Nonprofit startup fees in 2026: what the 50-state data shows

The IRS fee is most of the bill

With the short form, the IRS fee is about 85 percent of the first-year bill in the median state. So what moves your cost most is not your state. It is which IRS form you qualify for.

The IRS user fee is $275 for Form 1023-EZ and $600 for the full Form 1023. You can use the short form if you expect gross receipts of $50,000 or less in each of the next three years. Gross receipts means all the money you take in, before costs. Your assets must also be $250,000 or less, and a few other conditions apply. The IRS lists them in the Form 1023-EZ instructions, and Form 1023 vs. 1023-EZ walks through the test.

State fees run from $8 to $225

Kentucky charges $8 to file your articles of incorporation, the paper that creates the nonprofit. That is the lowest of any state. Alabama is the highest at $225, because its $200 filing fee comes with a required $25 name reservation.

The fees that trip up founders are the ones due just after you incorporate. California's $20 Statement of Information is due within 90 days. Georgia's $40 annual registration is also due within 90 days. If you form after 1 October, you file it between 1 January and 1 April instead. Connecticut wants a $50 first report within 90 days, and Nevada a $50 list of officers filed with the articles. The 50-state table counts each of these in the state's cost, because none of them is optional.

A few states also require a notice in a local newspaper. Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Georgia do, and so does Arizona outside Maricopa and Pima counties. The table counts only fees paid to the government, so these notices are not in it. They still belong in your budget. In Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Arizona the newspaper sets the price. Pennsylvania wants two papers, and Nebraska wants the notice to run for three weeks. Georgia's notice is a flat $40, paid to the paper.

Registering to fundraise can be free while you are small

Thirteen states have no general charitable registration. In 29 of the other 37, a small new nonprofit that meets the state's conditions can register for free or is exempt. The other eight charge even a small new nonprofit in its first year, from Virginia's $10 exemption filing to Massachusetts's $100. Massachusetts adds $50 if you ask for gifts before your first annual filing. You skip it if volunteers do all the work and you raise $5,000 or less.

The exemptions come with conditions, and some still need a filing. Some set a revenue line, such as $25,000 or $50,000 a year. Some apply only if you pay no one to raise the money. Others, like Florida's, apply only if volunteers do all the work. Virginia's small groups must file a $10 form to claim theirs. In Mississippi, claiming the exemption costs the same $50 as registering.

What changed from 2024 to 2026

Fees and rules change, so check the date on any guide you use, this one included. These changed from 2024 to 2026:

• Kansas moved its information report to every two years on 1 January 2024. It costs $80.
• Utah repealed its charitable registration on 1 May 2024.
• Florida began letting small charities run by volunteers file a free form instead of paying to register, on 1 July 2024.
• Mississippi began requiring a free annual nonprofit report. The law took effect on 1 July 2024, and the first reports were due in May 2025.
• Georgia raised its online filing fees to match paper on 6 September 2025. Nonprofit articles cost $110 and the yearly registration $40, however you file.
• Louisiana's fee for nonprofit articles is $95 from 1 October 2026, up from $75.

What to budget after the first year

Thirteen states charge nothing for their regular report, or have none. Vermont's report is free only if you paid no officer, director or employee the year before. Florida's $61.25 is the highest yearly report fee. Ohio has no annual report. It wants a $25 statement every five years, and if you miss it, the state cancels your articles of incorporation.

Add your charitable registration renewal if your state has one. Plan for your yearly IRS return too. If your gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less, you can generally file the Form 990-N e-Postcard. The IRS lets you file it for free.

See your state

Each state's fees are in the cost to start a nonprofit in every state. It has a note on each state's exemptions and a spreadsheet with the source for every number. For your own total, the startup cost calculator adds up your state's fees with the form you will file.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. State fees were read from each state's own site in August and September 2026, and the IRS fees on 24 September 2026. Fees change, so confirm the current fee with your state and the IRS before you file.

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Sources: IRS: Form 1023 and 1023-EZ: Amount of user fee; Instructions for Form 1023-EZ (revised January 2025); Form 990-N (e-Postcard); Form 990-N FAQs: how to file. State fees: each state's business-filing office and charity regulator, read in August and September 2026; every source link is in the 50-state table and its spreadsheet. The state rules named here were rechecked at the source: Kentucky Secretary of State fees and Attorney General charity registration; Alabama fee schedule, domestic corporations and Attorney General charitable organizations; California ARTS-PB-501(c)(3) instructions and forms and fees; Georgia Corporations Division filing fees, effective 6 September 2025, how to file an annual registration and filing procedure for a corporation (revised November 2024) (read through archived copies of 10 November 2025, 28 May 2026 and 17 February 2026), O.C.G.A. 43-17-9 exemptions (read through the Secretary of State's charitable organization release, archived 7 March 2025, as sos.ga.gov blocks automated reading) and Charitable Solicitations Act; Connecticut certificate of incorporation, nonstock and nonstock forms and fees; Nevada NRS 82.193 and 82.531 and nonprofit articles form; Pennsylvania nonprofit corporations; Nebraska Neb. Rev. Stat. 21-19,173; Arizona A.R.S. 10-3203, A.R.S. 10-130 and SB 1353 fact sheet; Virginia charitable solicitation fees; Massachusetts Attorney General introduction to charitable compliance and overview of solicitation (read through archived copies of 8 October 2025 and 12 June 2026, as mass.gov blocks automated reading); Mississippi Charities Act rules (September 2025) and nonprofit annual report; Illinois charity registration; North Dakota charitable organizations; Oklahoma 18 O.S. 552.3; Kansas biennial business filing and Form INP; Utah H.B. 43 (2024); Florida solicitation of contributions and annual report fees; Louisiana fee changes effective 1 October 2026 and fee schedule before that date; Vermont fees and statutes; Ohio R.C. 1702.59 and R.C. 111.16. All read 24 September 2026, and the Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada and Louisiana sources again on 25 September 2026.