How Much Does an LLC Cost in Tennessee? (2026 fees)
Forming an LLC in Tennessee costs $300 to file. The annual report is $300, annual. Acting as your own registered agent, five years costs $2,300 — every figure transcribed from the state's own fee schedule and dated.
Filing fee
$300
Annual report
$300 annual
Year one
$700
Five years
$2,300
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Estimate only — not tax, legal, or accounting advice. This is the published math for Tennessee LLC formation and ongoing costs. Confirm final figures with your payroll provider, accountant, or the state agency before acting on them.
Tennessee LLC Filing Fee ($300)
Paid once, when you file the Articles of Organization. NOT A FLAT FEE — Tennessee charges PER MEMBER. Verbatim from the agency's own form SS-4270 (Revised 01/25): "Filing Fee: $50.00 per member (minimum fee = $300/maximum fee = $3,000)". The $300 recorded here is the MINIMUM, which is what a 1-to-6-member LLC pays; a 10-member LLC pays $500, and the fee caps at $3,000 once the company reaches 60 members. The Secretary of State's fee table shows the same thing as "$300*" with an asterisk. Tennessee is therefore the most expensive state in this batch to form a small LLC and among the most expensive in the country — the $300 floor is four times Nevada's $75 Articles fee and six times Michigan's $50. The professional and nonprofit variants (SS-4271) carry the identical $300* minimum.
Tennessee Annual Report ($300 annual)
Due ALSO PER MEMBER, and on the same scale as formation. Verbatim (Secretary of State FAQ, "What are the most common reasons for rejection of an Annual Report?"): "The annual report fee for a corporation is $20, and an additional $20 is required if any change is made concerning the registered agent/registered office. The annual report fee for LLCs is $300 minimum up to a maximum of $3000. The fee increases by an additional $50 per member for every member over 6 members up to a maximum of $3,000." So: six members or fewer = $300; each member above six adds $50; the cap is $3,000. Note the gap this opens against corporations — a Tennessee corporation pays $20 a year for its annual report and a two-member LLC pays $300, fifteen times as much. DUE DATE NOT PUBLISHED ON A REACHABLE PAGE: the Secretary of State's "Annual Report Instructions" and "File Annual Report" links both 301-redirect to tnbear.tn.gov, which has been decommissioned in favour of the TNCaB portal and refuses TCP connections entirely as of 2026-08-05; no page on sos.tn.gov or tncab.tnsos.gov states the deadline. This pack therefore records the fee formula, which is published, and declines to assert a date it could not read. See the batch retry queue. What IS published about consequence, verbatim from the Secretary of State's Business FAQs: "An Administrative dissolution occurs for the following reasons: Failure to file an annual report; Being without a registered agent; A foreign entity fails to maintain its assumed name due to a name conflict; Returned payment by a financial institution." And: "A business entity that has failed to file its annual report on a timely basis may be administratively dissolved and placed in inactive status.". Missing it is how most administrative dissolutions start, so it is worth a calendar entry rather than a memory.
Tennessee Franchise Tax (Tennessee Department of Revenue) (from $100)
0.25% of Tennessee net worth, with a $100 minimum that is owed whether or not the company traded. Verbatim (Department of Revenue): "The franchise tax is based on the taxpayer's net worth, which is the difference between the taxpayer's total assets less its total liabilities, as derived from the taxpayer's books and records." And on the floor: "The minimum franchise tax is $100 and is payable if you are incorporated, domesticated, qualified, or otherwise registered through the Secretary of State to do business in Tennessee, regardless of whether the company is active or inactive." Rate, verbatim from the Due Dates and Tax Rates page: "Franchise tax — 0.25% of Tennessee net worth." LLCs are squarely in scope: "If you are a corporation, limited partnership, limited liability company, or business trust chartered, qualified, or registered in Tennessee or doing business in this state, then you must register for and pay franchise and excise taxes." Due "15th day of the fourth month following the close of your books and records. For businesses with a January 1 - December 31 calendar year, this tax is due on April 15 of the following year." A seven-month extension is available. This is the obligation that makes Tennessee's true annual cost of an LLC at least $400 ($300 report + $100 minimum franchise tax) before any income is earned.
