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Register Your New York LLC in Tennessee

Step-by-step foreign qualification requirements, fees, and filing instructions for New York LLCs expanding into Tennessee.

Tennessee filing fee $300 one-time

Registered agent $125/year based on Northwest RA

Total, all in $1,900

Tennessee data last reviewed Aug 21, 2026 · sos.tn.gov Totals include the $300 Tennessee filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Tennessee recurring state costs over the selected period. Adds the $25 Certificate of Status from New York once. The Cost Summary below is the same year one figure without the agent.

Cost Summary

Tennessee filing fee: $300
New York Certificate of Status: $25
Annual obligation in Tennessee: $300/year + $100/year franchise tax
Estimated year 1 total: $725

Note: Year 1 total includes the $300 filing fee in Tennessee, the $25 Certificate of Status fee from New York, and $400 in first-year Tennessee state charges. Registered agent fees (typically $100-$200/year) are not included.

New York data last reviewed Sep 11, 2026 · dos.ny.gov

How to register your New York LLC in Tennessee

Check name availability in Tennessee

Before filing, verify that your LLC name (or a distinguishable variation) is available in Tennessee. If your exact name is already taken, you may need to register under a fictitious or assumed name.

Search the business name register on the Tennessee Secretary of State website before you file.

Get a Certificate of Status from New York

Tennessee requires a Certificate of Status from New York to prove your LLC is in good standing. The fee is $25. When Tennessee is the destination for a foreign qualification, the home-state certificate of existence must not be dated more than two months before the application is filed.

Order from New York ↗

File the Application for Certificate of Authority - Foreign Limited Liability Company (Form SS-4233) in Tennessee

Submit your application along with the Certificate of Status and the $300 filing fee. See the processing time under Ongoing compliance below. Online filing is available.

Tennessee filing portal ↗

Appoint a registered agent in Tennessee

You must designate a registered agent with a physical address in Tennessee to accept legal documents on behalf of your LLC. This is required as part of the foreign qualification application.

Need to register your LLC in Tennessee?

Northwest files the foreign registration and serves as your registered agent in Tennessee, which the filing requires. Only need an agent? Northwest's registered agent service alone is $125/year.

Have Northwest register your LLC in Tennessee ↗

$225 + the state fee · One year of registered agent included

Other registered agent options 2 alternatives

Registered Agents Inc

$200/year · Report filing included, state fees extra

Visit site ↗

Harbor Compliance

$99 first year, then $149/year · Full-service compliance option

Visit site ↗

Not sure which service fits? Our full Northwest Registered Agent review and Harbor Compliance review cover pricing, renewal terms, and where each one fits.

Ongoing compliance in Tennessee

Annual report: $300/year + $100/year franchise tax
Report due: April 1
Processing time: Tennessee publishes a live processed-through notice on TNBEAR rather than a standing turnaround, in the form "as of [date] we have processed all corporate filings received in our office through [date]".
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This filing falls under corporate filings rather than annual reports. No standing duration is published, and TNBEAR could not be read when this was last checked on 17 August 2026

Note: The $300 annual report fee is a minimum, not a flat fee. Tennessee charges $50 per member, so an LLC with six or fewer members pays $300 and a larger one pays more, up to a maximum of $3,000. The same $50 per member calculation sets the fee to register the LLC in Tennessee in the first place.

Important to know about Tennessee

Must register for franchise and excise tax in addition to foreign qualification

Registering after you already started doing business in Tennessee? See the Tennessee late-registration penalties for the back fees and fines that can apply.

What does NOT require registration in Tennessee 12 activities

Tennessee carves 12 activities out by statute. On their own, none of them requires a foreign LLC to register.

Maintaining, defending, or settling a proceeding, claim, or dispute
Holding meetings of members or representatives, or carrying on internal affairs
Maintaining bank accounts
Maintaining a transfer, exchange, or registration office for the company's own securities
Selling through independent contractors
Soliciting or taking orders that must be accepted outside the state
Creating or acquiring debts, deeds of trust, mortgages, or security interests
Collecting debts or enforcing mortgages, deeds of trust, and security interests
Owning real or personal property, and nothing more, including managing and renting foreclosed real property for a reasonable time while liquidating it
A single isolated transaction completed within one month and not one of repeated transactions of a like nature
Transacting business in interstate commerce
Acting as a member or manager of a domestic or foreign LLC

Under T.C.A. Section 48-249-902. Applies to foreign LLCs first filing on or after 2006-01-01; the legacy provision for earlier registrants is T.C.A. Section 48-246-102. Tennessee states the isolated-transaction window as ONE MONTH, not a day count.

Need a business address in Tennessee? mail forwarding

A virtual mailbox gives your LLC a separate address in Tennessee for business mail. Confirm whether the state accepts it for the specific filing field. For banking, ask your bank before buying; it may require your actual operating address.

Northwest Mail Forwarding $20/mo

Unique suite number + unlimited digital mail scanning

Learn more ↗

Independent mailbox providers

iPostal1

Largest address network in the US. Best budget option for a registered business address.

From $14.99/mo Visit site ↗

Alliance Virtual Offices

Real commercial address inside a staffed office center, with an Address Certification Letter for banking and registration.

From $49/mo Visit site ↗

Bizee

Commercial street address with unlimited mail scanning, cheapest bundled with Bizee formation.

$29/mo Visit site ↗

Check your full compliance

Use our free tool to check if you need to register in additional states.

Start free compliance check ↗

Sources 1 link

https://sos.tn.gov/business-services

This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify all fees and requirements with the Tennessee Secretary of State before filing.