Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Maine

Doing business in Maine from another state

If your LLC does business in Maine as Maine defines it, you register with the Maine Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC and Commissions for $250.

Step 1: put these questions to Maine’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.

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

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Form MLLC-12, Statement of Foreign Qualification to Conduct Activities
Fee
$250
Paper from your home state
Certificate of existence, no older than 90 days
Agent
A registered agent in Maine

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Maine (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeMaine feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$250Year one included, then $149/yr
2ME Registered Agent.org$199$250Year one included, then $99/yr
3Maine Registered Agent.co$199$250Year one included, then $99/yr

Mainstay Filing: Its Maine checkout showed $499 in total on October 28, 2026, including the state’s required $50 expedite.

Service prices read from each provider’s Maine page on October 28, 2026. The state fee is the official figure below and is paid to the Maine Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC and Commissions.

Maine questions

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

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

What does registering in Maine cost?

$250 to the Maine Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC and Commissions.

What is required after registering?

Annual report for a foreign LLC (Maine Secretary of State), $150 (due: june 1), and a registered agent in Maine.

Sources