Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Hawaii

Doing business in Hawaii from another state

If your LLC does business in Hawaii as Hawaii defines it, you register with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Business Registration Division for $51.

Step 1: put these questions to Hawaii’s law

  1. An employee or contractor works from the state. Ask whether the statute counts work done by people located in the state, and whether employees and independent contractors are treated alike.
  2. You sell to customers there but have no one on the ground. Ask whether the statute treats sales from outside the state differently from activity inside it.
  3. The LLC owns or leases property there. Ask whether owning or leasing real estate is listed as an activity that does, or does not, count.
  4. You open an office, shop or warehouse. Ask whether a fixed place of business is named in the statute. Settle the answer before you sign a lease.
  5. You hold meetings or keep a bank account there. Ask whether the statute lists these ancillary activities, and whether they count by themselves.

The law, as listed in the state’s own sources: Hawaii Revised Statutes 428-1003, activities that are not transacting business.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Form FLLC-1, Application for Certificate of Authority for Foreign Limited Liability Company
Fee
$51
Paper from your home state
Original certificate of existence from the jurisdiction of formation, no older than 60 days
Agent
A registered agent in Hawaii

$50 application fee plus the $1 State Archives preservation fee.

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Hawaii (2026)

Step 3: if you would rather not file it yourself.

#ServiceService feeHawaii feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$51Year one included, then $149/yr
2HI Registered Agent.org$199$51Year one included, then $99/yr
3Hawaii Registered Agent.co$199$51Year one included, then $99/yr

Service prices read from each provider’s Hawaii page on October 28, 2026. The state fee is the official figure below and is paid to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Business Registration Division.

Hawaii questions

When does an LLC from another state have to register in Hawaii?

When its activity in Hawaii meets Hawaii’s own definition of doing business. We do not paraphrase it; read it in the law linked below.

What does registering in Hawaii cost?

$51 to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Business Registration Division. $50 application fee plus the $1 State Archives preservation fee.

What is required after registering?

Annual report (Hawaii Business Registration Division), $12.50 (due: end of the quarter in which the LLC was registered), and a registered agent in Hawaii.

Sources