Washington DC LLC biennial report requirements (and filing)

Every limited liability company doing business in Washington DC must file a biennial report. Most states require this submission every year in the form of an LLC annual report, but the District requires it only every other year. This report is submitted to the District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Corporations Division, and it allows the DLCP to maintain up-to-date information on all LLCs doing business within its jurisdiction. It also allows the District to collect a biennial filing fee.

While the requirement, being every other year, calls for less effort than most states, the report is not optional. If you fail to file, there can be serious consequences, including the possible dissolution of your LLC.

DLCP normally sends an email reminder of your filing due date to your registered agent. However, you are required to file whether or not you actually see that reminder. To ensure that they don’t miss any critical deadline, many LLC owners engage a third party to keep track of due dates and file the reports for them. This is especially useful for LLCs that do business in multiple states, as each jurisdiction has its own deadlines, requirements, forms, and annual report fees. This support can keep an LLC in compliance and safeguard its right to exist everywhere that it does business.

What to know about a biennial report in Washington DC

The Washington DC LLC biennial report is a document required by the District of Columbia. It allows the DC DLCP to maintain the information it needs about each LLC, including name, address, purpose, and the names of the owners.

The report is due on April 1 of the year after you form your Washington DC LLC, and every two years after that. For example, if you form your business in 2025, your first biennial report is due on April 1, 2026. This is true whether your formation was before or after April 1, 2025. Whether you form in January 2025 or in December 2025, your first report deadline is April 1, 2026. Your subsequent reports are due in 2028 and every other year afterward.

The filing fee is $300. This is the fee whether yours is a domestic or foreign LLC, i.e., whether your LLC is operated out of DC, out of one of the states, of from outside the US.

How to file a biennual report in Washington DC

To file the report, fill in either the online or paper form and submit it online, by mail, or in person.

Fill in the form with the required information (detail below):

Here is the information that you provide in your biennial report:

• Business name of the LLC.
• Date of formation.
• Business address. This can be a home address, an office address, a friend or family address, or your registered agent’s address. It can be in DC, in another state, or even outside of the country.
• Registered agent. This can be yourself, another individual, or a registered agent service.
• Are you using a non-commercial registered agent? This is “yes” is you, a family member, or a friend is your registered agent. If “yes,” list the contact information for the registered agent, If “no,” i.e., if you are using a professional registered agent service, list the name and contact information. In the online form, you may simply select the name from a drop-down list.
• Organization purpose. Select the industry of your LLC, or, if it’s not listed, select “Other.” Write a sentence or two about your line of business. This must actually be descriptive of your business. Some states allow a description like “general purpose” or “any lawful activity,” but DC requires that it be more specific.
• Beneficial owners. List all the LLC members and their addresses.
• Statement of good standing. (Required only for foreign LLCs.) This confirms that the LLC is in good standing in the state where it was formed.
• Signature. Sign the form and list your title.

Filing online

The simplest and most straightforward way to submit the report is online through the DC portal.

• Go to the District of Columbia CorpOnline Web Portal.
• Sign in if you already have an account, or sign up if you don’t.
• Retrieve the biennial report form for your LLC.
• Modify any of the data as necessary
• Submit the report and the $300 fee. If you file online, you must pay with a credit card.

Biennial reports filed online will be approved immediately. The DLCP will send you an email confirmation and will upload a copy of the report to the CorpOnline dashboard.

Filing by mail or in person

If you wish, you may print and complete the paper form.

• Download and print the Two-Year Report for Domestic & Foreign Filing Entity (Form BRA-25).
• Fill out and sign the form.
• Mail it to:

Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection
Corporations Division
P.O. Box 92300
Washington, DC 20090

• Or deliver it to:

Business Licensing Center
2nd Floor
1100 4th Street SW
Washington, DC 20024

Include the $300 filing fee. For printed submissions, this must be in the form of a check or money order payable to “DC Treasurer.”

If you file a paper form, turnaround time is one to three weeks. If you file in person, same-day processing is available for an additional $100.

Filing on time and paying the fee

The report will not be approved unless the $300 fee is paid. To avoid penalties, the report must be filed on time. That is April 1 or the year after the year of formation and April 1 or every two years thereafter.

What happens if you fail to file on time? (or at all)

Reports are due on April 1. If you miss the deadline, there is a late fee of $100. If you file by September 1, there is no further penalty.

If you fail to file by September 1, the DLCP may administratively dissolve your LLC, and you will no longer be permitted to do business in the District of Columbia. Failure to file a biennial report is the most common reason for LLC to be dissolved by the District. To reinstate a dissolved LLC, you must submit a separate form and pay all outstanding report fees and fines.

The DLCP sends an email reminder to your registered agent in February of any year when a biennial report is due. For this to happen, there must be a registered agent email address on file with the DLCP. There is not a postal mail reminder. Failure to receive the notice does not constitute an excuse for not filing on time.

Conclusion

Every LLC doing business in the District of Columbia must file a biennial report with the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. It is not a complex report, and it requires information that most LLCs have readily at hand. This must be done by April 1 of the year after the LLC formed and every other year thereafter. The fee is $300.

The easiest way to file is online through the CorpOnline portal. However, if you wish, you may download the report form, print it, fill it out, and deliver it by mail or in person.

There is a $100 fine for late filing. If the report is not filed by September 1, the LCC is at risk of being administratively dissolved and becoming ineligible to do business in the district. To be reinstated, the LLC must fill out a separate form and pay all report fees and penalties.

Not every state has a process a straightforward as DC’s. If you do business in multiple states, you might consider using an LLC service to track all deadlines and to file all reports on time.

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