $50 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Maryland but operate in Arizona, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Arizona (a $150 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Maryland (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Maryland route at roughly $400, versus $50 for simply forming in Arizona. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Maryland publishes 6-8 weeks, while Arizona posts a rolling queue of the dates it's currently working through rather than a turnaround, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed. Note that Arizona also requires newly formed LLCs to publish a newspaper notice (Arizona requires a notice of the filing to be published for three consecutive publications in a newspaper in the county of the statutory agent's address (A.R.S. 29-3201(G)), within 60 days after the Commission files the Articles. Where that county's population exceeds 800,000, currently Maricopa and Pima, the Corporation Commission posts the notice in its own database instead, free of charge. The newspaper sets its own rate; the state publishes no cost figure), which adds to the true formation cost.
Taxes: Arizona vs Maryland
Both Arizona and Maryland levy a personal income tax on pass-through business income, and your LLC's profits will be taxed where you live and operate. Forming in Maryland doesn't change what an Arizona-based owner pays. Arizona levies a personal income tax (flat 2.5%). Maryland LLCs owe a $300 minimum annual Personal Property Return fee.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither Arizona nor Maryland offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. Maryland requires an authorized person on the Articles and files a Personal Property Return; management information is available on public filings. Business owners who prioritize privacy typically form a holding company in a state like Wyoming or New Mexico instead. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Arizona LLCs file no annual report at all, and Maryland LLCs file an annual report ($300, due April 15). If you form in Maryland while operating in Arizona, you maintain filings in both states, Maryland's report, though Arizona asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a Maryland registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Maryland route to roughly $450 a year, versus about $0 to keep a domestic Arizona LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Maryland LLCs owe a $300 minimum annual Personal Property Return fee.
When Maryland Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Maryland makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Maryland, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Maryland in the near future. For a typical small business based in Arizona, none of these usually apply. Registering a Maryland LLC to do business back home means $150 in Arizona foreign-registration fees, on top of Maryland's $100 formation fee, while Arizona itself never asks for an annual report at all. Trading Arizona's no-annual-report status for Maryland's filing calendar is a step backwards for most owners. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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