Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Illinois

Doing business in Illinois from another state

If your LLC does business in Illinois as Illinois defines it, you register with the Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services, Limited Liability Division for $150.

Step 1: put these questions to Illinois’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.

Illinois’s sources do not name a statute on this page; start at the Illinois filing page.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Form LLC-45.5, Application for Admission to Transact Business
Fee
$150
Paper from your home state
Certificate of Good Standing or Existence, no older than 60 days
Agent
A registered agent in Illinois

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Illinois (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeIllinois feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$150Year one included, then $149/yr
2IL Registered Agent.org$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr
3Illinois Registered Agent.co$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr

Service prices read from each provider’s Illinois page on October 28, 2026. The state fee is the official figure below and is paid to the Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services, Limited Liability Division.

Illinois questions

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

When its activity in Illinois meets Illinois’s own definition of doing business. We do not paraphrase it; read it through the Illinois filing page.

What does registering in Illinois cost?

$150 to the Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services, Limited Liability Division.

What is required after registering?

Annual report (Illinois Secretary of State), $75 (due: within the 60 days before your anniversary month), and a registered agent in Illinois.

Sources