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Maryland's annual report goes to a different agency than most owners expect — the State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), not a Secretary of State — on Form 1, by April 15 every year, with a $300 filing fee for an LLC, one of the highest flat report fees in the country. Three things about it are chronically misunderstood: April 15 is also federal Tax Day, so owners assume their accountant handled it; there's a free two-month extension to June 15 that almost nobody uses because they don't know it exists; and skipping the filing doesn't save the $300 — since 2021, reviving a forfeited entity means filing every past-due report, fee and all.
| Item | Maryland LLC |
|---|---|
| What's due | Form 1 — Annual Report (with a Business Personal Property Return section, if applicable), filed with SDAT |
| Deadline | April 15 each year — the same date as federal Tax Day |
| Extension | Free, to June 15 — must be requested through SDAT's online extension system by April 15; no second extension after that |
| Where | Online via Maryland Business Express (SDAT also accepts paper Form 1) |
| Filing fee (LLC) | $300 (plus a small online service fee if filed electronically) |
| Miss it | Loss of good standing, then forfeiture of the right to do business in Maryland and to use the entity's name |
| Revival | All past-due annual reports must be filed — $300 for each missed year — plus SDAT's revival paperwork (rule in effect since Jan 1, 2021) |
The extension is free — use it. If April 15 is tight, an extension request submitted through SDAT's online portal by April 15 moves your annual-report deadline to June 15 at no cost. It's per-entity (each LLC needs its own request), and it must be electronic — SDAT only honors requests made through its extension system. Owners who learn this after April 15 are the ones paying for it in good-standing problems.
Maryland shares its April 15 date with the federal income-tax deadline (and with North Carolina's annual report — same trap, different state). That's exactly why it gets missed: mid-April is when owners are buried in tax documents, and the annual report feels like part of the tax filing, so everyone assumes someone else did it. It isn't part of your tax return. Your CPA files your taxes with the comptroller and the IRS; Form 1 goes to SDAT, and unless you've explicitly hired someone to file it, it's yours.
Form 1 is titled "Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return" because it does double duty. Every LLC files the annual-report portion and pays the $300. The personal-property portion only applies if the business owns, leases, or uses personal property located in Maryland (equipment, furniture, inventory) or holds a trader's license — in that case the return feeds a county-level assessment, and late filing can add an assessment-based penalty on top. If your LLC holds no personal property in Maryland — true of many holding companies and out-of-state owners — there's generally no monetary late fine; the consequence of filing late is losing good standing, which is its own kind of expensive.
The escalation runs: missed April 15 (or June 15 with an extension) → not in good standing → forfeited. A forfeited LLC loses the right to do business in Maryland and the right to its name, and in practice can't get certificates of status, close loans, or hold itself out as an LLC in litigation without cleaning up first. And here's the math that makes skipping pointless: to revive a forfeited entity, SDAT requires all past-due annual reports to be filed — at $300 each. Three skipped years is $900 plus revival paperwork, versus $900 paid on schedule with none of the damage. The fee is unavoidable; the only choice is whether you also buy the forfeiture problems.
| Where you are | What it costs |
|---|---|
| On time (by April 15, or June 15 with a free extension) | $300 |
| Late, no personal property in MD | $300 + loss of good standing (no flat fine, but real consequences) |
| Late, with MD personal property | $300 + assessment-based late penalty + loss of good standing |
| Forfeited, then reviving after N missed years | $300 × N in back reports + revival filings |
Maryland's $300 sits near the top of the fixed-date states — double North Carolina's $200, though still under Massachusetts's $500. Unlike Florida, which hits a late filer with an immediate non-waivable $400 fee, Maryland's punishment is structural — good standing, forfeiture, and the back-report stack — which makes it quieter and easier to let slide for years. It also rhymes with Delaware's flat $300 franchise tax, except Maryland's is a real report to a real assessment agency. Confused about which obligation your state imposes? Start with franchise tax vs. annual report, explained. Already behind? The general recovery path is in what to do if you missed your annual report.
April 15 is the worst possible day to remember one more filing. EntityMinder puts Maryland's Form 1 — and the free June 15 extension window — on your calendar with reminders before Tax Day chaos hits, across every state you hold entities in. The beta waitlist is open; planned pricing is $9/month.
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