LLC reinstatement · Kentucky

How to Reinstate a Kentucky LLC

The short answer. If your Kentucky LLC has been administratively dissolved, you restore it by filing an application for reinstatement with the Kentucky Secretary of State. An LLC can apply for reinstatement at any time after its dissolution, unless it has taken steps to wind up and liquidate its business and notify claimants, which bars reinstatement. The reinstatement fee is $100.

Kentucky LLC Reinstatement at a Glance

What Kentucky calls the statusAdministratively dissolved
What you fileApplication for Reinstatement
Filed withKentucky Secretary of State
How to fileOnline or paper
Reinstatement fee$100
Time limit to reinstateDepends (see Deadline)
Tax clearanceRequired (see Cost)
RetroactiveYes

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Why Kentucky Would Dissolve an LLC

The Secretary of State may dissolve an LLC that does not file its annual report by the due date, is without a registered office or agent for 60 days or more, or does not report a change or resignation of its registered agent or office within 60 days. It may also act for other reasons the business entity or LLC statutes provide.

The LLC has 60 days to fix the problem before it can be administratively dissolved. The 60 days are counted after the Secretary of State mails the notice that grounds for dissolution exist.

How Long You Have to Reinstate

An LLC can apply for reinstatement at any time after its dissolution, unless it has taken steps to wind up and liquidate its business and notify claimants, which bars reinstatement.

How to File

You file an application for reinstatement with the Kentucky Secretary of State. You can file it online or on paper. Go to Kentucky's filing page.

What It Costs

The reinstatement fee is $100.

The application must be accompanied by the current fee for each delinquent annual report, and the Secretary of State's reinstatement packet includes a reinstatement annual report.

Kentucky requires a tax clearance from the Kentucky Department of Revenue to reinstate. The certificate must recite that all taxes the LLC owes have been paid, and the Secretary of State's office will request it for you unless you obtain it yourself.

Registered Agent Options

If your LLC's registered agent has changed, resigned or lapsed, ask the filing office named above whether Kentuckywants that updated as part of reinstatement. You do not have to buy a service for it: in most states the LLC's owner, or another individual who qualifies, may serve as its registered agent themselves, generally subject to that state's rules on keeping a street address in the state and being available there during normal business hours. A paid service is one option and not the only one. The Kentucky registered agent requirements set out what Kentucky itself asks.

Registered agent services for Kentucky LLCs

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This list is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and every claim below is about the services listed here rather than the whole market.

  • Best for: Privacy-focused owners and anyone who just needs an agent, not a formation bundle

  • Bizee$149/yr renewal

    Best for: A free first year on every plan, renewing at $149/yr, if you're comfortable with the BBB caveat

  • ZenBusiness$199/yr renewal

    Best for: First-time founders forming a new LLC who want phone, email and chat support

  • LegalZoom$249/yr renewal

    Best for: Complex structures that want attorney consultations, which come with LegalZoom's Pro and Premium formation plans rather than this renewal price

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Annual renewal is each provider's own standard published rate. Check the current terms at each provider before you buy. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is in our full formation services review →

What Reinstatement Does

Under Kentucky's law, a reinstated LLC continues as if it had never been administratively dissolved.

If another business has taken the LLC's name in the meantime, the LLC needs a name that is still available to reinstate.

Worth Knowing in Kentucky

The application must represent that the LLC has taken no steps to wind up and liquidate its business.

More for Kentucky LLCs

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and filing office say about bringing back an LLC the state has dissolved, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you where your own LLC stands: that turns on why and when it was dissolved, what it still owes, and whether anyone has since taken its name, and fees and deadlines change between our reviews. Confirm your LLC's status and the current requirements with the filing office or tax agency named on this page, and ask a lawyer about anything the LLC did while it was dissolved. In many states a missed deadline ends the right to reinstate, so do not wait.

Related guides

LLC late fees by stateWhat a late annual report costs before it comes to dissolution →Annual report complianceDeadlines and fees for all 50 states, so it does not happen again →Annual report deadline finderEnter your formation date for your next due date →Certificate of good standingProve the LLC is active again once it is reinstated →Dissolving an LLCIf you would rather close the LLC properly than bring it back →
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Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Kentucky 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.

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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.