Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Tennessee costs $50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000 to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000). Five-year total: $2,300 over five years, every component verified.
More on Tennessee: District of Columbia to Tennessee Retirement Taxes (2026).
Same question in other states: How Much Does an LLC Cost in West Virginia? and How Much Does an LLC Cost in Wisconsin?
What it actually costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000 |
| Annual/biennial report | $50 per member; minimum $300, maximum $3,000 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | $100 minimum annual franchise tax (franchise & excise tax) |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: $2,300 over five years, every component verified. Publication cost is excluded from this figure — it’s county-driven where it applies, not state-driven, so a single number would be wrong for most filers.
The trap worth knowing before you file
Formation fee quoted verbatim from the TN SOS’s own Articles of Organization form/instructions PDF (SS-4270), retrieved via the SOS forms index and read directly. Annual report fee quoted verbatim from the TN SOS Business Services FAQ (https://sos.tn.gov/businesses/faqs). Annual report due date from T.C.A. sec. 48-249-1017(c) via codes.findlaw.com verbatim reproduction (https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-48-corporations-and-associations/tn-code-sect-48-249-1017.html); Tennessee Code Unannotated is served through LexisNexis and the SOS fee page 403/404s. Franchise tax minimum from https://www
Once the LLC exists, an operating agreement is what actually runs it
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Source
T.C.A. sec. 48-249-1002 (filing fees); T.C.A. sec. 48-249-1017(c) (annual report due date); T.C.A. sec. 67-4-2119 (franchise tax minimum, per Dept. of Revenue). Read 2026-08-06 from official. Formation-service sites were not used as a source for this figure.
If the LLC already exists somewhere else
Everything above prices forming a new Tennessee LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: Tennessee takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions conversion, Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-249-703, and the entity-law filing fee for it is $20 — a separate filing from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a Tennessee LLC may leave for another US state under Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-249-704. Either way the move needs both ends to allow it — the state being left as well as the state being joined — which is where most published advice goes wrong.
How to Move an LLC to Tennessee · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
What letting it lapse costs in Tennessee. The catch-up bill is only half the story — in Tennessee roughly four months from notice to dissolution at the front end, and almost no deadline at the back — except a one-year rule for expired duration. The figures, and the statute they come from, are on reinstating a Tennessee LLC.
Looking for the annual-report due date and fee instead? See Tennessee LLC annual report.
Related: Tennessee’s registered agent requirements, including who can serve and what happens if you don’t have one.
Related: Tennessee’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.