Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › West Virginia

Doing business in West Virginia from another state

If your LLC does business in West Virginia as West Virginia defines it, you register with the West Virginia Secretary of State, Business & Licensing Division for $150.

Step 1: put these questions to West Virginia’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: W. Va. Code § 31B-10-1003, activities that are not transacting business; W. Va. Code § 31B-10-1008, effect of failure to obtain a certificate.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
LLF-1, West Virginia Application for Certificate of Authority of Limited Liability Company
Fee
$150
Paper from your home state
Certificate of existence (good standing), dated in the current tax year
Agent
A agent for service of process in West Virginia

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in West Virginia (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeWest Virginia feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$150Year one included, then $149/yr
2WV Registered Agent.org$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr
3West Virginia Registered Agent.co$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr

Mainstay Filing: Its West Virginia checkout showed $350 in total on October 28, 2026, including $1 in state processing charges.

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

West Virginia questions

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

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

What does registering in West Virginia cost?

$150 to the West Virginia Secretary of State, Business & Licensing Division.

What is required after registering?

Annual report (Secretary of State), $25 (due: june 30), and a agent for service of process in West Virginia.

Sources