LLC reinstatement · Texas

How to Reinstate a Texas LLC

The short answer. If your Texas LLC has been forfeited, you restore it by filing an application for reinstatement and request to set aside tax forfeiture (Form 801) with the Texas Secretary of State. An LLC can apply for reinstatement at any time after the forfeiture, as long as it would otherwise have continued to exist. The reinstatement fee is $75.

Texas LLC Reinstatement at a Glance

What Texas calls the statusForfeited or administratively terminated
What you fileApplication for Reinstatement and Request to Set Aside Tax Forfeiture (Form 801)
Filed withTexas Secretary of State
How to fileOnline or paper
Reinstatement fee$75
Time limit to reinstateDepends (see Deadline)
Tax clearanceRequired (see Cost)
RetroactiveYes (see What reinstatement does)

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 30, 2026. See the sources.

Why Texas Would Forfeit an LLC

The Comptroller forfeits the LLC's right to transact business if, after a notice of forfeiture, it does not file a required franchise tax report or pay franchise tax or a related penalty, or if it refuses to let the Comptroller examine its records. The Secretary of State may then forfeit the LLC's certificate of formation once the Comptroller certifies the forfeiture and the LLC has not revived its privileges.

The Comptroller forfeits the LLC's right to transact business if the report or payment is not made within 45 days after the notice of forfeiture is mailed or sent electronically. The Secretary of State may forfeit the certificate of formation if the LLC does not revive those privileges within 120 days after they were forfeited.

How Long You Have to Reinstate

An LLC can apply for reinstatement at any time after the forfeiture, as long as it would otherwise have continued to exist.

How to File

You file an application for reinstatement and request to set aside tax forfeiture (Form 801) with the Texas Secretary of State. You can file it online or on paper. Go to Texas's filing page.

What It Costs

The reinstatement fee is $75.

Before applying, the LLC must file every delinquent franchise tax report with the Comptroller and pay the tax, penalty and interest due at the time of the request. Any change of registered agent or registered office needs its own separate filing.

Texas requires a tax clearance from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to reinstate. The letter must state that the LLC has satisfied all franchise tax liabilities and may be reinstated.

Registered Agent Options

If your LLC's registered agent has changed, resigned or lapsed, ask the filing office named above whether Texaswants 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 Texas registered agent requirements set out what Texas itself asks.

Registered agent services for Texas 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 Texas's law, a reinstated LLC continues as if it had never been forfeited. Reinstatement has no effect on any question of the personal liability of the LLC's governing persons, officers or agents for the period between forfeiture and reinstatement.

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 Texas

If the Secretary of State instead terminated the LLC for failing to file a report, pay a fee or penalty, or keep a registered agent or registered office, the filing is a certificate of reinstatement (Form 811), which also needs a Comptroller tax clearance letter. An LLC reinstated on that route before the third anniversary of its termination is considered to have continued in existence without interruption.

More for Texas 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 →
← All LLC guides

Sources

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