Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › South Dakota

Doing business in South Dakota from another state

If your LLC does business in South Dakota as South Dakota defines it, you register with the South Dakota Secretary of State for $750.

Step 1: put these questions to South Dakota’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.

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

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Application for Certificate of Authority, Foreign Limited Liability Company
Fee
$750
Paper from your home state
Certificate of Existence
Agent
A registered agent in South Dakota

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in South Dakota (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeSouth Dakota feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$750Year one included, then $149/yr
2SD Registered Agent.org$199$750Year one included, then $99/yr
3South Dakota Registered Agent.co$199$750Year one included, then $99/yr

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

South Dakota questions

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

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

What does registering in South Dakota cost?

$750 to the South Dakota Secretary of State.

What is required after registering?

Annual report (South Dakota Secretary of State), $55 (due: 1st of the anniversary month), and a registered agent in South Dakota.

Sources