For an LLC, laws differ state to state.
In my state of Florida, if you include an "effective date" in your Articles of Organization, then the business is considered to be open for business on that date. If you do not include an effective date, then the business is considered to be open for business on either the date of submission, or the date your articles are processed by the state (can't recall which).
If you have an effective date that is a future date, then the business will be entered into the state system in an "inactive" status, and will go to "active" status on the date specified in the articles. Once the business is active, you are required to file a DR-405 with your local county in the first year it's active. You then have to file every year after that if required.
Now FL does not have a state income tax. Therefore no state tax return is required for the business. If in that first year (and each subsequent year after) the business produces no income *and* incurs no expenses, filing a SCH C with the federal return is not required. It is optional however, if you want to go ahead and claim start up expenses. However, if your business has no income in that first year it's considered active, filing the SCH C for the only purpose of claiming startup expenses is a moot point, since there's no business income to deduct those startup expenses from.
For Florida, a "yearly filing" is required with the state Division of Corporations in order to main the active status of the business, weather the business produced income or not, and weather the business incurred expenses or not. This "yearly filing" with the state Division of Corporations has absolutely nothing to do with taxes either. It's just a requirement to maintain the business in active status each year. In Florida, the filing is due by May 1st of each year.
I'm not sure on the day count, but I think once a yearly filing is more than 30 days past due, the business is considered abandoned and the status is changed to Inactive. The penalty payment to re-instate after missing the May 1 deadline is quite high also. About three times the filing fee.
