Arizona LLC vs Michigan LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Arizona.
Based in Michigan? Read Michigan LLC vs Arizona LLC →
Compare Arizona LLC vs Michigan 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
Michigan matches Arizona at $50 to form, then adds a $25 Annual Statement due February 15 and files it with LARA rather than a Secretary of State. Michigan also lets members stay off the public filing; Arizona does not. Arizona's $50 buys the Articles alone, and the notice of filing must still be published in the statutory agent's county unless that county is Maricopa or Pima, where the Commission posts it and is barred from charging. Five years of Michigan statements total $125, and admission to Arizona costs $150.
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| Factor | Arizona | Michigan |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $50 | $50 |
| Processing Time | Live queue, not fixed | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | None | $25 |
| Annual Report Due | None required | February 15 |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | Yes |
| 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 Michigan LLC cost.
Business Climate: Arizona vs Michigan
| Factor | Arizona | Michigan |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 52.1% (#22 of 51) | 55% (#4 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +23.9% YoY (#13 of 51 by volume) | +17.3% YoY (#11 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 Michigan
Arizona
Michigan
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 Michigan charges $50. The upfront filing fees are identical. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Michigan but operate in Arizona, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Arizona (a $150 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Michigan (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Michigan route at roughly $350, versus $50 for simply forming in Arizona. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Arizona nor Michigan publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork. 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 Michigan
Both Arizona and Michigan 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 Michigan doesn't change what an Arizona-based owner pays. Arizona levies a personal income tax (flat 2.5%). Michigan levies a flat 4.25% individual income tax; Treasury confirmed on April 15, 2026 that the rate remains 4.25% for the 2026 tax year because the statutory rate-reduction trigger wasn't met. Neither state imposes a separate franchise or privilege tax on LLCs beyond standard filing fees.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Michigan allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Articles of Organization (Form CSCL/CD-700) require only the company name, purpose, duration, resident agent, and registered office, signed by an organizer who may be a third party, and the annual statement under MCL 450.4207(3) requires only the resident agent's name and registered office address. No member or manager is listed on any routine public filing. One caveat: MCL 450.4103(2) requires the annual statement to name the person signing and the capacity in which they sign, so a member who signs it personally appears on the public record (MCL 450.4103(3) lets an authorized agent sign instead). A professional LLC is no exception (form CSCL/CD-701 names no member or manager either) but its Article V attests that all members and managers are licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render one or more of the services stated, except as Section 904 of P.A. 23 of 1993 provides; that limits who may own a PLLC, not who is disclosed. Arizona doesn't offer that same privacy. The Articles of Organization must list members (member-managed) or managers (manager-managed), a public record. 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. One important caveat: if you register your Michigan LLC as a foreign LLC in Arizona, that Arizona registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Arizona.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Arizona LLCs file no annual report at all, and Michigan LLCs file an annual report ($25, due February 15). If you form in Michigan while operating in Arizona, you maintain filings in both states, Michigan's report, though Arizona asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a Michigan registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Michigan route to roughly $175 a year, versus about $0 to keep a domestic Arizona LLC in good standing.
When Michigan Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Michigan makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Arizona puts owner or manager information on public filings and Michigan doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Arizona still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Michigan, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Michigan in the near future. For a typical small business based in Arizona, none of these usually apply. Registering a Michigan LLC to do business back home means $150 in Arizona foreign-registration fees, on top of Michigan's $50 formation fee, while Arizona itself never asks for an annual report at all. Trading Arizona's no-annual-report status for Michigan'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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