Forming an LLC in New Jersey: 2026 DORES Filing Steps and Fees

Here is the first thing to know: nobody in Trenton is waiting for your "Articles of Organization." New Jersey creates LLCs through a Certificate of Formation, filed with the Treasury's Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES) under N.J.S.A. 42:2C-18. The filing runs $125, it happens through the state's online portal, and there is no numbered form to hunt down because New Jersey has never issued one for LLC formation.

Before You File: Know the Three Numbers

Three figures shape a New Jersey LLC. You pay $125 once to bring the company to life. You pay $75 each year to keep it on the registry, due by the end of your anniversary month. And if you ever need to swap your registered agent, that change filing is $25. Everything else the state asks of you at the start, like the NJ-REG tax registration, comes free of charge.

The Steps, In Order

1. Settle on a compliant name. It needs an LLC designator ("LLC," "L.L.C.," or the spelled-out "Limited Liability Company") and it cannot collide with any name already sitting in the DORES records, so run a search before you commit.
2. Line up your agent for service of process. That is the statute's phrase for a registered agent: under N.J.S.A. 42:2C-14, someone resident in New Jersey or authorized to do business there, posted at a street address. Hire us and this box is checked from day one.
3. Complete the Certificate of Formation on the portal. The DORES Business Formation service walks you through the certificate, and the state collects $125 for all domestic entities other than nonprofits. Prefer paper? The same certificate lives on the unnumbered Public Records Filing for New Business Entity pages of the state's registration packet, at the identical $125.
4. File NJ-REG with the Division of Taxation. This registration hooks your new company into the state tax system and carries no fee at all. Skipping it is not an option; every New Jersey business completes it.
5. Draft the operating agreement. The state will never ask to see it, yet it decides who owns what, who signs what, and what happens when a member exits. Without one, the fallback rules of the Revised Uniform LLC Act make those calls for you.
6. Apply for your EIN. Straight from the IRS, at no charge, usually issued on the spot. Banks will want it before opening an account for the company.
7. Circle your anniversary month. That is when the $75 annual report comes due each year, online only, and two straight years of ignoring it puts the company's charter at risk.

What It Adds Up To

Do it yourself and the state's tab is $125 now and $75 a year after that. Bring us in for $199 and we prepare the certificate, file it with DORES, and act as your registered agent for the entire first year, with renewals at $99 annually afterward. State fees pass through at face value.

Form Your New Jersey LLC