Your Tennessee LLC Is Doing Business in Another State
The short answer. You keep one LLC. It stays registered in Tennessee, which charges at least $400 a year to keep it in good standing, and a state that finds you are doing business there adds its own registration and its own filings on top. Whether your activity counts is decided by that state's own rule, not by this page. Of the 48 other states that have one figure to compare, 2 cost more in year-one registration than Tennessee's own first-year total of at least $700, and 46 cost less. Washington is outside those figures: Washington's $180 is before back fees, so it has no single figure to compare.
What you keep paying in Tennessee
When the Annual Report is due. On or before the first day of the fourth month following the close of the LLC's fiscal year (T.C.A. § 48-249-1017) - April 1 for a calendar-year LLC.
Every Tennessee fee behind these figures is broken out on what an LLC costs in Tennessee.
What a second state adds
These are the states closest to Tennessee’s own cost line, plus the three dearest to enter. Each figure is that state’s first-year registration cost for an out-of-state LLC, beside what it charges every year after. Whether your activity counts as doing business there depends on the facts, and each state defines it differently.
| State | Year one to register | State charges, each year after | Against your year one (from $700) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | $750 | $55/yr | $50 more |
| Texas | $750 | None | $50 more |
| Massachusetts | $500 | $520/yr | $200 less |
| Nevada | $425 | $350/yr | $275 less |
| Alaska | $350 | $50/yr | $350 less |
| Oklahoma | $300 | $25/yr | $400 less |
| Oregon | $275 | $100/yr | $425 less |
| Arkansas | $270 | $150/yr | $430 less |
A state charge of None is not a tax of none. The column is the recurring charge our fee dataset records, and a state that asks for no recurring filing may still levy an entity-level tax that sits outside it.
Nevada's figure is the mandatory first-year bundle (filing fee, initial list and state business licence), not the $75 filing fee alone.
What we verified about Tennessee's own costs
Our notes, from Tennessee's published fee schedules and statutes.
Tennessee is the only state in this batch where the formation fee and the annual report fee both scale with membership: form SS-4270 states the fee is "$50.00 per member in existence on the date of the filing, with a minimum fee of $300.00 and a maximum fee of $3,000.00," and the Secretary of State says the annual report "fee increases by an additional $50 per member for every member over 6 members up to a maximum of $3,000." A foreign LLC's Application for Certificate of Authority (SS-4233) uses the same $300-minimum structure. On top of that, every registered Tennessee LLC owes at least the $100 minimum franchise tax whether it is active or not, plus 6.5% excise tax on net earnings. Name reservation, certificates of existence, and certified copies are $20 each; reinstatement after administrative dissolution is $70.
Formation and annual report fees scale at $50 per member. A 6-member LLC pays the $300 minimum, but a 10-member LLC pays $500 to form and $500 every year, and a 60-member LLC pays the $3,000 cap both times. Quoting a flat "$300" understates the cost for any Tennessee LLC with more than six members.
$100 minimum franchise tax even with no activity. The Department of Revenue says the $100 minimum franchise tax is payable as long as the LLC is registered with the Secretary of State, "whether active or inactive," so a dormant Tennessee LLC still owes $100 a year plus the $300-minimum annual report.
The annual report deadline follows your fiscal year, not April 1. T.C.A. § 48-249-1017 sets the deadline at the first day of the fourth month after the LLC's fiscal year closes; April 1 is correct only if you left the fiscal-year-ending month at the December default in the Articles of Organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.