Tennessee Excise Tax (Tennessee Department of Revenue) (a formula)
6.5% of Tennessee taxable income. Verbatim (Department of Revenue): "The excise tax is based on the taxpayer's net earnings or income for the tax year", and from the Due Dates and Tax Rates page: "Excise tax — 6.5% of Tennessee taxable income." No minimum is published for the excise tax — unlike the franchise tax, a company with no taxable income owes no excise tax — so this obligation carries no minAmount rather than a fabricated floor. Same scope, same return and same deadline as the franchise tax: 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the books. Quarterly estimated payments are required on the "15th day of the fourth, sixth, and ninth months of the current tax year and the 15th day of the first month of the next succeeding tax year, if you have a combined tax liability of $5,000 or more in both the prior and current years." Exemptions exist (notably the Family-Owned Non-Corporate Entity / FONCE exemption) and were not evaluated here.
What costs $0 in Tennessee
- Obligated Member Entity Addendum (SS-4600) — Listed as "No Fee" on the Secretary of State's forms and fees table.
- Change of Business Information (SS-4800) — "No Fee" — updating the entity's information costs nothing.
- EIN from the IRS — An Employer Identification Number is issued free by the IRS.
- Operating agreement — Not filed with the Division of Business and Charitable Organizations and not priced on the forms and fees table.
Listed first on purpose. Knowing what not to pay for is the part of this page most likely to save you money.
19 of 51 jurisdictions verified against their Secretary of State so far. A state we have not read gets no entry rather than a guess.
Pick a different state to price the “form in Wyoming, operate at home” structure honestly — both filings, both annual reports, both agents.
The filing fee is year one; the annual obligations are forever. Comparisons that stop at year one are ranking states by the number that matters least.
Year one
$150 – $350
Every year after
$100 – $300
5-year total
$550 – $1,550
| Articles of Organization filing feeone-off$50.00 total for regular processing of Articles of Organization; $85.00 total if you add expedited processing. Arizona's fee schedule quotes TOTAL fees rather than add-ons, so $85 is the whole bill, not $50 + $85. All fees are non-refundable under A.R.S. §29-3213. | $50 |
| Publication requirementone-offformulaPublication is required by A.R.S. §29-3201 — but whether it costs anything depends on your statutory agent's county. If the statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county, the Commission publishes the notice on its own website at no charge and you do nothing. Outside those two counties you must publish in a newspaper, typically three consecutive publications, and pay that newspaper directly (commonly in the $30–$300 range depending on the paper — that range is market context, not a published figure, and the ACC sets no rate). Do not publish until the Commission approves the Articles; the approval letter tells you how. | $0 |
| Annual reportArizona LLCs file no annual report. The Corporation Commission's FAQ states it directly: "No, LLCs are not required to file annual reports. Only corporations are required to file annual reports." The LLC fee schedule carries no annual report line, consistent with that. The ongoing obligation is instead to keep a statutory agent and a valid principal address on file at all times — failing that leads to administrative dissolution under A.R.S. §29-3708. | $0 |
| Registered agent (commercial)Market range, not a statutory fee — this is the one line here you choose. | $100 – $300 |
What costs nothing in Arizona
- EIN from the IRS — An Employer Identification Number is issued free by the IRS. Nobody needs to be paid for it.
- Operating agreement — The Commission's own instructions: "An operating agreement is not required by statute." It is not filed with the ACC — "DO NOT FILE operating agreements with the Arizona Corporation Commission." It costs $0 to write one.
- Annual report — Arizona LLCs do not file one, so there is no annual report fee to pay and no annual report service to buy.
- Newspaper publication, in Maricopa or Pima county — If your statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county the ACC publishes the notice on its website automatically at no cost. Publication services sold to filers in those two counties are selling something the state already did for free.
- Name reservation — Not free ($10.00), but not required either — the Commission's instructions say plainly "Reserving the name is not required."
Listed because knowing what NOT to pay for is half of what this page is for.
- Arizona requires newspaper publication after formation. Publication is required by A.R.S. §29-3201 — but whether it costs anything depends on your statutory agent's county. If the statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county, the Commission publishes the notice on its own website at no charge and you do nothing. Outside those two counties you must publish in a newspaper, typically three consecutive publications, and pay that newspaper directly (commonly in the $30–$300 range depending on the paper — that range is market context, not a published figure, and the ACC sets no rate). Do not publish until the Commission approves the Articles; the approval letter tells you how. It is a real cost and it is not in the totals below, because it depends on where you file.
