How to form an LLC in Texas (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in Texas?

Several filings and decisions sit between choosing a name and keeping the LLC in good standing, and the Secretary of State handles all but the last. The list below gives each step's form and fee.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the Office of the Texas Secretary of State. You can reserve a name for $40 for 120 days (Form 501).
2. Name a registered agent in Texas: a person or company with a Texas address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Certificate of Formation to Limited Liability Company (Form 205); $300 filing fee with the Office of the Texas Secretary of State. The state fee is $300. Filing methods: Online (SOSPortal), by mail, or by delivery in person.
4. Wait for approval. Faster options: Texas Express: Standard Expedited $50 (typically 2 to 3 business days), Next-Day $500, Same-Day $750 per document, plus the filing fee.
5. Recurring filing: No Secretary of State annual report; LLCs file an annual Franchise Tax Report with a Public Information Report (PIR) with the Comptroller, due May 15.

Two things in that list are easy to miss. The first is the registered agent: Texas law says each filing entity shall designate and continuously maintain in this state a registered agent and a registered office, so the LLC needs one from the start. The second is that the last step goes to a different office, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which takes the franchise tax report due May 15 each year.^{3, 4}

Texas also skips a step that some states require. There is no newspaper notice after filing; the old pre-incorporation newspaper notice rule was repealed in 2003. If you want to compare formation services rather than file yourself, the ranked list of LLC services in Texas shows each one's first-year total here.⁵

How do you check and reserve a Texas LLC name?

Search the Office of the Texas Secretary of State records for the name before you file, and reserve the name with Form 501 if you aren't ready to file yet. A reservation costs $40 and holds the name for 120 days.⁶

A reservation is optional. It helps when you need time to line up members, money or an agent and don't want someone else to register the name first.

The name check comes back later, too. The reinstatement cannot be filed if the entity name is not distinguishable in the records of the secretary of state, so an LLC that loses its standing can't come back under a name another business has since taken. That is one reason to keep the company in good standing (see the section on reports below).⁷

Who can be a registered agent for a Texas LLC?

A Texas registered agent can be an individual who is a resident of this state, or an organization, other than the filing entity or foreign filing entity to be represented. In plain terms, the LLC cannot name itself, but a Texas resident member or friend, or a company, can serve.⁴

The agent is the person or business that accepts lawsuits and official notices for the LLC. Texas law (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.201) also sets a rule for the agent's address, called the registered office. It must be located at a street address where process may be personally served on the entity's registered agent, and it may not be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service. A P.O. box or a virtual mailbox on its own won't satisfy that rule.⁴

The registered office address is public. It also goes on the yearly Public Information Report, which lists the registered agent name and office address. That is the trade-off when an owner acts as the agent from home: the home address becomes searchable. A registered agent service puts its own Texas address there instead. For example, Northwest Registered Agent lists its agent service at $125 per year, and Inc Authority includes the agent free for the first year with LLC formation and then renews it at $249/year. Compare more prices on Northwest's pricing page, Inc Authority's pricing page and the list of services that include a registered agent.^{8, 9, 10, 11}

How do you file the Certificate of Formation, and how long does it take?

You file the Certificate of Formation online through SOSPortal, by mail or by hand delivery, and the Office of the Texas Secretary of State doesn't publish a standard processing time for regular filings. Standard Expedited review under Texas Express is typically 2 to 3 business days.²

You can file in any of these ways.

• Online (SOSPortal), which the state says is the faster route¹
• by mail to P.O. Box 13697, Austin, TX 78711-3697¹
• in person at 400 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701¹

Texas Express tiers

Texas sells expedited review per document, on top of the $300 filing fee. There are three tiers.¹

1. Standard Expedited $50, typically 2 to 3 business days.²
2. Next-Day $500.²
3. Same-Day $750 per document. Filings received by 12:00 p.m.²

A formation service's own stated speed is separate from the state's review time. A service may submit your filing quickly, but the state still reviews it on its own schedule unless someone pays for Texas Express. Our guide to how long LLC formation takes explains the two clocks, and the fastest stated filing list compares providers on their published times.

