Tennessee LLC vs Texas LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Tennessee.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Texas and Tennessee both charge $300 to file, but only Tennessee's is a floor: $50 per member, with $300 the six-member minimum and $3,000 the cap. After that they diverge completely. Texas asks nothing annually, though the Public Information Report is still due each May 15 even when franchise tax is zero, while Tennessee wants at least $400 a year. Neither taxes personal income. Register a Texas LLC to do business here and you pay at least $300 or more for the certificate of authority, then pick up Tennessee's annual obligations anyway.
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Compare Tennessee LLC vs Texas 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: September 23, 2026
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| Factor | Tennessee | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $300 | $300 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $300 | $0 |
| Annual Report Due | April 1 | May 15 |
| State Income Tax | No | No |
| 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 Texas LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Tennessee anonymous LLC guide and Texas anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Tennessee vs Texas
| Factor | Tennessee | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 46.4% (#45 of 51) | 52.5% (#20 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +19.9% YoY (#16 of 51 by volume) | +13.7% YoY (#3 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: Tennessee vs Texas
Tennessee
Texas
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 Texas charges $300. The upfront filing fees are identical. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Texas but operate in Tennessee, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Tennessee (a $300 minimum filing) and maintain a registered agent in Texas (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Texas route at roughly $750, versus at least $300 for simply forming in Tennessee. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Tennessee nor Texas publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.
Taxes: Tennessee vs Texas
Neither Tennessee nor Texas levies a personal income tax, so there's no income-tax advantage to forming in either state. Tennessee imposes a franchise & excise tax on LLCs: $100 minimum franchise tax plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. Texas imposes a franchise tax; LLCs under the no-tax-due threshold ($2,650,000 total revenue for 2026-27 reports) owe $0 but must still file an annual Public Information Report.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither Tennessee nor Texas offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. The Certificate of Formation (Form 205) must name at least one governing person (member or manager), a public record; the annual Public Information Report also discloses management. 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 Texas LLCs file a free annual report (due May 15). If you form in Texas while operating in Tennessee, you maintain filings in both states, Texas's report plus Tennessee's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Texas registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Texas route to roughly $450 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. Texas imposes a franchise tax; LLCs under the no-tax-due threshold ($2,650,000 total revenue for 2026-27 reports) owe $0 but must still file an annual Public Information Report.
When Texas Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Texas makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Texas, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Texas in the near future. For a typical small business based in Tennessee, none of these usually apply. Registering a Texas LLC to do business back home means at least $300 in Tennessee foreign-registration fees, on top of Texas's $300 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
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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
- sos.state.tx.us/corp/index.shtmlTexas Secretary of State: business entity filings
- direct.sos.state.tx.us/help/help-corp.asp?pg=feeTexas 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.