2025 fees Texas Secretary of State Rank #41 of 51

LLC Costs in Texas (TX)

$425 all-in for your first year - $300 to file, Free annual report, plus a registered agent. Texas is $42 (11%) more expensive than the national average for first-year LLC costs.

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Texas has a franchise tax but most small LLCs (under $2.47M annual revenue) owe $0. The $300 filing fee is higher than average, but no annual report fee applies. Texas has no personal income tax and is a major business hub.

Updated 2025 · Source: Texas Secretary of State

Lower periodic report fee

Lower periodic report fee. Franchise Tax Report at Free sits in the cheaper third of report fees among states that still charge one. Texas's first-year total of $425 (#41 of 51) folds in filing, registered agent and the Franchise Tax Report. Fees are those published by the Texas Secretary of State; registered agent is a $125/yr market-rate line, not a vendor quote.

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

$300
One-time filing fee
$0 /yr
Annual report
$425
First-year total
#41 of 51
Cost rank (1 = cheapest)

Published SOS fee schedule

Fee strip TX · Texas SOS FY 2026 · rank #41

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

  • AGENT Online filing
  • PROC www.sos.state.tx.us
  • VS-AVG 5-7 business days
  • ARTICLES +$25 expedite
  • BIENNIAL near Alabama
  • SCHEDULE 11% 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. Maine$3852. Florida$3893. Nebraska$4014. Texas$4255. Alabama$4256. North Carolina$450
1. Maine$3852. Florida$3893. Nebraska$4014. Texas$4255. Alabama$4256. North Carolina$450
First-year SOS-fee total for Texas and nearest-cost peers. Source: each Secretary of State + 51-row aggregate.

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

Texas 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 Texas sits among all 51 filing offices
Texas 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.
Texas 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 $425 stack breaks down

How your $425 first-year total breaks down State filing fee drives 71% of a top-third first-year total.
  • State filing fee $300
  • Registered agent $125
Cost Item Amount
State Filing Fee $300
Franchise Tax Report Free
Registered Agent $125/yr
Expedited Filing (optional) $25
Total, First Year $425

Ongoing tax burden after formation

Texas charges no corporate income tax at all, a real ongoing advantage that offsets some of the $425 one-time formation cost above over time.

Corporate income tax
0%
no corporate income tax, #4 of 51 lowest nationally
Effective property tax rate
1.49%
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 Texas SOS fees before filing at https://www.sos.state.tx.us. Not legal or tax advice.

Texas SOS fee strip (high filing)

Filing Fee $300
Annual Report $0 /yr
Processing Time 5-7 business days
Expedited $25 → Same business day
Online Filing Available
First-Year Total $425
File with Texas SOS

Similar Cost States

Kansas $340 Illinois $350 Maine $385 Washington $385

Lower-cost escapes

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

Washington $385 Florida $389 Nebraska $401

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

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

Verify with the Texas Secretary of State →