Tennessee LLC filing: a fee that grows with your members, twice a year, and a $300 floor even for a single owner

Every figure on this page comes from the Tennessee Secretary of State and the Tennessee Revised Limited Liability Company Act. Not from an aggregator. Tennessee’s filing costs are unusual in two ways. The fee to form and to renew an LLC is charged per member, $50 each, rather than as a flat rate, so a larger LLC pays more. And the annual cost is higher than the Secretary of State fee alone suggests, because a separate minimum franchise tax stacks on top. A solo owner who expects a cheap flat fee finds a $300 floor to form, another $300 to renew, and a $100 franchise tax on top of that.

Forming the company

Formation is a single filing, priced by member count with a floor and a ceiling.

Tennessee charges $50 per member to form an LLC, with a $300 minimum and a $3,000 maximum, so even a single-member LLC pays $300.

You create a Tennessee LLC by filing the Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division, online through the state portal or by mail, under the Revised LLC Act. The fee is $50 per member, but with a $300 minimum, so any LLC with one to six members pays the same $300, and above six members it rises by $50 each up to a $3,000 cap at sixty members. The per-member structure is different from the flat fee most states charge, and it makes Tennessee more expensive than average for a large multi-member LLC and merely average for a small one. The articles name the LLC, its registered agent, and its management structure, and everything in them is public record.

The annual report, priced the same way

The yearly filing mirrors the formation fee and adds a deadline tied to the fiscal year.

Tennessee’s annual report uses the same $50-per-member fee, with a $300 minimum, due on the first day of the fourth month after the fiscal year closes, April 1 for most LLCs.

Every Tennessee LLC files an annual report with the Secretary of State, and the fee is the same per-member calculation as formation: $50 per member, $300 minimum, $3,000 maximum, under T.C.A. § 48-249-1007. The report is due on the first day of the fourth month after the LLC’s fiscal year ends, which for a calendar-year LLC is April 1. A change to the registered agent or office on the report adds a $20 fee. So a small LLC budgets at least $300 a year for the report alone, and a large multi-member LLC pays more, every year, just to stay in good standing with the Secretary of State.

The cost the Secretary of State fee does not show

The real annual floor is higher than the report fee, because of a separate tax.

The yearly floor is about $400, not $300, because a $100 minimum franchise tax applies on top of the annual report.

Beyond the Secretary of State’s annual report, Tennessee imposes a franchise tax with a $100 minimum that applies even to an LLC with little net worth or no income, filed separately with the Department of Revenue. So the true recurring floor for a Tennessee LLC is about $400 a year, the $300 minimum report plus the $100 minimum franchise tax, before any excise tax on actual earnings, which is covered on the structure and cost page. Owners who budget only for the Secretary of State fee are surprised by the franchise tax, which is a genuinely separate obligation. A family LLC that qualifies for the passive-income exemption can escape the franchise and excise tax, but not the per-member annual report fee.

Why the sourcing matters

One discipline runs under this page, and Tennessee’s own history supplies the example.

A number several sites agree on can be several copies of one stale figure, which is why every figure here traces to the state.

Tennessee’s homestead exemption is the cautionary case: for years the correct figure was $5,000, countless pages still publish it, and the state has since raised it, covered on the protection page. Filing fees and tax minimums drift the same way, and agreement among aggregators is often shared copying rather than verification. Every figure on this page is dated, comes from the Tennessee Secretary of State or the Revised LLC Act, and carries the verification date below. When a fee or rule changes, the fix is to read the state’s own schedule again.

The bottom line

A Tennessee LLC forms on Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State for $50 per member, with a $300 minimum and a $3,000 maximum, so a solo owner pays $300.

The annual report uses the same per-member fee, due April 1 for calendar-year LLCs, so a small LLC pays at least $300 a year to renew.

A separate $100 minimum franchise tax applies on top, making the true recurring floor about $400, before any excise tax on earnings.

The per-member structure makes Tennessee more expensive than average for a large multi-member LLC and about average for a small one.

Everything in the articles is public record, and the family passive-income exemption relieves the franchise and excise tax but not the annual report fee.

What this page does not cover

This page is about fees, forms, and deadlines. How creditors reach a member’s interest, the exclusive charging order, and the strong entireties shield are on the protection page. How Tennessee splits a membership interest into governance and financial rights, and the three ways to manage the company, are on the governance page. The franchise and excise tax, the family and obligated-member exemptions, and the series LLC are on the structure and cost page.

Last verified August 2026.