Tennessee. Great music, costly background noise.

The character of the state

In a studio in Memphis in 1954, a truck driver named Elvis Presley recorded his first single, and not far away Lynchburg has been distilling the same whiskey to the same recipe since 1866. Tennessee is the state where America writes its soundtrack: country in Nashville, blues and rock'n'roll in Memphis, the Smoky Mountains in between. The state levies no income tax on wages, which has earned it a business-friendly reputation.

Only with companies does the Volunteer State turn up the volume: its franchise and excise taxes are among the few of their kind that also hit LLC owners who live elsewhere. The stage is magnificent, but the royalty collector is sitting right behind the curtain.

Who Tennessee makes sense for

For ventures with a genuine Tennessee connection, for example in Nashville's music and entertainment world, where a local presence is part of the business and the levies are factored in as a cost of location. As a pure zero-tax structure: take a favourite.

Do you really need a Tennessee LLC?

The honest counter-question before you order: if what draws you to Tennessee is mainly the look, you do not need a Tennessee LLC for it. Your business address is yours to choose, in any state, for any LLC. You can get a Nashville address from one of the many virtual business address providers for around $20 to $150 a month; you book that yourself, directly with the provider, and it is not part of our package. Combined with a Wyoming LLC you get the same presence, plus anonymity in the register and the strongest statutory asset protection in the US.

There are two things an address cannot replace, though, and they belong to the full picture. First: your contracts and invoices state the company's state of formation. If you need "Tennessee" to appear there explicitly, you really do need the Tennessee LLC. Second: an address is appearance, not substance. If you actually keep premises, staff or ongoing business operations in Tennessee, you create a real connection there with reporting and tax consequences, regardless of where the LLC was formed. Set-ups like that belong in a consultation (held in English only) beforehand.

And if your reason for Tennessee is a personal or business tie: good choice. That is exactly what this page is for.

Consultations are held in English only.

No hidden fees, no surprise bills for extra work

Our flat fee covers every service you need to form your Tennessee LLC and run it for the first 12 months, including the minimum levies mentioned above. You will find a detailed description of the services here. Bought one by one, these services cost over $6,500. With us: one flat fee, $2,900, done.

Formation and taxes

Formation in Tennessee is quick, about 1 to 2 days. The federal side is the same as everywhere: set up correctly, no US income tax. The state side is the exception nationwide: franchise and excise tax apply regardless of where you live. That is exactly why this state appears in our atlas with its visor up rather than with small print.

Transparency in the register

Tennessee's annual report makes your LLC's management public. For discretion: Wyoming, New Mexico. More under anonymity.