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Kentucky Foreign LLC Registration

The fee, the form, what triggers registration in Kentucky, and how to file.

State filing fee $90 one-time
Registered agent $125/year based on Northwest RA
Total, all in $1,035
Kentucky data last reviewed Aug 26, 2026 · sos.ky.gov Totals include the $90 filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Kentucky recurring state costs over the selected period.

Foreign Qualification

Filing fee
$90
Form
Certificate of Authority FBE (Foreign Business Entity)
Annual obligation
$15/year + $175/year entity tax
Processing time
Usually same day received; up to 3 business days
Estimated year 1 cost
$280
Visit Kentucky Secretary of State ↗

Need to register your LLC in Kentucky?

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

Have Northwest register your LLC in Kentucky ↗
$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 ↗

What triggers foreign qualification in Kentucky?

  • Physical office or place of business
  • Employees working in the state

Important to know

  • The $175 Limited Liability Entity Tax is owed to the Department of Revenue and is separate from the $15 annual report, with a different deadline and a different agency. A single-member LLC owned by an individual files Form 725 and owes it in its own right.
What does NOT require registration in Kentucky 11 activities

Kentucky carves 11 activities out by statute. On their own, none of them requires a foreign LLC to register.

  • Maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding
  • Holding meetings of directors, shareholders, partners, members, managers, beneficial owners, or trustees, or carrying on internal affairs
  • Maintaining bank accounts
  • Maintaining offices or agencies for transfer, exchange, and registration of the entity's own securities, or maintaining trustees or depositaries for them
  • Selling through independent contractors
  • Soliciting or obtaining orders, by mail or through employees or agents, if the orders require acceptance outside the state
  • Creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security interests in real, personal, or intangible property
  • Securing or collecting debts, or enforcing mortgages and security interests in the property securing them
  • Owning real or personal property, and nothing more
  • Conducting an isolated transaction completed within 30 days that is not one of repeated transactions of a like nature
  • Transacting business in interstate commerce

Under KRS 14A.9-010(2). The isolated-transaction carve-out carries a 30-day limit. Note subsection (6): a certificate of authority is required for award of a state contract regardless of these safe harbors.

Forming a new LLC in Kentucky instead? $40 to form
Formation fee
$40
Annual cost
$15/year + $175/year entity tax
State income tax
Flat 3.5% income tax (2026 tax year)
Privacy
Conditional
Whether your name reaches the public record depends on how you set the LLC up. Kentucky requires no member or manager name on the articles of organization. The annual report then asks for the name and business address of each manager, but only if you chose manager-managed. A member-managed Kentucky LLC names nobody.
Sources 1 link

More Kentucky guides

Already operating without registering?Civil penalty, back fees and court access in Kentucky, statute-cited ↗ Not sure Kentucky applies to you?What counts as doing business, and what does not ↗ Changing your registered agent?The form, the fee and the steps in Kentucky ↗ Operating in more than one state?Free 3-question check of where you must register ↗

This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify with the Kentucky SOS before filing.