Pennsylvania LLC vs Ohio LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Pennsylvania.
Based in Ohio? Read Ohio LLC vs Pennsylvania LLC →
Compare Pennsylvania LLC vs Ohio 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
Ohio charges $99 once and nothing after: no annual report, no biennial statement, no recurring Secretary of State fee, against Pennsylvania's $125 and $7 every year. The Commercial Activity Tax reaches only taxable gross receipts above a $6 million annual exclusion, so most LLCs owe nothing, though crossing that line means reactivating a CAT account and filing quarterly. Ohio also keeps members off the public filing. The $26 formation saving and the $7 a year are both smaller than the $250 an Ohio LLC pays to register in Pennsylvania.
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| Factor | Pennsylvania | Ohio |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $125 | $99 |
| Processing Time | 2 to 4 days | 3 to 7 business days (paper) |
| Annual Report Fee | $7 | None |
| Annual Report Due | September 30 | None required |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | Yes |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $250 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Pennsylvania LLC cost and Ohio LLC cost.
Business Climate: Pennsylvania vs Ohio
| Factor | Pennsylvania | Ohio |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 57.1% (#1 of 51) | 54.4% (#8 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +6.5% YoY (#12 of 51 by volume) | +16.1% YoY (#8 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: Pennsylvania vs Ohio
Pennsylvania
Ohio
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
Pennsylvania charges $125 to form an LLC, while Ohio charges $99. Ohio is $26 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Ohio but operate in Pennsylvania, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania (a $250 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Ohio (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Ohio route at roughly $499, versus $125 for simply forming in Pennsylvania. Both states publish a standard turnaround, Pennsylvania (2 to 4 days) and Ohio (3 to 7 business days (paper)), though a published figure is a norm, not a guarantee.
Taxes: Pennsylvania vs Ohio
Both Pennsylvania and Ohio 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 Ohio doesn't change what a Pennsylvania-based owner pays. Pennsylvania levies a flat 3.07% personal income tax. Ohio levies a personal income tax, but the Business Income Deduction exempts the first $250,000 and taxes business income above it at a flat 3%. Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) applies only to taxable gross receipts above $6 million (0.26%); smaller businesses owe no CAT.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Ohio allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Ohio's Articles of Organization require only the organizer and statutory agent (no members/managers), and Ohio LLCs file no annual report. Pennsylvania doesn't offer that same privacy. Pennsylvania's annual report names at least one governor (a member or manager with management responsibility). 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 Ohio LLC as a foreign LLC in Pennsylvania, that Pennsylvania registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in Pennsylvania.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Pennsylvania LLCs file an annual report ($7, due September 30), and Ohio LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Ohio while operating in Pennsylvania, you maintain filings in both states, Ohio asks for no report, but Pennsylvania still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay an Ohio registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Ohio route to roughly $157 a year, versus about $7 to keep a domestic Pennsylvania LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) applies only to taxable gross receipts above $6 million (0.26%); smaller businesses owe no CAT.
When Ohio Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Ohio makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. Pennsylvania puts owner or manager information on public filings and Ohio doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in Pennsylvania still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Ohio, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Ohio in the near future. For a typical small business based in Pennsylvania, none of these usually apply. Registering an Ohio LLC to do business back home means $250 in Pennsylvania foreign-registration fees, on top of Ohio's $99 formation fee, while Pennsylvania's own annual report runs $7 a year and is due September 30. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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<iframe src="https://www.incaca.com/tools/compare-states?embed=1&stateA=PA&stateB=OH" width="100%" height="720" frameborder="0" style="border:0;max-width:900px;display:block;margin:0 auto;" title="Pennsylvania vs Ohio LLC Cost Comparison" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="text-align:center;font-size:.8125rem;color:#6b7280">Source: <a href="https://www.incaca.com/llc/compare/pennsylvania-llc-vs-ohio-llc">IncACA, Pennsylvania vs Ohio LLC Comparison</a></p>