New York LLC biennial statement: $9 every two years, due in your filing month
New York does not have a normal annual report for LLCs. It has a Biennial Statement. The filing is due every two years, the fee is $9, and the deadline is tied to the calendar month when the LLC's original Articles of Organization or Application for Authority was filed with the Department of State. It is a small filing, but skipping it can leave your LLC marked past due in state records.
The short answer
A New York LLC files a Biennial Statement every two years with the Department of State. The fee is $9. You file during the calendar month tied to the LLC's original filing with the state, not on a random anniversary date you pick yourself and not earlier than that due month.
This is one of the easiest state compliance filings in the country. The catch is that people forget it because it is cheap, short, and not annual.
| New York LLC biennial statement item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Filing frequency | Every two years |
| State fee | $9 |
| Due period | The calendar month of the original Articles of Organization or Application for Authority filing |
| What LLCs report | The address where the Secretary of State should mail service of process copies |
| Early filing rule | Should not be filed before the due month |
| Risk if missed | LLC shows as past due in Department of State records |
What the filing actually does
The Department of State says domestic and foreign LLCs must file a Biennial Statement under Section 301(e) of the Limited Liability Company Law. For LLCs, the statement is simple. It updates the address to which the New York Secretary of State should mail a copy of any process accepted on the LLC's behalf.
That sounds administrative because it is administrative. But it matters. If the address is stale, legal papers can go to the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.
New York says an LLC's Biennial Statement sets forth the address to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process accepted on the LLC's behalf.
When it is due
The filing period is the calendar month when the LLC's original state filing happened. For a domestic LLC, that means the month the original Articles of Organization were filed. For a foreign LLC authorized in New York, it means the month the Application for Authority was filed.
The filing repeats every two years. If the original filing month was March, the Biennial Statement comes due in March every other year. The Department of State also says a Biennial Statement should not be filed before the calendar month in which it is due.
How much it costs
The state fee is $9. That is it. The Department of State says expedited handling is not available for Biennial Statements, which makes sense because this is not a document most people need rushed. It is a routine maintenance filing.
Because the fee is so low, people tend to underestimate the filing. That is a mistake. Low-cost compliance tasks are often the ones that get ignored longest.
What happens if you miss it
The Department of State says a corporation or LLC that fails to file its Biennial Statement will be reflected in state records as past due. Any Certificate of Status or status letter from the Department will reflect that past-due status, and the state says this may prevent the business from completing certain transactions.
New York also explains why the filing matters in practical terms. Litigation is often started through service of process on the Secretary of State, and the Department mails copies to the address on file. Filing the Biennial Statement gives the LLC a chance to keep that address current and reduce the risk of missing important papers.
How to file it
Most LLCs can file online through the Department of State's e-Statement Filing Service. The state says you need the exact entity name and DOS ID number. It also says the filing fee can be paid by credit card or debit card, including MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.
If online filing does not work, the Department says you can contact the Statement Unit and request a paper form. That is a fallback, not the normal route.
The easy mistake to avoid
The most common mistake is thinking New York has an annual report and then looking for a yearly deadline that does not exist. The second mistake is filing early and assuming that counts. The Department of State says it does not. If you file before the due month, the LLC will still be required to file in the month the statement is actually due.
So the clean habit is simple: know your filing month, keep the service-of-process address current, and file the $9 statement every other year during that month.
Bottom line
The New York LLC Biennial Statement is a $9 filing due every two years in the calendar month tied to the LLC's original Department of State filing. For LLCs, it mainly keeps the service-of-process mailing address current. It is not complicated, but it still matters because a missed filing leaves the LLC marked past due and can create status problems later. In New York, this is one of those small chores that is worth handling on time and forgetting about for another two years.