Updated August 12, 2026. Quick answer. To dissolve an LLC in Kentucky you file the Articles of Dissolution, and it can be filed online or on paper. Fee: $40. Kentucky requires no tax-clearance certificate to accept the filing. Until that filing is accepted the LLC still legally exists — and whatever Kentucky charges an LLC each year keeps accruing against it.
What you file in Kentucky, and what it costs
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filing | Articles of Dissolution, Limited Liability Company — Form LLD, filed with the KY Secretary of State, Division of Business Filings (single-step filing) |
| Fee | $40 |
| How you can file | both — Online via the Kentucky Business One Stop portal (onestop.ky.gov, KOG login required), or by mail/in person with one exact or conformed copy to Secretary of State, P.O. Box 718, Frankfort, KY 40602-0718 (office: 1025 Capital Center Drive, Suite 201, Frankfort). |
| Tax clearance | not required |
| Statute | KRS 275.285 (events of dissolution); KRS 275.315 (articles of dissolution); KRS 14A (Business Entity Filing Act); KRS 14A.7-010/-020 (administrative dissolution) |
Form LLD (rev. 7/25, read directly from web.sos.ky.gov/forms/corp/LLD-Articles%20of%20Dissolution_Limited%20Liability%20Company.pdf) is used for LLCs, nonprofit LLCs and PLLCs. Filed ‘pursuant to KRS 14A and KRS 275.315.’ Must state the subsection of KRS 275.285 under which dissolution occurred (term expiration, event in articles/operating agreement, written consent of all members, or no remaining members) and the date it occurred; a future dissolution date will not be accepted. Articles are filed AFTER the dissolution event; delayed effective date up to 90 days allowed per KRS 14A.2-070(2).
On the fee. From the form’s own filing instructions: ‘The filing fee for Articles of Dissolution is $40.00. Your check should be made payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer.’ Same fee online or paper.
Tax clearance in Kentucky
No tax-clearance certificate is required to file in Kentucky. That is not the same as owing nothing — it means the state will accept the filing without a revenue-agency sign-off first.
Negative verified from the SOS’s own dissolution page (sos.ky.gov/bus/business-filings/Pages/Dissolution.aspx) and the Form LLD instructions: neither conditions the filing on Department of Revenue clearance. The SOS page recommends (not requires) contacting the IRS, KY Department of Revenue, Division of Unemployment Insurance, county clerk and licensing agencies before dissolving. (A DOR tax clearance IS required later only for REINSTATEMENT after administrative dissolution, not for voluntary dissolution.)
Do not just walk away
Closing the business is not closing the entity. Bad standing after missing the June 30 annual report, then administrative dissolution ~60 days after SOS notice
SOS’s own filings page: ‘Failure to file the annual report by June 30 will result in the entity being listed in bad standing… and could lead to administrative dissolution.’ Statutory mechanics: KRS 14A.7-010 (grounds, incl. failure to deliver the annual report), KRS 14A.7-020 (SOS mails notice; entity has 60 days from mailing to cure before dissolution), KRS 14A.7-030 (reinstatement; requires curing grounds and — per the statute — a tax clearance from DOR). KY’s annual report fee is $15, so accrual is modest; the real consequence is loss of good standing/entity status and the name becoming available to others.
Closing the tax accounts
File a FINAL corporate and/or Limited Liability Entity Tax (LLET) return; cancel tax accounts with Form 10A104; return the Sales Tax Permit to DOR
Per the state’s own One Stop ‘Exiting/Changing Over’ page (onestop.ky.gov/manage/Pages/leaving.aspx): an LLC ‘no longer operating is required to file a final corporate and/or limited liability entity tax return’; cancel accounts via Form 10A104 (Update to Business Information or Cancellation of Kentucky Tax Account(s)); sales-and-use filers must return the Sales Tax Permit to the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
Before you file
- The order the steps go in — internal decision, creditors and distributions, the state filing, the final returns, then the registrations you are still paying for.
- What an LLC costs to keep alive in Kentucky — the bill that keeps running until this filing lands.
- What dissolution costs in all 51 jurisdictions — the fee, the filing route and the tax-clearance flag, side by side.
- What happens if you simply stop filing — administrative dissolution is the walk-away trap happening to you rather than by you.
We do not form or dissolve LLCs, sell filing services, or take a commission from anyone who does. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.
Sources and limits
KRS 275.285 (events of dissolution); KRS 275.315 (articles of dissolution); KRS 14A (Business Entity Filing Act); KRS 14A.7-010/-020 (administrative dissolution). Fee, form and procedure read 2026-08-10 from the official source.
Research note. Primary = the SOS’s own Form LLD (rev. 7/25) with printed filing instructions and fee, corroborated by sos.ky.gov dissolution page and onestop.ky.gov for tax wind-down.
Honest gap. This page covers the state filing that ends the entity, its fee and its tax-clearance condition. It does not cover creditor claims against a dissolved LLC, disputes between members, the tax treatment of a final distribution, reinstatement after an administrative dissolution, or withdrawal from any other state you registered in — each of those has its own rules. General information, not legal or tax advice. See methodology and corrections.