Everything you need to register a foreign LLC in Puerto Rico.
State filing fee$250one-time
Registered agent$125/yearbased on Northwest RA
Total, all in$1,075
Puerto Rico data last reviewed Aug 29, 2026 · statedepartment.pr.govTotals include the $250 filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Puerto Rico recurring state costs over the selected period.
Foreign Qualification
Filing fee
$250
Form
Certificate of Authorization to do Business (Limited Liability Company)
Annual obligation
$150/year
Processing time
not published by the Department of State, which prices speed instead: $100 within 24 hours, $200 same day, $500 within two hours
Expedite
$100 for service within 24 hours, $200 for same day and $500 within two hours of the request, each charged on top of the filing fee. The Department of State publishes no expedite row on its LLC price list, so these are the statutory prices and may be higher in practice
Estimated year 1 cost
$400
Note: A foreign LLC registers with the Corporations Registry at the Puerto Rico Department of State by filing a Certificate of Authorization to do Business, and filings go through the registry online. Pay from the Department of State's published price list: figures set in the statute are lower and out of date, so treat any statutory number you find as a floor rather than a price. Puerto Rico also runs a separate Registry of Legal Entities. Whether a foreign LLC already authorised here must appear in that one too is not clear from the agency's own pages, so ask the Corporations Division if it affects you.
Puerto Rico data last reviewed Aug 29, 2026 · statedepartment.pr.gov
Formation in Puerto Rico
Formation fee
$250
Annual cost
$150/year
State income tax
Puerto Rico taxes an LLC as a corporation by default under 14 L.P.R.A. sec. 4043(a). Rates and any minimum are set by the 1994 Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code and come from the Departamento de Hacienda rather than from the Department of State.
Privacy
Low
Domestic LLCs are formed by filing a Certificate of Formation with the Department of State, which charges $250. Figures set in the statute are lower and out of date, so pay from the published price list.
What triggers foreign qualification in Puerto Rico?
Physical office, storefront or other place of business in Puerto Rico
Employees working in Puerto Rico
Recurring business transactions with Puerto Rico customers
Any single job running longer than 30 days
Important to know
Puerto Rico charges LLCs a $150 annual fee, due 15 April. It is a fee, not a report. Miss it and your LLC loses its authorisation, which is Puerto Rico's word for the registration that lets you do business, with interest and a $100 penalty until you pay. Getting it back means clearing every year you missed.
Trading here without that registration costs $200 a year, or part year, with no cap. Puerto Rico courts will not hear a case you bring until you are registered and the bill is paid.
Puerto Rico taxes an LLC as a corporation by default, whatever you elected federally. If your LLC is taxed as a sole proprietorship or a partnership on your federal return, that treatment does not follow it here. Elections exist but you have to make them, so budget an hour with a Puerto Rico accountant.
The one-off transaction exemption is capped at 30 days, where most places have no limit. A single job running longer than a month has to register.
Puerto Rico calls it a resident agent rather than a registered agent. Sixty days without one is its own ground for losing your registration.
The Department of State's English registry page says an LLC registration lasts a year and must be renewed. That describes a different Puerto Rico entity. Yours does not expire annually.
Activities that do NOT require registration in Puerto Rico
The following activities are explicitly carved out by statute. On their own, they do not require a foreign LLC to register in Puerto Rico.
Bringing, defending or settling a court proceeding
Holding meetings of the board or the members, or other internal affairs activity
Maintaining bank accounts
Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange and registration of its own securities, or maintaining trustees or depositories for those securities
Selling through independent contractors
Soliciting or obtaining orders, by mail or through employees or agents, if the orders must be accepted outside Puerto Rico before a contract obligation arises
Creating or acquiring debts, mortgages or security interests in movable or immovable property
Securing or collecting debts, or enforcing mortgages or security interests in the property securing those debts
Owning movable or immovable property, and nothing more
Carrying out an isolated transaction COMPLETED WITHIN 30 DAYS that is not one of a series of a similar nature
Section 4029 does not list activities itself. It defines them by reference to section 3805, the foreign corporation provision, so an LLC and a corporation share one list. PUERTO RICO CAPS THE ISOLATED TRANSACTION AT 30 DAYS, which most jurisdictions do not. Section 3805(b) disclaims the list twice over: it does not decide whether the entity can be served and sued in Puerto Rico, and it does not decide whether the entity is engaged in trade or business for income tax under the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code. A company outside the registration duty can still owe Puerto Rico tax.
This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify with the Puerto Rico Department of State before filing.