South Carolina LLC vs Connecticut LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in South Carolina.
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Compare South Carolina LLC vs Connecticut 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
Connecticut's $120 Certificate of Organization is close to South Carolina's $110. Its $80 annual report is the difference. That report must be delivered by electronic transmission under Conn. Gen. Stat. 34-247k(a), is due after January 1 and before April 1 whether or not anything about the company changed, and costs four times the $20 charged for report years before July 1, 2020. Fall a year behind and the Secretary of the State can forfeit the LLC, with a $120 Certificate of Reinstatement to undo it. South Carolina's $110 covers the filing and the years after it.
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| Factor | South Carolina | Connecticut |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $110 | $120 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Most online filings auto-accepted |
| Annual Report Fee | None | $80 |
| Annual Report Due | None required | March 31 |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $110 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: South Carolina LLC cost and Connecticut LLC cost.
Business Climate: South Carolina vs Connecticut
| Factor | South Carolina | Connecticut |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 55.9% (#2 of 51) | 51.1% (#25 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +14.7% YoY (#19 of 51 by volume) | +15.6% YoY (#34 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: South Carolina vs Connecticut
South Carolina
Connecticut
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
South Carolina charges $110 to form an LLC, while Connecticut charges $120. South Carolina is $10 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Connecticut but operate in South Carolina, you must also register as a foreign LLC in South Carolina (a $110 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Connecticut (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Connecticut route at roughly $380, versus $110 for simply forming in South Carolina. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Connecticut publishes a standard turnaround (most online filings auto-accepted), while South Carolina publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: South Carolina vs Connecticut
Both South Carolina and Connecticut 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 Connecticut doesn't change what a South Carolina-based owner pays. Neither state imposes a separate franchise or privilege tax on LLCs beyond standard filing fees.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither South Carolina nor Connecticut offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. Connecticut's annual report discloses the LLC's members or managers, a public filing. 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
South Carolina LLCs file no annual report at all, and Connecticut LLCs file an annual report ($80, due March 31). If you form in Connecticut while operating in South Carolina, you maintain filings in both states, Connecticut's report, though South Carolina asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a Connecticut registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Connecticut route to roughly $230 a year, versus about $0 to keep a domestic South Carolina LLC in good standing.
When Connecticut Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Connecticut makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Connecticut, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Connecticut in the near future. For a typical small business based in South Carolina, none of these usually apply. Registering a Connecticut LLC to do business back home means $110 in South Carolina foreign-registration fees, on top of Connecticut's $120 formation fee, while South Carolina itself never asks for an annual report at all. Trading South Carolina's no-annual-report status for Connecticut'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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