Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Iowa

Doing business in Iowa from another state

If your LLC does business in Iowa as Iowa defines it, you register with the Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services for $100.

Step 1: put these questions to Iowa’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: Iowa Code 489.902, registration requirement; Iowa Code 489.905, activities that do not count; Iowa Code 489.212, biennial report.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Form 635_0010, Limited Liability Company Foreign Registration Statement
Fee
$100
Paper from your home state
Certificate of existence (good standing) from the state or country of formation, no older than 90 days
Agent
A registered agent in Iowa

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Iowa (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeIowa feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$100Year one included, then $149/yr
2IA Registered Agent.org$199$100Year one included, then $99/yr
3Iowa Registered Agent.co$199$100Year one included, then $99/yr

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

Iowa questions

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

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

What does registering in Iowa cost?

$100 to the Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services.

What is required after registering?

Biennial report (Iowa Secretary of State), $30 (due: january 1 to April 1 of each odd-numbered year), and a registered agent in Iowa.

Sources