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Business Filing Fees Waived for Veteran-Owned Entities

Corporations Division fees can be waived where a majority of the ownership is held by veterans — but which filings qualify depends on whether you are a profit corporation, an LLC or a nonprofit, and the three rules point in different directions.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Corporations Division fees can be waived where a majority of the ownership is held by veterans — but which filings qualify depends on whether you are a profit corporation, an LLC or a nonprofit, and the three rules point in different directions.

What it's worth: The $25 corporation annual report fee, the $75 PLLC annual fee, and most other Corporations Division filing fees

  • The two fee figures the Division states on this page are the $25 profit corporation annual report filing fee and the $75 PLLC annual report and statement filing fee. Other filing fees are waivable but are not listed with amounts here.
  • The waiver never reaches a late filing penalty. The Division says so explicitly for both the corporation annual report and the PLLC annual report, where the $50 late penalty stays payable.
  • We weight this as a recurring annual saving on the routine filings, not as a one-off, because the annual report or statement is the filing most veteran-owned entities make every year.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served in the U.S. armed forces.
  • The character of service is honorable or under honorable conditions.
  • Your home is in Michigan.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: With each filing — the request is per document, every time
  1. 1Work out which of the three rules you are under, because they do not line up. For a profit corporation, fees may be waived for all documents EXCEPT the initial Articles of Incorporation. For a limited liability company, fees may be waived for all documents, the Articles of Organization included. For a nonprofit corporation, fees may be waived ONLY for the initial Articles of Incorporation.
  2. 2Check the ownership test for your form: a majority of the shares for a profit corporation, a majority of the membership interests for an LLC, and a majority of the initial members, directors or shareholders for a nonprofit.
  3. 3Use the Division’s own form for your situation — the CSCL/CD-214 series, with separate versions for formation, for subsequent documents, and for orders of certificates and copies.
  4. 4Attach a signed and dated statement identifying the veterans who hold the majority interests and the percentage each holds. A bare assertion of veteran ownership is not what the Division asks for.
  5. 5Attach evidence of veteran status showing the character of discharge — a DD214 (any copy except Copy 1), an NGB Form 22, a WD AGO form, a GSA 6954, a NAVPERS 553, a VA Veteran Health Identification Card, a DD-2, an NA Form 13038, or a Michigan driving licence or ID with the veteran designation in red on the front.
  6. 6Do it again next time. The Division states that documentation must be presented for each request for a fee waiver, and that it does not retain the documentation.
File with
Corporations Division, Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
Documents you will need
dd214 · business ownership documents
Annual
Documentation has to be presented for each request for a fee waiver, so a waiver granted last year does not carry forward.
CorrectionThe three entity types are waived in opposite directions. A profit corporation cannot have the initial Articles of Incorporation waived; a nonprofit can have nothing else waived. Assuming the LLC rule — everything waivable — applies across the board is the mistake that costs money.
Worth knowingThe nonprofit rule states its own discharge test in terms: separated with an honorable character of service, or under honorable conditions (general). The profit corporation rule speaks of honorably discharged veterans. The LLC rule simply says "veterans", pointing back to the definition in MCL 35.61.
Worth knowingA Michigan driving licence or state ID with the veteran designation in red on the front is accepted as evidence of status. For a veteran who cannot lay hands on a DD214 quickly, that is the fastest route through this counter.
Known gapThe Division names amounts only for the corporation annual report and the PLLC annual filings. The other waivable fees — formation, amendments, certificates and copies — are not priced on this page, so the total saving depends on filings we cannot value here.

Sources

Why only one source type: The Corporations Division administers the waiver and sets out the three statutory rules, the ownership tests, the required forms and the accepted evidence on its own page, quoting the MCL sections. Michigan’s statute site returned a web application firewall block to every request this session, so the sections are cited as the Division states them.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.