Form an LLC · TN

How to form an LLC in Tennessee

Tennessee LLCs are formed by filing Articles of Organization with the Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business Services — the official filing fee starts at $300 (see the fee notes below). Corpus prepares and files it for $429 all-in at the minimum state fee, including your first year of registered-agent service.

Form your Tennessee LLC

What Tennessee requires

Formation document
Articles of Organization verified 2026-09-24 (secondary source)
Filing office
Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business Services verified 2026-09-24
Tennessee filing fee for the Articles of Organization
from $300 Articles of Organization filing fee: $50.00 per member, minimum $300.00, maximum $3,000.00 (per member in existence on the date of filing). verified 2026-09-30
  • Optional: $20 application for name reservation. source
  • The articles instructions also say the fee is $300.00 regardless of member count if the articles prohibit the LLC from doing business in Tennessee. A card, debit, or e-check payment has a convenience fee whose amount is not stated on the form. source · source 2
Online filing
Yes — A domestic Tennessee LLC can be formed online through the TNCaB portal. verified 2026-09-24 (secondary source)
Standard processing time
Not yet verified by Corpus — check with Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business Services
Expedited options
Not yet verified by Corpus — check with Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Business Services
Name requirement
Must contain “Limited Liability Company,” “L.L.C.,” or “LLC.” verified 2026-09-24 (secondary source)
Registered agent
Required — Tennessee LLC Articles of Organization identify the initial registered agent and the registered office in Tennessee. verified 2026-09-24 (secondary source)
LLC statute
Tennessee Revised Limited Liability Company Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §§48-249-101 et seq. verified 2026-09-24

What you’ll need

The Corpus intake collects this information to prepare the filing. Some questions are asked only when they apply — for example, the management question is asked only when the company has more than one owner.

  • What do you want to name the company?
  • In a sentence, what will the business actually do?
  • Where should official mail go — street, city, state, ZIP?
  • What email should we use for this order?
  • Which industry code fits this business?
  • Besides you, will anyone else have authority to make decisions for the business?
  • Who owns this company?

Tennessee asks nothing beyond the standard questions.

What it costs with Corpus

State fees (filing fee + the state's processing charges)
$309
Registered agent, year one
$100
Corpus service
$20
Total at checkout
$429

$309 = Tennessee’s $300 in formation fees for an online filing + $9 of other state processing charges for the way Corpus files (expedite, card or online-portal fees).

Tennessee’s filing fee is a minimum, not a flat amount (Articles of Organization filing fee: $50.00 per member, minimum $300.00, maximum $3,000.00 (per member in existence on the date of filing)). The Corpus total above is a single price that does not change with those details — if a higher state fee applies to your LLC, contact Corpus before ordering.

Registered agent renews at $99/yr after the included first year — cancel anytime. Itemized pricing for every state is on the price grid; how Corpus compares to other formation services is on the comparison page.

After you form: staying in good standing

Annual report
Annual report — on or before the first day of the fourth month following the close of the LLC's fiscal year. verified 2026-09-30
  • The FAQ states the annual-report fee. The articles form states the due-date rule and says a fiscal year-end left blank is listed as December. source · source 2
Report fee
$300 minimum, plus $50 per member for every member over 6, maximum $3,000 verified 2026-09-30
Franchise or privilege tax
$100 minimum annual franchise tax, owed by every LLC. verified 2026-09-30
  • Rates, caps, thresholds, apportionment and exemptions: see Tennessee Department of Revenue. A registered LLC owes at least $100 whether active or inactive; qualifying entities may claim listed exemptions. source · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

Comparing what registered-agent service costs after year one across providers? The comparison page publishes renewal prices.

Form it with your AI agent

You don’t have to do the intake here. Any agent that can open a link can run the whole thing — Corpus’s formation tools give it Tennessee’s requirements and live price, it asks you the questions above, and it hands back a prefilled link you review and pay. Paste this into your assistant:

Form an LLC in Tennessee for me with Corpus (corpuslaw.us). Use its formation tools to get Tennessee's requirements and price, ask me what you need, and give me the prefilled link.

The guide is on /agents, the protocol reference is /docs/mcp, and the installable skill for this state is the Tennessee SKILL.md.

Sources

Every verified fact above names where Corpus read it and the date it was last verified. Sources marked secondary are third-party write-ups used only where an official page did not publish the answer.

Corpus is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Fees and rules change — each verified fact above shows the date Corpus last verified it; anything marked “not yet verified” should be confirmed with the filing office.