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Texas Foreign LLC Registration

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

State filing fee $750 one-time
Registered agent $125/year based on Northwest RA
Estimated total $1,125
Texas data last reviewed Oct 9, 2026 · sos.state.tx.us Totals include the $750 filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Texas recurring state costs over the selected period.

Foreign Qualification

Filing fee
$750
Form
Application for Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company
Annual obligation
$0/year (report required, no fee)
Processing time
Texas publishes no turnaround for ordinary processing of this filing.
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The only durations the Secretary of State publishes are the three paid expedite tiers, plus a note on the filing-status page that it generally takes at least one business day from submission for a document to be entered into the system.

Expedite
$50 per document for standard expedite, by mail or in person, which puts the filing ahead of regular submissions, typically within 2 to 3 business days.
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For filings received by noon, $500 buys next-day and $750 same-day service; request those in person in Austin or by email to TexasExpress@sos.texas.gov. Each charge is on top of the filing fee.

Estimated year 1 cost
$750
Note: Texas charges $750 to register a foreign LLC, tied with South Dakota for the highest fee.
Visit Texas Secretary of State ↗

Need to register your LLC in Texas?

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

Have Northwest register your LLC in Texas ↗
$225 + the state fee · One year of registered agent included

Filing it yourself? Go to the official Texas SOS portal ↗

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 $159/year · Full-service compliance option
Visit site ↗

What triggers foreign qualification in Texas?

  • Physical presence in Texas
  • Employees in Texas
  • Business activity in Texas beyond the exemptions below; revenue alone is not the test

Important to know

  • $750 filing fee is among the highest in the country
  • The Public Information Report is still due every year even when no franchise tax is owed; below the no-tax-due threshold it is the only franchise tax filing an LLC makes (2024 report year onward)
What does NOT require registration in Texas 16 activities

Texas carves 16 activities out by statute. On their own, none of them requires a foreign LLC to register.

  • Bringing or defending a lawsuit, administrative proceeding, or arbitration, or settling one
  • Holding meetings of managers, owners, or members, or carrying on internal company affairs
  • Maintaining a bank account
  • Keeping an office to transfer or register your own securities, or appointing a trustee for them
  • Voting shares or interests you own in another company
  • Making a sale through an independent contractor
  • Borrowing or lending money, or taking a mortgage or security interest in property
  • Collecting a debt owed to you, or enforcing your rights in property securing that debt
  • Doing business in interstate commerce
  • A one-off transaction finished within 30 days that is not part of a repeated pattern
  • Acting as executor or trustee for a nonresident's estate or trust
  • Buying, servicing, or enforcing a mortgage or lien on Texas property acquired out of state
  • Buying a royalty or other nonoperating mineral interest in a deal made outside Texas
  • Signing a division order or sale contract tied to a nonoperating mineral interest
  • Owning real or personal property in Texas, and nothing more
  • Serving as an officer, director, or manager of a company registered in Texas

Under Texas Business Organizations Code Section 9.251, all 16 items. Texas has NO order-solicitation safe harbor, which is a uniform-act staple: the nearest item covers sales through an independent contractor only, not solicitation by the entity's own employees. Texas adds mineral-interest, division-order, mortgage-servicing, fiduciary and governing-person carve-outs. Section 9.252 states separately that the list is not exclusive. There is no tax or service-of-process disclaimer in the statute.

Forming a new LLC in Texas instead? $300 to form
Formation fee
$300
Annual cost
$0/year (report required, no fee)
State income tax
No state income tax. Franchise tax applies to businesses with revenue over $2.65M.
Privacy
Low
No income tax, but the franchise tax applies to larger businesses. The 2026 no-tax-due threshold is $2.65M (increased from $2.47M).
Sources 15 pages

The official pages behind the figures on this page, with the date we last read each one. How we check.

Fees and costs

Deadlines and processing

When you must register

Penalties and reinstatement

Forms and filing

More Texas guides

Already operating without registering?Civil penalty, back fees and court access in Texas, statute-cited ↗ Not sure Texas applies to you?What counts as doing business, and what does not ↗ Changing your registered agent?The form, the fee and the steps in Texas ↗ 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 Texas SOS before filing.