Get your tax IDs in Tennessee

An EIN, if you need one, takes minutes online. Tennessee then adds sales tax if you sell taxable goods, a business-tax account and a local license if your sales are high enough, and franchise and excise tax for many LLCs and corporations. There is no state wage-withholding account.

What’s different in Tennessee

• Wages are not taxed by the state. The old tax on dividends and bond interest was fully repealed for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021³.
• A single-member LLC is still a taxpayer for franchise and excise tax, with one exception. A single-member LLC is not disregarded for franchise and excise tax unless its single member is a corporation².
• Sales tax and business tax are two registrations. Sales tax is the tax on the customer’s receipt. Business tax is a tax on the business’s gross sales, plus a license from the county or city clerk.
• The sales-tax rate is not one number. State tax is 7% generally and 4% on food. Local tax sits on top, up to 2.75%⁴.
• New hires are due in 20¹² days. That report does not replace the separate employment check named on the same page.

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹³ online. A bank and Tennessee’s tax applications ask for it. Don’t pay a website to apply for you.
2. If you will sell taxable goods or services in Tennessee, register for sales tax in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP). The Department of Revenue says registration has no charge. Sellers of tangible personal property may still have to register even when the product is exempt from tax⁶. Sales and use tax returns and payments must be submitted electronically⁵. The county or city business license is separate. Look up the local tax rate for the place of the sale. The state piece is below.
3. File sales tax in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)⁵ on the schedule the department assigns. The due date depends on how often you file. The rates page does not say which businesses file on which schedule.* A monthly return is due the 20th day of the month after the reporting period. A quarterly return is due the 20th day of the month after the quarter ends: January 20, April 20, July 20, and October 20. An annual return is due January 20⁴. Use the date in TNTAP.
4. If you sell into Tennessee from outside the state and you have no Tennessee location, read the threshold before you collect anything. Dealers with no physical presence who make $100,000 or more in sales to Tennessee customers must register. The threshold counts all retail sales, including exempt sales, and not sales for resale. An out-of-state marketplace seller does not register if every taxable sale goes through a marketplace facilitator that is already collecting Tennessee sales tax⁷.
5. Register for business tax when the gross-sales line applies, and get the local license. The overview says a business that grosses $100,000 or more should register and remit the tax. Business tax is two separate taxes: the state business tax and the city business tax⁸. You owe the city tax too if your location is in a city that has enacted it. Apply through Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)⁵. The department’s instructions cover the county and city clerk step. Registration can take up to 10 business days⁹. The license itself comes from the county clerk, and from the city if you are inside a city that taxes. Thresholds and the minimums are below, and again on Licenses and permits.
6. If you formed an LLC or a corporation, open the franchise and excise account in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)⁵. File Form FAE170. The return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the books close: April 15 of the following year for a calendar year¹. General partnerships and sole proprietors are not subject to franchise and excise tax². Rates are below. Stay compliant has the yearly calendar.
7. Register for unemployment insurance through Jobs4TN, and report new hires. Every employer completes an online registration, and the registration determines whether you are liable for unemployment insurance¹¹. The tests are in the unemployment section. New employees and rehires go to the Department of Labor within 20 days. New-hire reporting does not replace employment verification under the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act¹². The hiring guide covers the federal side.

Rates and the entity tax

State sales and use tax, from the rates page:

• 7%⁴ on most tangible personal property and taxable services.
• 4%⁴ on food.
• Local tax in every jurisdiction, not higher than 2.75%⁴.
• A state single-article rate of 2.75% on the part of a single item over $1,600 and not over $3,200⁴.

A few products have other state rates. They are on that same page.

Franchise and excise tax, for entities that offer limited liability, from the due-dates page and the June 2026 manual:

• Franchise tax is 0.25%¹ of Tennessee net worth. The minimum is $100² a year.
• Excise tax is 6.5%¹ of Tennessee taxable income. A deduction exempts up to $50,000² of net earnings, and it cannot create or increase a loss.
• Both taxes go on Form FAE170².
• Quarterly estimates are due the 15th day of the fourth, sixth, and ninth months of the current tax year, and the 15th day of the first month of the next tax year, and only if combined tax is $5,000¹ or more in both the prior year and the current year.
• The extension is seven months¹. The manual grants it only with a request and a payment of the lesser of 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's tax, both by the original due date. The extension is for filing, not for paying, and tax unpaid by the original due date is charged interest².

A business disregarded for federal income tax is not disregarded for franchise and excise tax, except an LLC whose single member is a corporation. A taxable business that is inactive but has not been dissolved or properly terminated with the Secretary of State still files a return and pays the minimum franchise tax. Not-for-profit entities are not generally subject to franchise and excise tax. Family-owned noncorporate entities and obligated member entities are two of the most common exemptions in the manual². The obligated-member exemption requires every owner to accept full liability for the company’s debts and to file that election. That choice gives up the liability shield. Whether any exemption fits is a question for a CPA or a legal professional. This page does not pick one.

An S corporation election is Form 2553¹⁴ at the IRS. It does not, by itself, remove franchise and excise tax. This page does not pick the election.

Business tax is not this return. The June 2026 manual says the minimum business tax is $22 for each location and $44 if the location is in a city, because both the city tax and the state tax are due. Classification 5A is different: at least $450 and not more than $1,500¹⁰. The return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the fiscal year ends: April 15 when the fiscal year is the calendar year¹⁵. Rates by classification are on the business-tax rates page. This page does not calculate your tax.

Unemployment and new hires

Every employer completes an online registration, and the registration determines whether you are liable for unemployment insurance. You are liable if you pay $1,500 or more in a calendar quarter, or if you have one employee during twenty different weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and it does not have to be the same person. It does not matter whether the worker is full time or part time. A 501(c)(3) uses a different test: a 501(c)(3) with four or more paid employees during each of 20 weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Domestic work is liable at $1,000 or more of cash wages in a quarter. Agricultural labor is liable at $20,000 or more in a quarter, or with 10 or more employees for 20 weeks or more in the current or preceding calendar year¹¹. The page also lists a business that is already liable under the federal unemployment tax and has at least one employee in Tennessee.

The taxable wage base for 2026 is $7,000¹⁶. It has been that amount for several years on the same table, and the page says the base can change with the trust-fund balance. A new employer outside manufacturing pays 2.7% until the account has been subject to premiums and chargeable with benefits for 36 consecutive months ending December 31, and a rate based on the account's own reserve experience starts the next July 1. Manufacturing is split into three NAICS sectors¹⁷, and the rate page does not print their new-employer rates.* A manufacturer should confirm its rate with the department. The quarterly report is due the end of the month after the quarter ends, so a quarter that ends March 31 is due April 30¹⁸.

New hires and rehires: within 20 days. New-hire reporting does not replace employment verification under the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act¹².

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a TNTAP login for the taxes you registered, and an unemployment account number if the department finds you liable. Write down the sales-tax filing frequency TNTAP assigns. The local business license is not included in the state tax account. You pay the clerk for that.