Formation fee
$200
One-time state fee for the formation certificate.
last verified 2026-07-17
record 1 of 51 · /llc/alabama/
Alabama LLC
Alabama files no annual report for an LLC
Alabama asks an LLC for no annual report at the filing office: the fee and the due date are both verified absences on this sheet, not missing data. What recurs instead is the business privilege tax, computed on net worth and filed with the Department of Revenue. Its floor is not publishable, so the card carries a badge in place of a figure.
the rest of this note
The name register works differently than a notice filing: the route for a trading name runs through the trademark style registration at the Secretary of State, and the sheet grades that protection as exclusive registration. The office also sells no expedited service, a checked reading, while its published statement describes online formation in plain terms.
every claim above is a line below
Annual report
none
This state files no LLC annual report. The absence is verified, not missing data.
verified absent 2026-07-17
Franchise tax
scales with net worth
Alabama calls it the Business Privilege Tax, collected by Alabama Department of Revenue. It follows net worth with no annual minimum, so no yearly figure can stand in for it.
last verified 2026-08-07
Anonymous LLC
no
Member or organizer names reach the public formation record here.
last verified 2026-08-06
no source in the snapshot
Processing time
published, not as a range
The state publishes a processing time in prose rather than as a range, so this sheet links it instead of restating it. This state sells no expedited service.
as observed on 2026-08-06
Name designators
Must contain the words "Limited Liability Company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or "LLC".
Accepted endings for the legal name. Statute: Ala. Code § 10A-1-5.06.
last verified 2026-08-04
Name reservation
$25
Optional filing that holds the name for 1 year before you form.
last verified 2026-08-04
DBA
trade name
One statewide register; the filing costs $30.
last verified 2026-08-04
An individual as the agent
allowed
Whether a person may hold the seat, so nobody has to be hired. The terms Alabama attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.
last verified 2026-08-09
field 05 carries the date it was observed, not a promise: of the two halves beside it, only the expedited tiers are prices the state commits to
What are the Alabama trade name rules?
Alabama calls it the trade name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $30.
- Where an LLC files
- How long it lasts
-
5 years
Renewable for successive five-year terms; the renewal application must be filed within the six months before the registration expires and must state that the mark is still in use in Alabama. The Secretary of State writes to the registrant's last known address during the year before expiry to say a renewal is due.
- Newspaper publication
-
not required
- What the filing protects
-
exclusive to the registrant
Alabama is unusual in having no separate assumed-name or DBA statute; the only way to register a name you trade under is to register it as a trade name under the trademark chapter (Title 8, Chapter 12), where "trade name" is defined by § 8-12-6(10) as a name adopted and used to identify a business and distinguish it from the business of others. That registration is more than disclosure: § 8-12-16 gives the owner of a registered mark a civil action against anyone whose use is likely to cause confusion, with the remedies in § 8-12-18, so it functions like a state trademark rather than a bare notice filing. It sits in the trademark register, separate from the entity-name distinguishability records used at formation, and § 8-12-7(b) says a reserved or registered corporate name bestows no ownership rights in a mark.
- Where to search existing names
-
Registered trade names and marks are searched in the Secretary of State's Government Records Inquiry System, which offers three trademark entry points (mark description, applicant name, and trademark number) and is separate from the business-entity records. Because Alabama does not require DBA registration, an unregistered trade name in actual use will not appear in either search.
one record, verified 2026-08-04 · Ala. Code § 8-12-8
What does it take to register an out-of-state LLC in Alabama?
Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Alabama. The registration costs $150. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.
- Registration fee
-
$150
Flat registration filing fee of $150.00 for the Foreign Limited Liability Company Application for Registration; credit-card payments add a 3% convenience fee plus $2.00.
- The official form
-
Foreign Limited Liability Company Application for Registration
- Filed with
-
Alabama Secretary of State, Business Entities Division
- After registration
-
Maintain a registered agent for service of process in Alabama.
one record, verified 2026-08-08
The same fee for every other jurisdiction sits on one page: foreign qualification fees for every jurisdiction.
Who may serve as the registered agent in Alabama?
Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Alabama. Alabama lets a natural person serve, so no commercial agent is required. The LLC itself may also hold the seat.
- An individual as the agent
-
Allowed
in the state's words an individual who is a resident of this state
- The LLC as its own agent
-
Allowed
- A mailbox service as the address
-
Not accepted
- Address rule
-
The registered office must be located at a street address in this state where process may be personally served on the entity's registered agent.
one record, verified 2026-08-09
The same four answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: registered agent rules for every jurisdiction.
Where do these figures come from?
Every figure on this sheet renders from the pinned dataset snapshot, and each card links the page its own figure came from. This list collects those pages in one place, with the duplicates removed and the agency named.
- Formation and annual report figures https://www.sos.alabama.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/2021FeeSchedule.pdf
- Recurring tax: Alabama Department of Revenue https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/individual-corporate/alabama-business-privilege-tax-and-corporate-share-tax/
- Expedited service and processing time https://www.sos.alabama.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/DomesticLLCFormation.pdf
- Naming statute https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=10A-1-5.03
- Name reservation https://www.sos.alabama.gov/business-entities/llcs
- Who may be the registered agent https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/graphql?query=query%20codeOfAlabamaSection%28%24displayId%3A%20String%21%29%20%7B%20codesOfAlabama%28where%3A%20%7B%20type%3A%20%7B%20eq%3A%20Section%20%7D%2C%20displayId%3A%20%7B%20eq%3A%20%24displayId%20%7D%20%7D%2C%20versions%3A%20true%29%20%7B%20data%20%7B%20displayId%20title%20content%20%7D%20%7D%20%7D&variables=%7B%22displayId%22%3A%2210A-1-5.31%22%7D
- DBA filing https://www.sos.alabama.gov/administrative-services/trademarks
- Alabama Secretary of State Business Entities Division https://www.sos.alabama.gov/business-entities
- Business entity search https://www.sos.alabama.gov/government-records/business-entity-records
The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.