Florida Annual Report Due Date and the $400 Late Fee

The Florida annual report due date is May 1 under the standing Sunbiz rules. The normal filing period starts January 1. A covered LLC or profit corporation filing after May 1 faces a $400 late fee, even when it has no business changes to report. Nonprofit corporations do not pay that late fee, but they still must file.

There are two different risks to calendar: the May fee deadline and the September nonfiling process that can end in administrative dissolution or revocation. Treat neither as a reason to wait. Use the official Sunbiz filing page to confirm current instructions and the entity's public record.

The deadline, late fee and dissolution dates

Milestone	Standing rule	What it means
Filing opens	January 1	Normal annual-report season begins
Timely fee deadline	May 1	Avoid the $400 late fee for covered for-profit entities
Nonfiling warning point	Third Friday in September	Sunbiz says file by this date to avoid dissolution
Administrative action	Close of business on the fourth Friday in September	Standing Sunbiz guidance describes dissolution or revocation for nonfilers

These are the published recurring rules, not a substitute for a year-specific payment announcement. Sunbiz may give different instructions for online payments, mailed vouchers and receipt cutoffs. Read the live notice instead of assuming every payment method stays open until the same hour.

For planning in 2027, the third Friday is September 17 and the fourth Friday is September 24. Those are calendar projections from the standing rule, not verified 2027 agency processing dates. The 2027 annual-report guide explains that limitation alongside the current fees.

Does May 1 falling on a weekend extend the deadline?

Do not assume it does. May 1, 2027 falls on a Saturday, but no 2027 weekend extension was verified for this guide. Use May 1 as the planning deadline and file earlier.

The current page includes a year-specific 2026 time notice. That is not evidence of the precise time, time zone or operating hours for the 2027 system. Recheck when that filing season opens. A calendar reminder for late April is safer than relying on an unannounced Monday extension.

If an emergency order or agency notice changes a deadline, read the actual announcement and its scope. A social-media post, a prior year's hurricane relief or a private service's claim is not itself an extension.

How much is the Florida annual-report late fee?

Entity	Timely report fee	Additional late fee	Ordinary late total
LLC	$138.75	$400	$538.75
Profit corporation	$150	$400	$550
Nonprofit corporation	$61.25	None under this rule	$61.25

The state fee schedules and annual-report page support these amounts. The table does not include optional certificates, other filings or a private preparer's charge. Nonprofit status removes the $400 annual-report late fee, not the need to maintain the record.

Sunbiz warns that the late fee is required. Do not budget around an assumed waiver because a company made no money, an owner was traveling or an email reminder was missed. If you believe a specific official relief provision applies, confirm that provision directly rather than relying on a generic promise.

What if I miss May 1 but the entity is still active?

Check the public record and the current filing route immediately. Missing the timely deadline and being administratively dissolved are different stages. An active entity with an overdue report may still file through the annual-report process with the applicable late fee.

Use the Sunbiz filing walkthrough to review the record, update the required fields and save confirmation. Do not pay an old solicitation without checking whether the report has already been filed by someone else.

After processing, verify the report year and information in Sunbiz. Keep both payment evidence and the filed report. A task labeled “paid” in bookkeeping is less useful than a record showing which entity, report year and confirmation it covered.

What happens if the report is still missing in September?

Sunbiz's standing notice says entities that do not file by the third Friday of September will be administratively dissolved or revoked at close of business on the fourth Friday. Check the current announcement for payment-method cutoffs before either date.

For a Florida-created entity, the result is generally described as administrative dissolution. For an entity registered from another jurisdiction, the state may revoke its authority. Neither is the same as voluntarily closing the business in an orderly way.

Once the record shows dissolution or revocation, use the reinstatement guide and the state's reinstatement instructions. Do not assume the normal late annual-report total restores status. Reinstatement involves a different application and fee structure.

Does an inactive business still need to file?

Little or no revenue does not by itself cancel the annual-report duty. This report is a business-record filing, not an income-tax return. If you are keeping an LLC or corporation active, review its filing obligations even when operations paused.

If the business is genuinely finished, investigate proper closure rather than letting repeated reminders accumulate. Outstanding tax accounts, licenses, contracts and employee obligations require their own review. An administrative dissolution is not a reliable all-purpose cancellation of those matters.

A sole proprietor with only a fictitious-name registration has a different record and renewal process. Confirm the legal entity type before paying a corporation annual-report notice.

When is a newly formed company's first annual report due?

The first annual report generally falls in the calendar year after formation or registration. An acceptable delayed effective date can affect the first year for a newly created Florida LLC or corporation.

For example, an entity effective in 2026 generally enters its first annual-report season in 2027. One filed late in 2026 with an accepted January 1, 2027 effective date generally enters its first season in 2028. See the Q4 effective-date rules, including the 90-day-forward limit; simply submitting in Q4 is not enough.

Build reminders around evidence, not envelopes

Create a January review task and an earlier-than-May filing target. Assign one person to file and another person, if available, to verify the report appears. Store the entity's document number with the reminder, not payment credentials.

Keep the annual report separate from tax returns, professional-license renewals and local business tax receipts in your business compliance calendar. Private mail can use real public-record details, so compare every requested payment with the official fee and current record.

General filing information, not legal or tax advice. FileMyFlorida is independent and is not affiliated with the State of Florida, Sunbiz or FinCEN.