Business Registration

Hawaii business registrations can be filed with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division through its Hawaii Business Express portal or by email, mail, or fax.

To register a Hawaii business, you must file formation documents such as the Articles of Incorporation (Form DC-1, for a corporation) or Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1, for an LLC). Please see our Registration Forms, Fees and Information page for a complete listing of forms.

Submit your application along with the appropriate fee(s) to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division, or you can complete this process online through Hawaii Business Express.

If the business already exists and is registered in another state or country, then you must file an application for the foreign entity along with the appropriate fee. For a corporation, it would be an application for a Certificate of Authority for a Foreign Corporation (Form FC-1) and for an LLC, it would be an application for a Certificate of Authority for a Foreign LLC (Form FLLC-1). If a sole proprietor wishes to register its business name, a trade name application (Form T-1) should be filed. For a complete listing of forms, please see our Registration Forms, Fees and Information page and scroll to find your entity type.

To register your business online, please visit Hawaii Business Express.