Nevada LLC Revoked Status: What Default, Revoked and “Permanently Revoked” Mean

Default, revoked, and the five-year limit: the three stages

Nevada moves a late LLC through stages. Each stage comes from a different part of NRS Chapter 86. We read Section 86.251 and Sections 86.263 through 86.278 for this table.

Here is how the revocation date works with a real calendar. Take an LLC formed in March. Section 86.263 makes its annual list due by the last day of March each year. Suppose the March 2026 list is never filed. The month after the due month is April 2026. As we read Section 86.274, the charter is revoked on April 1, 2027.

The words “Permanently Revoked” do not appear in the Chapter 86 text we read. Third-party guides use that label for the five-year stage. We could not open Nevada’s entity search for this article, so check the exact wording on your own record. The rule that matters is the one in Section 86.276(4).

What reinstating a revoked Nevada LLC costs

Section 86.276 lists what the Secretary of State needs before it reinstates an LLC. The fee and penalty are owed “for each year or portion thereof” in which the LLC failed to file an annual list on time. The amounts below come from the statutes themselves.

1. 1File the annual list required by Section 86.263.
2. 2File the registered agent information required by Section 77.310.
3. 3Sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that the reinstatement is authorized by a Nevada court or by the LLC’s managers (or, if there are none, its managing members).
4. 4Pay the fees and penalties for each missed year, plus the $300 reinstatement fee.
5. 5If another company has taken the LLC’s name, submit a new name under Section 86.278, or file the written consent of the company that holds the name.

The state business license fee is paid together with the annual list, under Section 76.130(1)(a). If that license fee is late, Section 76.130(4)(a) says the LLC is treated as not having filed its annual list. The same default and revocation rules then apply.

Section 86.276(3) sets two conditions. All delinquent fees and penalties must be paid. The revocation must also have happened “only by reason of failure to pay the fees and penalties.” Section 231.14057 has an exception for a business certified as a “local emerging small business.” Such a business can be reinstated after paying at least 25 percent of what it owes, with a payment plan for the rest within 1 year.

The Secretary of State’s FAQ describes two ways to file. Online, you log in to ORION, find the LLC with Record Search, open “Manage this Business,” and choose the Reinstate or Revive option. On paper, you send the “Reinstatements or Revivals” form by mail or fax, or file it in person.

Reinstate or dissolve: how to decide

Reinstating and dissolving have opposite results. A reinstatement “relates back to the date on which the company forfeited its right to transact business,” in the words of Section 86.276(5). The LLC’s right to transact business is restored “as if such right had at all times remained in full force and effect.” A dissolution closes the LLC.

1. 1Has the charter been revoked for 5 consecutive years? Section 86.276(4) bars reinstatement. Ask the Secretary of State or a Nevada attorney which filings are still open to you.
2. 2Do you still need the LLC? Reinstatement is the usual path when the company has a bank account, contracts, or a name you want to keep. The fees in the cost table in the previous section apply for each missed year.
3. 3Did the LLC do no business in Nevada while revoked, and do you want to close it? The Secretary of State’s forms page describes a cheaper route through the Affidavit of Non-Operation. The waiver depends on evidence, so read the conditions below first.
4. 4Did the LLC do business while revoked, and do you want to close it? The waiver below is tied to evidence that no business was transacted. Ask the Secretary of State what must be paid before a dissolution is accepted.

The forms page explains the Affidavit of Non-Operation in one sentence. It begins: “The Secretary of State shall authorize an entity whose charter has been revoked to dissolve/cancellation/withdrawal without paying additional fees and penalties, other than the fee for filing a certificate of dissolution/cancellation/withdrawal ...” After a second waiver for natural persons and partnerships, the sentence ends with the condition. The customer must provide “satisfactory evidence that no business was transacted in this State during the period for which the fees and penalties would be waived.”

Charter versus state business license, and the $10,000 fine

Two different Nevada records can lapse. The charter is the LLC’s existence, governed by NRS Chapter 86. The state business license is a separate requirement under NRS Chapter 76. Section 76.100 says a business must hold one before it conducts business in Nevada.

For an LLC formed in Nevada, the two are linked. Section 76.100(7) treats a business organized under Nevada’s business entity title as conducting business in the state. Under Section 76.130, the $200 license fee is paid with the annual list. Section 76.170 also lets the Secretary of State revoke or suspend the license itself when a provision of Chapter 76 or its regulations is not followed.

Several guides say that doing business while revoked can bring a fine of up to $10,000. The source we found is Section 76.180, and it is about the state business license. It reads: “Every person who conducts a business in this State and who willfully fails or neglects to obtain or renew a state business license as required by this chapter and to pay the fees required by NRS 76.100 and 76.130 is subject to a fine of not less than $1,000 but not more than $10,000, to be recovered in a court of competent jurisdiction.”

Four details in that section are easy to miss. The fine is a range, and the lowest amount is $1,000. The section applies to someone who “willfully fails or neglects” to obtain or renew the license. The fine is recovered in court. Section 76.180 lets the Secretary of State refer the matter to a district attorney or the Attorney General.

Where Nevada sends default and revocation notices, and which address forwards them

We read Sections 86.263, 86.272, 86.274, 86.276 and 86.278 in full. We pulled every provision that tells the Secretary of State to send a notice to the LLC. There are three. The first is a reminder sent 90 days before each annual list is due, under Section 86.263(7). The second is the notice of default, and the third is the notice of revocation. Both of those come from Section 86.274.

The two notices in Section 86.274 have a named destination. Each is sent “by providing written notice to its registered agent.” The reminder in Section 86.263(7) does not say which address it uses. The same subsection adds: “Failure of any company to receive a notice does not excuse it from the penalty imposed by law.”

Your registered agent then passes the notice on. Under Section 77.400, one of the agent’s duties is: “To receive and forward to the represented entity at the address most recently supplied to the agent by the entity any process, notice or demand that is served on the agent.” If you moved and never updated that address, the notice goes to the old address and never reaches you.

A resigning agent creates its own risk. Section 77.370 lets an agent resign at any time. The resignation takes effect on the 31st day after filing, or earlier if a new agent is appointed. Section 86.251 says the LLC must file a change of registered agent before that date. An LLC that does not is “deemed in default.”

Section 86.231 requires a registered agent with “a street address for the service of process.” The statute lets you list a business address for each manager on the annual list. Our guide to registered agent and business addresses explains how the two differ. Our free address checker shows how an address is classified before you put it on a state filing.