What does a Texas LLC cost in the first and second year?

A Texas LLC costs the $300 filing fee in year one, plus any plan or expedite fee you choose. Year two has no Secretary of State report, so its cost comes from plan and registered agent renewals and any franchise tax.¹

The table shows each provider's first-year total in Texas with the plan we compare, and whether a second-year total can be worked out. Rows follow our rating, with ties in the editorial order described in how we rate.

First year: state filing fee plus the provider's compared plan. Second year: the recurring state fee plus the plan's renewal, if it renews.

Totals are our arithmetic on the published figures. Registered agent renewals are extra unless a plan includes the agent. Try other plans in the calculator.

The second-year column reads "Can't total" for Texas on purpose. Our state record has no recurring report fee for Texas, because no official page we checked states a filing fee for the franchise tax report. Franchise tax itself depends on revenue: an LLC at or below $2,650,000 in revenue owes no tax for the current report years, but an information report is still required. We won't add a figure the state doesn't publish.³

Two providers show the spread. Inc Authority offers its Free LLC plan, so its Texas first-year total is $300, the state fee alone; its registered agent then renews at $249/year. Northwest Registered Agent charges $39 + state fees, for a first-year total of $339; its included registered agent renews at $125/yr after year 1. Read Inc Authority's full profile and Northwest's profile for what each plan leaves out.^{11, 12}

For your own mix of plan and expedite, use the LLC cost calculator. The lowest first-year totals by provider and the national guide to LLC costs cover the same question outside Texas.

What does a Texas LLC file after it is formed?

A Texas LLC files a franchise tax report with a Public Information Report (PIR) with the Comptroller, due May 15 each year. There is no annual report to the Office of the Texas Secretary of State.³

The PIR lists all managers (and all members if member-managed), the registered agent name and office address, and the address where the entity's records are kept. That means the names of the people running the LLC go into a public report every year. Keep that in mind if privacy is a reason you are forming the LLC.⁸

Filing late costs money even when no tax is owed. The Comptroller charges a $50 penalty per franchise tax report filed late (even if no tax is due).³

An LLC that loses its standing through tax forfeiture can apply for reinstatement with Form 801. The fee is $75, the application requires a Comptroller tax clearance letter, and the name must still be distinguishable in the Secretary of State's records.⁷

Formation services differ on this report. Northwest Registered Agent sells an annual report filing service at $100 + state fees, charged at filing, while Inc Authority's page mentions compliance reminders with no detail on scope. Neither says whether that covers the Texas Comptroller filing, so ask the provider before you count on it. The package contents guide explains which plan items are filings and which are alerts.^{13, 14}

How do you change a Texas registered agent later?

You change a Texas registered agent by filing Form 401, the Change of Registered Agent/Office, with the Office of the Texas Secretary of State. The fee is $15.¹⁵

File the change before you cancel the old agent service. Texas states the risk of a gap plainly. Failure to maintain a registered agent may lead to involuntary termination of a domestic LLC (revocation of a foreign entity's registration).¹⁶

The agent can also leave on its own. A resigning agent files Form 402 and must notify the LLC; the resignation takes effect on the 31st day after the SOS receives notice. Until that day the old agent stays on record, so that is the window for naming a new one with Form 401.^{15, 17}

What if your LLC was formed in another state?

An LLC formed outside Texas registers to do business here with Form 304, the LLC Application for Registration, for $750. It needs a Texas registered agent under the same rules as a Texas LLC (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.201).^{4, 18}

That fee is well above the $300 cost of forming a new Texas LLC. Forming a new Texas company is a different step from registering an existing one, and which fits depends on where the business operates, so it is a question for an accountant or lawyer. The state fees table compares formation and foreign registration costs across states, including Oklahoma and Louisiana next door.¹