Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Massachusetts than Tennessee?

No. Massachusetts costs more upfront ($520 vs at least $300), and if you operate in Tennessee you must also register there as a foreign LLC ($300) plus pay a Massachusetts registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $970 versus at least $300 for forming locally.

Can I form my Tennessee business in Massachusetts?

Yes. Any Tennessee business can form its LLC in Massachusetts. But if the business operates in Tennessee, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($300 minimum filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Massachusetts, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Massachusetts have better asset protection than Tennessee?

Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.

State Comparison

Tennessee LLC vs Massachusetts LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in Tennessee.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

Massachusetts is the only state that costs more than Tennessee on every line: $520 to form online, $520 again every year, $1,040 in year one against $700, and $520 a year against a $400 Tennessee floor. Massachusetts even surcharges electronic filing $20 rather than discounting it. Tennessee's floor moves though, since the report is $50 per member above $300 and a $100 franchise tax is owed by any registered LLC. Neither is cheap, and a Massachusetts LLC trading here still pays $300 minimum to qualify.

Based in Massachusetts? Read Massachusetts LLC vs Tennessee LLC →

Compare Tennessee LLC vs Massachusetts LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: October 5, 2026

If your business is based in Tennessee, a Tennessee LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Massachusetts LLC run from Tennessee generally must also register in Tennessee as a foreign LLC (a filing fee of at least $300). If your business is based in Massachusetts, a Massachusetts LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Tennessee LLC run from Massachusetts generally must also register in Massachusetts as a foreign LLC (Massachusetts's $500 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A Tennessee LLC runs from $700 in year one and from $400/yr after; a Massachusetts LLC runs $1040 and $520/yr. See the full breakdown below.

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Factor	Tennessee	Massachusetts
Filing Fee	$300	$500 by mail, $520 online (mandatory $20 expedite fee)
Processing Time	Not published by the state	Not published by the state
Annual Report Fee	$300	$500 by mail, $520 online
Annual Report Due	April 1	Anniversary date
State Income Tax	No	Yes
Anonymous LLC	No	No
Publication Requirement	No	No
Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state)	N/A, you're in your home state	$300 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: Tennessee LLC cost and Massachusetts LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Tennessee anonymous LLC guide and Massachusetts anonymous LLC guide.

Business Climate: Tennessee vs Massachusetts

Factor	Tennessee	Massachusetts
5-year business survival rate	46.4% (#45 of 51)	52.7% (#18 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+19.9% YoY (#16 of 51 by volume)	+11.9% YoY (#21 of 51 by volume)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: Tennessee vs Massachusetts

State A

State B

Tennessee

Formation feefrom $300

Annual report feefrom $300

State entity taxfrom $100/yr, Franchise and Excise Tax

Report dueApril 1

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penalty$0

Massachusetts

Formation fee$520

Annual report fee$520

State entity taxNone

Report dueAnniversary date

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penalty$0

Total Cost

Tennessee

Massachusetts

1 Year

from $700

$1,040

3 Years

from $1,500

$2,080

5 Years

from $2,300

$3,120

Will you operate outside your home state?

A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.

Filing Fees & Formation Costs

Tennessee charges at least $300 to form an LLC, while Massachusetts charges $520. Tennessee is $220 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Massachusetts but operate in Tennessee, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Tennessee (a $300 minimum filing) and maintain a registered agent in Massachusetts (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Massachusetts route at roughly $970, versus at least $300 for simply forming in Tennessee. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Tennessee nor Massachusetts publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.

Taxes: Tennessee vs Massachusetts

Tennessee has no personal income tax, while Massachusetts taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a Tennessee-based owner keeps Tennessee's no-income-tax benefit either way. Forming in Massachusetts adds no tax advantage. Massachusetts taxes wage and pass-through income at 5.0%, plus a 4% surtax on taxable income above the inflation-adjusted threshold ($1,107,750 for tax year 2026). Tennessee imposes a franchise & excise tax on LLCs: $100 minimum franchise tax plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. No separate franchise or excise tax on LLCs taxed as partnerships/disregarded entities, but the mandatory $500 annual report fee is among the highest in the nation.

Privacy & Asset Protection

Neither Tennessee nor Massachusetts offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. The certificate of organization and the annual report must both list the name and business address of each manager, if any, plus any person authorized to execute documents filed with the Corporations Division, so at least one manager or authorized person is always publicly disclosed. Business owners who prioritize privacy typically form a holding company in a state like Wyoming or New Mexico instead. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal.

Annual Maintenance Costs

Tennessee LLCs file an annual report (at least $300, due April 1), and Massachusetts LLCs file an annual report ($520, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Massachusetts while operating in Tennessee, you maintain filings in both states, Massachusetts's report plus Tennessee's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Massachusetts registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Massachusetts route to roughly $970 a year, versus at least $400 to keep a domestic Tennessee LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Tennessee imposes a franchise & excise tax on LLCs: $100 minimum franchise tax plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. No separate franchise or excise tax on LLCs taxed as partnerships/disregarded entities, but the mandatory $500 annual report fee is among the highest in the nation.

When Massachusetts Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Massachusetts makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Massachusetts, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Massachusetts in the near future and accept taking on Massachusetts's personal income tax, which Tennessee doesn't levy. For a typical small business based in Tennessee, none of these usually apply. Registering a Massachusetts LLC to do business back home means at least $300 in Tennessee foreign-registration fees, on top of Massachusetts's $520 formation fee, while Tennessee's own annual report runs at least $300 a year and is due April 1. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: No. Massachusetts costs more upfront ($520 vs at least $300), and if you operate in Tennessee you must also register there as a foreign LLC ($300) plus pay a Massachusetts registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $970 versus at least $300 for forming locally.
: Yes. Any Tennessee business can form its LLC in Massachusetts. But if the business operates in Tennessee, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($300 minimum filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Massachusetts, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a Tennessee-based business, Tennessee: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Massachusetts is worth considering only if you actually do business there. For a Massachusetts-based business, the same reasoning points to Massachusetts.
: Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Tennessee nor Massachusetts publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Massachusetts while operating in Tennessee means you're not fully set up until the Tennessee foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in Tennessee versus Massachusetts, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — Tennessee and Massachusetts side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

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More State Comparisons

Tennessee vs Michigan →Tennessee vs Minnesota →Tennessee vs Mississippi →Tennessee vs Delaware →Massachusetts vs Delaware →

Tennessee LLC Guide →Massachusetts LLC Guide →

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Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

sos.tn.gov/businessesTennessee Secretary of State: business entity filings
sos.tn.gov/businesses/services/business-forms-feesTennessee LLC filing fees
sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/filing-by-subject/limited-liability/corporations-limited-liability-company.htmMassachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Corporations Division: business entity filings
sec.state.ma.us/divisions/corporations/download/Fee_Schedule.pdfMassachusetts LLC filing fees

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.