Corporation compliance · TN

Tennessee Corporation Annual Report

By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources

A Tennessee corporation files the Annual Report (Form SS-4444) every year and pays $20. On or before the first day of the fourth month following the close of the corporation's fiscal year (April 1 for calendar-year filers). Not April 15 and not the last day of the anniversary month.
Tennessee corporation annual report requirements: Tennessee files an annual corporate report for $20. Tennessee imposes a corporate income tax.
The report fee shown is the state filing charge only; income or franchise tax, where owed, is covered separately on this page. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state corporation dataset, compiled from state filing offices and revenue departments, July 2026; any figure we could not confirm is labeled on the page.
Filing cadenceEvery year
Report fee$20
Corporate income taxYes

What Tennessee requires

Annual Report (Form SS-4444)

Frequencyevery year
DueOn or before the first day of the fourth month following the close of the corporation's fiscal year (April 1 for calendar-year filers). Not April 15 and not the last day of the anniversary month.
Fee$20
FormAnnual Report - For-Profit Corporation (Form SS-4444)

Tennessee is one of 41 states on an annual corporate reporting cycle. Nationally, 41 states require an annual corporate report, 7 require one every two years, and 2 require none.

What the filings cost over five years

State filing charges only, incorporation plus five years of reporting, annualized. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded, because both depend on income or net worth.

PeriodState filing charges
Incorporation$100
Each year after (report, annualized)$20
Five-year equivalent (annualized)$200

That ranks Tennessee 18th cheapest of 49 states on five-year corporate filing charges.

Tennessee corporation vs Tennessee LLC

State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.

 CorporationLLC
Formation filing fee$100$300
Report cadenceEvery yearEvery year
Report fee$20$300
Entity-level tax on the LLC sideN/AFranchise and Excise Tax

Worth noticing: a corporation is $200 cheaper to file here than an LLC. That is the exception nationally. Corporations are the cheaper filing in only 15 of the 50 states, the two entities cost the same in 25, and the LLC is cheaper in 10.

Full Tennessee LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

State taxes a Tennessee corporation pays

Corporate income tax

AppliesYes
Rate6.5% excise tax on net earnings/income apportioned to Tennessee (Tennessee's corporate-level income tax)

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

Franchise tax of 0.25% ($0.25 per $100) of net worth, minimum franchise tax $100. Per the 2024 Tennessee Works Tax Act, the alternative minimum franchise-tax base measured by the value of real and tangible property located in TN (the property measure / Schedule G) was repealed effective for tax years ending on or after Jan 1, 2024; franchise tax is now computed on net worth only. Applies to all corporations, LLCs and LPs doing business in TN.

What these totals leave out: the filing-charge figures on this page are what you pay the business filing office. They exclude corporate income tax and any franchise or gross-receipts tax, because both depend on income, net worth or receipts. The section above sets out what Tennessee levies, or that it levies neither. Where a state's franchise tax carries a flat minimum, that minimum is an unavoidable annual cost these totals do not include, and over five years it can be the larger number.

C-corp return: FAE 170 (Franchise and Excise Tax Return)

Frequently Asked Questions

Where these numbers come from

This page covers the recurring report a for-profit corporation files with Tennessee. Every figure was checked against Tennessee's own published sources on July 29, 2026, the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.

Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.

Edmond Hui

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.