2025 fees Tennessee Secretary of State Rank #47 of 51

LLC Costs in Tennessee (TN)

$725 all-in for your first year - $300 to file, $300 annual report, plus a registered agent. Tennessee is $342 (89%) more expensive than the national average for first-year LLC costs.

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Tennessee charges $300 per member (minimum $300) for both formation and annual reports. A single-member LLC pays $300 each year. Multi-member LLCs may pay more. Tennessee has no income tax on wages, only on investment income.

Updated 2025 · Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

Higher Articles filing fee

Higher Articles filing fee. $300 one-time SOS filing sits in the top third of Articles/formation fees nationwide. The $300 one-time Articles filing fee in Tennessee is the standout line item, putting the $725 first-year total at #47 of 51. Fees are those published by the Tennessee Secretary of State; registered agent is a $125/yr market-rate line, not a vendor quote.

According to the Tennessee Secretary of State fee schedule; registered agent normalized at $125/yr. See methodology. How we calculate →

$300
One-time filing fee
$300 /yr
Annual report
$725
First-year total
#47 of 51
Cost rank (1 = cheapest)

Published SOS fee schedule

Fee strip TN · Tennessee SOS FY 2026 · rank #47

Tennessee · FY 2026 · 5-7 business days · no pub

  • FILE Online filing
  • FILE sos.tn.gov
  • FILE 5-7 business days
  • FILE +$100 expedite
  • FILE near Delaware
  • FILE 89% above avg

Dear-third stack: stamps derive from this state's Secretary of State fee schedule, not a recommendation of where to form. Read with tax planning against a dear SOS stack → · All 51 SOS fee rows →

1. Alaska$4752. District of …$5243. Maryland$5254. Delaware$6155. Tennessee$7256. Nevada$900
1. Alaska$4752. District of …$5243. Maryland$5254. Delaware$6155. Tennessee$7256. Nevada$900
First-year SOS-fee total for Tennessee and nearest-cost peers. Source: each Secretary of State + 51-row aggregate.

Cost vs. speed: where Tennessee sits among all 51 filing offices

Tennessee bucks the pattern: a 6-business-day turnaround that's faster than the national median, despite formation costing more than average -- speed and price don't move together the way the fee total alone suggests. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 30 entities by First-year cost ($) (X) and Processing time (business days) (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. Slow & expensiveCheap but slowFast but priceyFast & cheap $0$500$1,000$1,500 0d10d20d30d First-year cost ($) Processing time (business days) Cost vs. speed: where Tennessee sits among all 51 filing offices
Tennessee bucks the pattern: a 6-business-day turnaround that's faster than the national median, despite formation costing more than average -- speed and price don't move together the way the fee total alone suggests.
Tennessee bucks the pattern: a 6-business-day turnaround that's faster than the national median, despite formation costing more than average -- speed and price don't move together the way the fee total alone suggests. National median processing time: 6 business days; national average first-year cost: $383. Source: each state's Secretary of State published processing-time guidance + the 51-row SOS fee aggregate.

How the dear-third $725 stack breaks down

How your $725 first-year total breaks down State filing fee drives 41% of a top-third first-year total.
  • State filing fee $300
  • Annual Report (yr 1) $300
  • Registered agent $125
Cost Item Amount
State Filing Fee $300
Annual Report $300
Registered Agent $125/yr
Expedited Filing (optional) $100
Total, First Year $725

Ongoing tax burden after formation

Tennessee's effective property tax rate of 0.50% ranks among the lowest nationally (#9 of 51 lowest), a bigger long-run factor than the $725 formation cost above for any LLC that owns real estate.

Corporate income tax
6.5%
6.5% corporate tax rate, #30 of 51 lowest nationally
Effective property tax rate
0.50%
Of assessed property value, per year

Sources: Tax Foundation state corporate tax rates, Census ACS effective property tax rates.

Fee check: Dear-third first-year stack, verify current Tennessee SOS fees before filing at https://sos.tn.gov. Not legal or tax advice.

Tennessee SOS fee strip (high filing)

Filing Fee $300
Annual Report $300 /yr
Processing Time 5-7 business days
Expedited $100 → Same business day
Online Filing Available
First-Year Total $725
File with Tennessee SOS

Lower-cost escapes

TN's SOS stack sits in the dearest third; these states charge less for the same first year:

District of Columbia $524 Maryland $525 Delaware $615

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified. Report a data error on this page.

Sources used on this page
  • Tennessee Secretary of State - LLC filing fee, annual-report requirement, and processing time. sos.tn.gov
  • Federation of Tax Administrators - cross-check of state fee and tax figures. taxadmin.org
LLC fees and requirements sourced from the Tennessee Secretary of State. See our methodology for details.

Verify with the Tennessee Secretary of State →