Stay compliant in Tennessee

Tennessee’s recurring dates are the Secretary of State annual report, franchise and excise tax for an LLC or a corporation, business tax if you are over the gross-sales line, sales tax on the schedule you were assigned, and employer accounts if you have people on the payroll.

What’s different in Tennessee

• The annual report is not a flat fee for an LLC, and the due date follows the fiscal year. Tennessee law sets it that way, and the Secretary of State has set no other date by rule.
• There is no wage-income return. Franchise and excise tax is the yearly return for the company itself. An inactive company that was never properly terminated can still owe the minimum.
• Business tax and the local license travel together. Filing the return renews a standard license.
• Workers’ compensation depends on the industry. Most other businesses need coverage at five or more employees, outside construction¹⁴; construction at one or more employees in construction, including seasonal, part-time, family, and as-needed workers. Coal-mining employers must also secure coverage for all their employees¹⁵.
• State minimum wage is separate. Tennessee has no state minimum wage law¹⁶.

Do this

1. File the annual report in TNCaB. For an LLC it is due on or before the first day of the fourth month after the end of the LLC's fiscal year, or on a date the Secretary of State sets by rule (§ 48-249-1017). A corporation’s report is due on or before the first day of the fourth month after the close of the corporation's fiscal year, or on a date the Secretary of State sets by rule⁴ (§ 48-26-203). Both subsections are as Public Chapter 719 of 2020 wrote them. The annual-report rules ask for a valid email address for the business and one for its registered agent⁵ and set no other date. A blank fiscal-year month is treated as December¹. A Secretary of State warning says reports are due April 1 each year. That is the date for a December fiscal year. With another year-end, the date moves with it. The FAQ prices the LLC report at $300 minimum, plus $50 for every member over 6, up to $3,000. A corporation’s report costs $20, plus another $20 if it changes the registered agent or registered office. A late annual report can lead to administrative dissolution and inactive status². Reinstatement is $70¹⁷. Ignore an official-looking mailer or email from a third party called the Tennessee Business Filing Center³.
2. File franchise and excise tax in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)¹⁸ if the company is the kind that owes it. Form FAE170 is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the books close: April 15 of the following year for a calendar year. Franchise tax is 0.25% of net worth, at least $100. Excise tax is 6.5%, with a deduction of up to $50,000 that cannot create a loss. 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, only when combined tax is $5,000 or more in both the prior year and the current year. The extension is seven months⁶, and 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. General partnerships and sole proprietors are not subject to franchise and excise tax. A single-member LLC is not disregarded for franchise and excise tax unless its 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 tax⁷. The rates and the exemptions are on Get your tax IDs.
3. File business tax in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)¹⁸ if you hold a standard license. 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 year⁸. The minimum tax is $22 per location and $44 in a city. Classification 5A is $450 to $1,500. Pay the figure on the return for your classification. A standard license renews at no additional cost when you file the return and pay the business tax⁹. If you close, the final return is due within 15¹⁹ days.
4. File sales tax in Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP)¹⁸ on the schedule you were given. The due date depends on how often you file. The rates page does not say which businesses file on which schedule.* Monthly is the 20th day of the month after the reporting period. Quarterly is the 20th day of the month after the quarter ends: January 20, April 20, July 20, and October 20. Annual is January 20¹⁰. Rates are on Get your tax IDs.
5. If you have employees, keep the employer accounts current. File unemployment reports through Jobs4TN and report new hires. Unemployment reports are due the end of the month after the quarter ends, so a quarter that ends March 31 is due April 30²⁰. The 2026 wage base is $7,000¹². 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 1²¹. Report new hires and rehires within 20 days. New-hire reporting does not replace employment verification under the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act¹³.
6. Renew the local license and any trade license on their own dates. The standard business license follows the business-tax return: Licenses and permits. A contractor license renews at $200, and a late renewal adds 20 dollars a month, for up to 12 months. A home-improvement license renews at $200²².
7. Keep a registered agent who can accept legal mail at a Tennessee street address. The office must be a physical Tennessee address, not a post office box, route number, or box number alone. The FAQ lists being without a registered agent as a ground for administrative dissolution. Changing the agent is Articles of Amendment and a statutory filing fee, $20. An assumed name lasts 5 years, and it can be renewed². Renew it before it lapses if you still use it. A foreign company that lets an assumed name lapse because of a name conflict can also be dissolved. The FAQ lists that ground next to the missed annual report.

Employer rules

Workers’ compensation: coverage is required at five or more employees, outside construction. Owners of a non-construction sole proprietorship, LLC, or partnership are not counted toward the five. Full-time corporate officers are counted, and they can ask to be left off the policy. An exception applies to non-construction businesses with fewer than five regularly employed individuals, and the page also lists farm and domestic-worker exceptions. If a previously covered non-construction business drops below five employees, it must file Form I-3 and wait for Bureau acceptance before ending required coverage¹⁴. You can buy coverage anyway. Construction coverage is required at one or more employees in construction, including seasonal, part-time, family, and as-needed workers. Coal-mining employers must also secure coverage for all their employees. Construction owners must be covered and can apply for an exemption if they qualify¹⁵. An exemption covers the person named on it, not the whole company and not its employees. The non-construction page and the construction page are the two rules.

Minimum wage: Tennessee has no state minimum wage law¹⁶. $7.25²³ an hour is the federal minimum for employers the federal wage law covers. The Department of Labor table does not list a Tennessee city rate.

Unemployment: liable at $1,500 in a quarter or one employee during twenty different weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and it does not have to be the same person¹¹, with other tests for a 501(c)(3), domestic work, and agricultural labor. A new employer’s rate outside manufacturing is 2.7% on the first $7,000¹². Manufacturing is split into three NAICS sectors²¹, and the rate page does not print their new-employer rates.*

What you get back

A filed annual report, a filed franchise and excise return if the company owes one, and filed sales and business-tax returns on the schedules you were given. Current employer accounts if you have employees. A missed annual report can move the company to inactive. The portal, not a third-party letter, is where you file the report.