How to Start an LLC in North Dakota
North Dakota keeps its business filings in one place. Everything, from your first name search to your last annual report, runs through the Secretary of State's FirstStop portal at firststop.sos.nd.gov. There is no stack of numbered paper forms to hunt down. You answer the portal's questions, it assembles the filing, and you pay at the end. The official North Dakota filing fee for Articles of Organization is $135, set by N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-92(1).
Here is the whole process in order, with the statute and the fee attached to each step.
The Formation Document: Articles of Organization
North Dakota LLCs are created under N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-20, which lets one or more organizers, age eighteen or older, form a limited liability company by signing and filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State. Because FirstStop is a dynamic online portal rather than a form library, there is no form number to cite. The Articles of Organization exist as a guided workflow inside the portal, not as a downloadable PDF.
The articles record your LLC name, its principal address, the registered agent and that agent's North Dakota address, and the organizers who sign.
North Dakota LLC Formation Steps
- Search your name in FirstStop. The name must include "Limited Liability Company," "LLC," or "L.L.C." and must be distinguishable from every name already on record with the North Dakota Secretary of State. Run the search before you get attached to anything.
- Appoint a registered agent. North Dakota's Registered Agents Act (N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-01.1) requires every LLC to keep one on file. The agent is either a commercial registered agent listed with the Secretary of State or a noncommercial agent: an individual who lives in North Dakota, or a corporation or LLC registered with the state that maintains a North Dakota business office. Whichever you pick, the filing must state an actual street address or rural route box number in the state.
- File the Articles of Organization through FirstStop. Create an account at firststop.sos.nd.gov, work through the LLC formation workflow, and pay the $135 fee. The fee comes straight from N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-92(1), and the portal is the filing channel for all North Dakota business documents.
- Adopt an operating agreement. The state never sees this document, but your bank will ask for it and a court will read it if the members ever disagree. Without one, the default rules of the North Dakota LLC Act answer ownership and management questions for you.
- Get an EIN from the IRS. It is free at IRS.gov and usually issued immediately. Nobody needs to charge you for this.
- Put November 15 on the calendar. The North Dakota annual report is due on or before November 15 each year with a $50 fee. File late and an additional $50 late fee applies. Let it sit six months past due and the LLC is involuntarily terminated by operation of law (N.D. Cent. Code § 10-32.1-90).
What You Will Pay
- $135 to the North Dakota Secretary of State for the Articles of Organization, a one-time fee
- $50 each year for the annual report, due on or before November 15
- $199 if we handle formation for you. That covers preparing and filing the articles and includes your first year of registered agent service, then $99/year after that.
North Dakota requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent for as long as the company exists, so plan for that role from day one. Our standalone registered agent service is $99/year if formation is already behind you.
After You File
FirstStop is also where the follow-up work happens: the November annual report, registered agent changes (a statement of change under N.D. Cent. Code § 10-01.1-08, $10 fee, effective on filing), and address updates. Keep the agent current, file every November, and your LLC stays in good standing with the Secretary of State.
Form Your North Dakota LLC