Stay compliant in Arkansas

Arkansas’s recurring date for an LLC or corporation is the franchise tax on May 1¹. Income tax is in April. Sales tax follows a calendar with dates that vary by month. Employer accounts start when you have people on the payroll.

What’s different in Arkansas

• Franchise tax is the same day for every company, May 1. An LLC pays a flat $150¹ if the report is on time. A corporation pays a tax on its stock, with a minimum of $150².
• There is no franchise-tax extension. Missing May 1¹ adds a penalty and can revoke the company.
• Workers’ compensation starts at three or more employees¹⁴ for most employers, and the basic-facts page says there are exceptions. The minimum wage is a state rate of $11 an hour for employers with 4 or more employees¹⁵.
• Individual income tax is due April 15⁸, the same month as the federal return. An extension does not move the payment.

Do this

1. File the franchise tax by May 1. No extension. Every report is due on or before May 1. A United States Postal Service postmark by midnight on May 1 counts. A postage meter date does not¹. If the form has not arrived by March 20, the LLC instructions say to request one. You can also file online. Online payment adds $5. A mailed or delivered report has no processing fee³.
2. For an LLC, pay $150. If the report is filed on time, that flat amount is all the LLC owes. The first one is due May 1 of the year following formation¹⁷. Late adds $25, then 0.000274 times the tax and penalty, for each day late¹. Revocation for missing franchise tax puts corporate protections at risk and bars many corporate activities⁴. Further filings are blocked while the franchise tax is unpaid, and the tax keeps accruing until the business is dissolved, withdrawn or merged³.
3. For a corporation, file the franchise tax report by the same May 1. The tax is the Arkansas share of capital stock multiplied by .003. The minimum is $150. No-par shares are counted at 25 dollars each². A corporation with no authorized stock pays $300³. The late penalty on the form is the same $25¹, plus the same daily interest. A nonprofit that is exempt from federal income tax is exempt from the franchise tax report¹⁸. A nonprofit that is not federally tax-exempt is not in that sentence.* Check the form before you skip it.
4. For a limited partnership, file the annual report. It has no fee. A limited liability partnership’s 2026 annual report is $15⁵. Organizations formed under the Uniform Partnership Act or the Uniform Limited Partnership Act are listed as exempt from the franchise tax report¹⁸. The partnership fee table is the list to use. It is not the corporation franchise tax table.
5. File income tax. People: April 15. A federal extension is honored, and the Arkansas due date is one month after the federal extended due date, usually November 15. Interest and any failure-to-pay penalty still run from the original due date⁸. The 2026 withholding formula prints 0 percent on net taxable income through 5,599 dollars and 3.7 percent from 26,400 dollars¹⁹. C corporations: 1 percent on the first 3,000 dollars, 2 percent on the next 3,000, 3 percent on the next 5,000, and 4.3 percent above 11,000 dollars, top rate 4.3%, due April 15 for a calendar-year filer. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, the top rate is 4.1%¹¹. If a federal extension was requested, the corporation gets one extra month to file after the federal extended due date, and the payment stays due on the original date. Interest at 10 percent a year, and a failure-to-pay penalty of 5 percent a month, runs on tax unpaid after the original due date⁹. An S corporation files Form AR1100S, if the IRS treats the corporation as an S corporation and the election is still in effect, due the 15th day of the fourth month after the year ends. An S corporation that elects the pass-through entity tax does not also file Form AR1100S²⁰. The pass-through entity tax, if elected, is due April 15 for a calendar-year filer²¹. Get your tax IDs has its rate.
6. File sales tax on the year’s calendar if you are registered. For many months the calendar lists day 20; for June it lists day 22⁶. Use the due-date page for the month. A business at $200,000 of average monthly net sales also prepays. Missing a required electronic payment costs 5%⁷. The ordinary late-return penalty is not on that page.* Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
7. If you have employees, keep the employer accounts current. Withholding for a new account is monthly, due the 15th day after the month, including a month with nothing withheld. A monthly filer also files Form AR3MAR, the employer's annual reconciliation of income tax withheld, by February 28, and pays any tax still due for the year before. The annual report, once you are moved to it, is due January 31. Give each employee a W-2, and send the state copies to the department with Form ARW3, the transmittal of wage and tax statements, by January 31. A late withholding payment costs 5 percent of the tax for each month, up to 35 percent, plus interest at 10 percent a year¹⁰. Unemployment tax is on the first $7,000¹² of wages, at 2%¹³ for a new employer. The quarterly due date is not printed on the employer page.* Check Tax21. Report new employees within 20¹⁶ calendar days.
8. Renew the local license and any trade license on their own dates. Contractor licenses, a food permit and an alcohol permit each renew on the agency’s schedule. Licenses and permits has the thresholds.
9. Keep the registered agent current. The agent address has to stay a street address in Arkansas where the agent is located¹. Changing the agent has no fee²². If the company is revoked for franchise tax, further filings are blocked until the tax is paid. The FAQ does not print a reinstatement fee.* Check the fee on the reinstatement form before you pay it.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: required for three or more employees. There are exceptions, so an employer with fewer than three should check before assuming the law does not apply. The basic facts page tells you to ask the commission, an insurer, or the legal advisor division. It does not list the exceptions.* Coverage is a workers' compensation policy, or state-approved self-insurance. The employer pays for the coverage. It is not taken from employees' pay¹⁴. Any other arrangement may be fraud, the page says. It does not describe a state fund you buy into.

Minimum wage, from the Department of Labor and Licensing: $11 an hour since January 1, 2021, for employers with 4 or more employees. An employer covered by both Arkansas law and the federal wage law pays the higher minimum wage. A tipped employee must be paid at least $2.63¹⁵ an hour. Tips have to bring the total up to the minimum that applies. If they do not, the employer pays the difference. The employer keeps the tip records.

Unemployment: liable at one or more workers for some portion of 10 or more days in a calendar year. Other thresholds: 1,000 dollars of cash wages in a calendar quarter for domestic service, and 20,000 dollars of cash wages in a calendar quarter of agricultural labor, or at least 10 workers for some part of a day in each of 20 different weeks. Certain IRS-approved nonprofit employers, and state and local government entities, are called out separately from the employers who pay both federal and state unemployment taxes²³. A new employer’s rate is 2%, already including 1.8 percent plus a 0.2 percent administrative assessment¹³. Experienced rates run 0.2 percent to 5.1 percent, plus three deficit levels of 6.1 percent, 8.1 percent and 10.1 percent¹².

What you get back

A filed franchise tax report, filed tax returns, and current employer accounts. If the franchise tax is missed long enough for the Secretary of State to revoke the company, other filings stop and the tax keeps adding up until the company is dissolved, withdrawn or merged. The franchise-tax deadline is May 1¹, with no extension.