Florida vs Nevada LLC: What Each One Actually Costs to Form and Keep

By Registered Agent Guides · Jul 25, 2026 · 7 min read

Nevada gets recommended for two reasons: no state income tax and a reputation for privacy. Both claims fall apart the moment you look at what a Nevada LLC costs to run and where you actually pay tax. For most people asking whether to form in Florida or Nevada, the honest answer is to form in the state where you operate. If that is Florida, form in Florida.

This is not a close call on cost. A Nevada LLC costs $425 to start and $350 every year after. A Florida LLC costs $125 to start and $138.75 a year. If you live or work in Florida and form in Nevada anyway, you do not replace the Florida cost with the Nevada cost. You pay both, because operating in Florida forces you to register there too. Here is the full math.

First-year cost, side by side

The $75 Nevada Articles fee is the number you see quoted everywhere, and it is misleading. Nevada makes you file the Initial List and buy a State Business License at the same time as the Articles. All three are mandatory. You cannot form a working Nevada LLC for $75. The real number at checkout is $425.

Ongoing cost, every year after

Over five years, a Florida LLC runs about $680 in state fees. A Nevada LLC runs about $1,825. That is a $1,145 gap for the same legal entity, before you add a registered agent in either state. For a business that operates in Florida, that gap buys nothing.

The tax argument does not survive contact

Nevada has no state personal income tax and no corporate income tax. That is true. It is also true of Florida. Neither state taxes personal income. So for a Florida resident, choosing Nevada for its tax treatment saves exactly zero dollars in state income tax, because Florida already charges zero.

The deeper problem is that forming in a state does not move your tax home. You owe tax where you conduct business and where you live, not where you filed a piece of paper. If you live in California and form in Nevada, California still taxes your income and still requires you to register the LLC as a foreign entity in California. The Nevada filing does not shield you from the state you actually operate in. It just adds a second set of fees on top.

Nevada's one real tax feature is the Commerce Tax, and it only applies to businesses with more than $4 million in Nevada gross revenue. If you are reading this to decide where to form your first LLC, that threshold is not about you.

The privacy argument is mostly outdated

Nevada built its reputation as an anonymous LLC state years ago. That reputation no longer matches the filings. Under NRS 86.161, Nevada requires the name and address of each manager, or each member if the LLC is member-managed, on the Articles of Organization. The Initial List and the Annual List repeat that information every year. All of it is public record.

A single-member Nevada LLC that is member-managed names its owner on the public formation document. That is the opposite of anonymous. Florida also lists members and managers on its annual report, so neither state hides ownership by default.

If keeping your name and home address off public filings is the goal, the state you form in is not the lever. The lever is a commercial registered agent whose address appears on the filing instead of yours. That works the same in all 50 states and costs far less than Nevada's fee stack. Our guide to keeping your home address off public records covers the setup, and our anonymous LLC states breakdown explains which states actually allow it and why Nevada is not one of them.

The trap: forming in Nevada while operating in Florida

Here is where the Nevada pitch does real financial damage. Say you live and work in Florida but form your LLC in Nevada to chase the tax and privacy story. Nevada is now your formation state, so you owe Nevada's $425 to form, a Nevada registered agent, and Nevada's $350 a year.

But you operate in Florida. That means Florida treats your Nevada LLC as a foreign entity doing business in the state, and you must register it there too. Florida charges $125 to register a foreign LLC, then the same $138.75 annual report as a domestic one, plus you need a registered agent with a Florida address. You are now paying two states, two registered agents, and two annual filings for one business.

The full mechanics of registering a Nevada LLC in Florida, including the safe-harbor activities that do and do not count as doing business, are in our Nevada to Florida foreign qualification guide. If you skip the Florida registration and get caught operating there, the penalties and back fees are covered in our Florida penalty guide.

When Nevada is the right call

Nevada makes sense when you genuinely operate there. If your business has a physical location, employees, or real operations in Nevada, then forming in Nevada is just forming in your home state, and the fees are the cost of doing business where you are. The comparison in that case is not Florida versus Nevada. It is Nevada as your home state, full stop.

Nevada also has a legitimate reputation for strong charging-order protection, which matters for holding companies and asset-protection structures. But if that is your actual goal, Wyoming and New Mexico offer comparable protection and real privacy at a fraction of Nevada's ongoing cost. Nevada is rarely the cheapest way to get any of the things people form there for.

Common questions

Is a Nevada LLC really more private than a Florida LLC? Not in practice. Nevada names managers or managing members on the public Articles of Organization and repeats it on the Annual List every year. Florida lists members and managers on its annual report. Neither hides ownership by default. Real privacy comes from using a commercial registered agent, not from the state you pick.

Will forming in Nevada lower my taxes? No, if you operate somewhere else. You are taxed where you live and where you do business, not where you filed. For a Florida resident, there is no state income tax to save in the first place, so Nevada offers no tax advantage and adds cost.

Why is a Nevada LLC so much more expensive? Nevada bundles two extra mandatory filings into formation: the Initial List ($150) and the State Business License ($200). Those repeat every year as the Annual List and license renewal, which is why the ongoing cost is $350 versus Florida's $138.75.

Can I form in Nevada and just not register in Florida? Not if you operate in Florida. Doing business in a state without registering as a foreign entity exposes you to back fees, penalties, and loss of access to that state's courts. The registration is not optional once you have a real presence there.

Which state is better for an online business with no fixed location? Usually your home state, the one where you live and manage the business. That is where you are most likely to be found to be doing business, and forming there avoids a second state's fees. Nevada only pays off if you have genuine operations or a specific asset-protection structure, and even then Wyoming is often cheaper.

Bottom line

For most people, the choice is not really Florida versus Nevada. It is your home state versus a more expensive state you do not operate in. If you live or work in Florida, forming in Florida costs less to start, far less to maintain, avoids a second registration, and produces the identical tax outcome. Nevada only wins when you actually operate in Nevada.

Whichever state you form in, you still need a registered agent there, and that is the one decision that affects both your privacy and your yearly cost.