The state’s part of a Florida business dissolution costs $25 for an LLC and $35 for a corporation. That’s the cheap part. The real Florida business dissolution cost comes from what surrounds the filing: final tax returns, any debts you still owe, and professional help if things are messy. A simple single-owner business can close for a few hundred dollars. One with partners, employees or real assets can run into the thousands.
Here’s where the money goes, roughly in the order you’ll spend it.
What does it cost to file the dissolution?
| Entity | Document | State fee |
|---|---|---|
| LLC | Articles of Dissolution | $25 |
| Corporation (S or C) | Articles of Dissolution | $35 |
| Sole proprietorship | No state filing required | $0 |
You file with the Florida Division of Corporations, online through Sunbiz or by mail. The LLC fee is the same whether you have one member or ten. Professional corporations and nonprofits pay the same $35 as other corporations, though nonprofits have extra rules about where their remaining assets can go.
Before you file, get your annual reports current. If you’ve fallen behind, expect to pay the missed reports first: $138.75 a year for an LLC, $150 a year for a corporation. Being a year or two behind can cost more than the dissolution itself.
Don’t skip the filing just because you’ve stopped operating. Until you dissolve, the state treats the business as active, and the annual report obligations (and late fees) keep coming.
Taxes: settling up with Florida
Florida doesn’t make most businesses get a formal tax clearance certificate before dissolving. You still have to close out what you owe.
- If you collected sales tax, file a final sales and use tax return with the Florida Department of Revenue and pay any balance.
- If you had employees, file final reemployment tax reports and pay what’s due.
Filing those final returns is free. The cost is whatever tax, penalties and interest you still owe. If your filing history is spotty, the Department of Revenue may take a closer look before it closes your account, so cleaning up late returns first makes sense.
Final tax return preparation
Every business files final federal returns for the year it closes, and so does every corporation that owed Florida income tax. Typical preparation fees:
| Return | Typical prep cost |
|---|---|
| Single-member LLC (Schedule C on your personal return) | $150-300 |
| Multi-member LLC (Form 1065) | $300-600 |
| Corporation (Form 1120 or 1120-S) | $500-1,200 |
| Florida corporate return (F-1120), if billed separately | $150-300 |
Closing an LLC or S corporation can also create taxable events on your personal return, for example when assets come out of the business. Expect another $200-500 of accounting work if that applies to you.
Do you need a lawyer?
For a simple close, no. Online filing services typically charge $149-399 to prepare and file your Articles of Dissolution. That’s plenty if you’re the only owner, you owe nobody, and you have nothing much to divide.
Bring in an attorney when any of these are true:
- The owners disagree about who gets what
- You owe creditors money you can’t easily pay
- There’s a pending lawsuit or claim
- You have long-term contracts that need to be ended
- You own trademarks or other intellectual property worth protecting
A straightforward attorney-handled dissolution starts around $500. Complicated ones run $2,000-5,000, and litigation is a different budget entirely. Accountants add $300-800 if you need final financial statements, asset valuations or tax planning.
Paying off what the business owes
This is usually the biggest number, and it varies the most. All business debts get paid, or formally settled, before owners take anything out. That includes:
- Loans and lines of credit, plus any prepayment penalties (often 1-5% of the balance)
- Unpaid vendor invoices
- Equipment leases or buyouts
- The rest of a commercial lease, unless you negotiate a discount or find someone to sublet
- Final payroll and contractor payments
- Outstanding taxes and penalties
Florida law sets out a procedure for notifying creditors and giving them time to submit claims. Following it limits how long claims can come back to you after the business is closed.
If the business can’t cover its debts, voluntary dissolution may not be the right tool. A Chapter 7 business bankruptcy typically costs $1,500-4,000 in filing and attorney fees. Talk to a bankruptcy attorney before you file anything with the state.
Licenses and permits
Cancelling licenses is mostly free. Not cancelling them is what costs money, because renewals and fees keep accruing.
Work through each level:
- State professional licenses (contractor, real estate, health care): cancel with the Florida agency that issued them.
- Local business tax receipts: contact your county tax collector and, if you’re in a city, the city’s business tax office. Some will prorate a refund if you cancel mid-year.
- Industry permits (health, environmental, alcohol): cancel with the issuing agency. An alcohol license may have resale value, so check before you cancel it.
- Your EIN: you can’t cancel it, but you can ask the IRS to close your business account once your final returns are filed.
Selling or distributing assets
Assets go to creditors first, then to owners according to your operating agreement or bylaws. Turning assets into cash costs money:
- Auctioneers and liquidators usually take 20-35% of what they sell.
- Selling real estate means the usual 5-6% commission plus closing costs.
- Appraisals, if owners need to split assets fairly or you need values for taxes, run $300-1,000 per category of asset.
Handing assets to owners instead of selling them can create a tax bill with no cash to pay it, because owners may owe tax on the asset’s fair market value. Get an accountant’s view before anyone takes the company truck home.
When dissolutions get expensive
A few situations push costs up quickly:
Owner disputes. Mediation runs about $1,500-3,000 for a session. Litigation can reach $10,000-50,000 or more. Settling disagreements before you file is almost always cheaper.
Operating in other states. If the business is registered elsewhere, you’ll need to withdraw or dissolve in each of those states and pay each state’s fees.
Contracts with exit penalties. Legal review of long-term contracts typically costs $150-400 an hour, and some contracts charge a fee to terminate early.
Employees. An employment attorney ($200-400 an hour) can confirm you’re handling final wages correctly and whether WARN Act notice applies. Severance, if you offer it, comes on top.
Intellectual property. Transferring or wrapping up trademarks, patents and copyrights typically costs $500-2,000 in legal work.
Doing it yourself vs. hiring help
DIY is reasonable when you’re the only owner (or all owners agree), there are no debts or disputes, you have few assets, and you have no employees.
| Cost | DIY | With professional help |
|---|---|---|
| State filing fee | $25-35 | $25-35 |
| Filing service or attorney | $0 | $500-2,000 |
| Tax return preparation | $150-600 | $300-1,200 |
| Accounting services | $0 | $300-800 |
| Copies, postage, misc. | $25-50 | $50-100 |
| Total | $200-685 | $1,175-4,135 |
Our take: if there’s any money left to divide, any debt left to settle, or more than one owner, pay for help. A mistake in the creditor process or the tax treatment costs more than the professional fee.
What should you budget?
| Business | Typical total |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship | $0-300 (no state filing, just final taxes and license cancellations) |
| Simple single-member LLC | $200-1,000 |
| Multi-member LLC | $800-3,500 |
| S or C corporation | $1,000-4,000 |
| Complex business (assets, employees, disputes or multiple states) | $3,000-15,000+ |
Where to start
Plan on three to six months from deciding to close to being fully done. Start by catching up on any missed annual reports and tax filings. Dissolving while you’re in good standing is simpler and usually cheaper than untangling back filings at the end.
Before you file anything, book a one-hour consultation with an accountant, and with an attorney if you have partners or debts. At $200-500, that meeting is the cheapest insurance you’ll buy during the whole process.