Every verified state, ranked by the 5-year total
Own-agent figures, so this compares states rather than service purchases. Each state links to its full fee page.
| State | Filing | Per year after | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $50 | $0 | $50 |
| Ohio | $99 | $0 | $99 |
| Hawaii | $51 | $15+formula | $126 |
| Utah | $59 | $18 | $149 |
| Colorado | $50 | $25 | $175 |
| Michigan | $50 | $25 | $175 |
| New York | $200 | $5 | $223 |
| Texas | $300 | $0+formula | $300 |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60 | $400 |
| Georgia | $110 | $60 | $410 |
| Illinois | $150 | $75 | $525 |
| Florida | $125 | $139 | $819 |
| Kentuckytrap | $40 | $190+formula | $990 |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200 | $1,125 |
| Nevadatrap | $75 | $350 | $1,825 |
| Delawaretrap | $110 | $400 | $2,110 |
| Tennessee | $300 | $400+formula | $2,300 |
| Pennsylvaniatrap | $125 | $707+formula | $3,660 |
| Californiatrap | $70 | $810+formula | $4,120 |
How Much Does an LLC Cost?: computed in your browser from verified fee packs; nothing is transmitted.
Thinking of forming in another state to save money? Price both structures — operating in Tennessee means registering here either way, so the second state is added to the bill rather than substituted for it. Compare every verified state →
Verified 2026-08-05 against Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business and Charitable Organizations — Business Forms & Fees (Articles of Organization Limited Liability Company, SS-4270) (effective 2026-01-01)
Source of record
Run it against the official tool: Tennessee Department of Revenue — Franchise & Excise Tax, Due Dates and Tax Rates ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
The full price of an LLC in each verified state: the one-off filing fee, the report the state expects every year or two, any franchise or gross-receipts tax on top, and what those add up to over the years you actually intend to be in business.
How it works
Every figure comes from a rule pack transcribed from the Secretary of State or tax agency that sets it, with the source and verification date shown. The projection multiplies the recurring obligations out over your chosen horizon; where a state publishes a formula rather than a flat amount, the tool carries the formula and its floor rather than inventing a number.
Getting the most from it
- Pick the state you would form in — only states we have verified appear, and the count is stated.
- If the business will operate in a DIFFERENT state, say so: the tool then prices both filings, both annual reports, and the registered agent you would have to rent.
- Toggle the registered agent off if you have an address in the state and are willing to be your own — most states allow it at no cost.
- Change the projection length and watch the ranking of states change with it.
- Read the zero-cost list before paying anyone for anything on it.
Reading your result
The year-one figure is what starting costs; the every-year-after figure is what staying costs; and the multi-year total is the honest basis for comparing states. A trap badge means the state charges more every year than it charged to form — the number in most comparison tables is the smallest one that state will ever bill you.
What it can't tell you
It prices state obligations, not your taxes: state income tax, sales tax registration, and local licences depend on what the business does and are not in these figures. It also cannot decide whether an LLC is the right structure — that question involves liability and tax facts this page cannot see.
Frequently asked questions
$300 to file the Articles of Organization. NOT A FLAT FEE — Tennessee charges PER MEMBER. Verbatim from the agency's own form SS-4270 (Revised 01/25): "Filing Fee: $50.00 per member (minimum fee = $300/maximum fee = $3,000)". The $300 recorded here is the MINIMUM, which is what a 1-to-6-member LLC pays; a 10-member LLC pays $500, and the fee caps at $3,000 once the company reaches 60 members. The Secretary of State's fee table shows the same thing as "$300*" with an asterisk. Tennessee is therefore the most expensive state in this batch to form a small LLC and among the most expensive in the country — the $300 floor is four times Nevada's $75 Articles fee and six times Michigan's $50. The professional and nonprofit variants (SS-4271) carry the identical $300* minimum. That is the only mandatory cost to form — an EIN from the IRS is free and an operating agreement is a document you write yourself, not something the state charges for.
Related calculators
Startup cost
A line-item budget that keeps the two questions separate: what it costs to open, and what it costs every month to stay open. The headline output is the cash needed to launch and survive a chosen runway with no revenue at all — the deliberately pessimistic figure lenders actually ask about.
Break-even
Work out how many units you need to sell before the business covers its costs. Charts the crossing point, counts your own pay as a cost, includes the card fees and refunds most calculators leave out, and separates cash break-even from the accounting one. A planning estimate from your own figures.
Employee cost
What a hire actually costs once employer taxes, benefits and overhead are counted. Social Security to this year’s wage base, Medicare, federal unemployment after the state credit, and your state’s own unemployment tax at its own wage base — every rate cited to the agency that published it, with the math shown.
Change alerts — when a state revises the guideline or deadline behind this page
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.