snapshot 2026-08-10 pin @d8d09bc · 9 namespaces published 51 jurisdictions
LLC STATES

A state filing ledger · 50 states + DC

record 17 of 51 · /llc/kentucky/

Kentucky LLC

oldest record on this page verified 2026-07-17

sources: linked on each field, listed in full below

Kentucky's entity tax is filed with the revenue agency

Articles for a Kentucky LLC go to the Secretary of State, and the annual report is owed inside a window covering the first half of the year. The Limited Liability Entity Tax recurs on top of that report: it is measured on revenue, carries a published minimum collected separately, and goes to the Department of Revenue instead. The office sells no expedited lane, a verified absence, while its statement says most documents are handled on the day they arrive.

the rest of this note

The assumed name is a two-step filing here: the certificate goes to the Secretary of State, and a stamped copy is then recorded with the county clerk where the registered agent sits. Registration discloses the trading name and grants no exclusive right, per the cited statute. The tax deadline follows the company's own taxable year, not the report window.

every claim above is a line below

Formation fee

$40

One-time state fee for the formation certificate.

last verified 2026-07-17

sos.ky.gov

Annual report

$15

Due Jan 1 - June 30, printed as the state writes it.

last verified 2026-07-17

sos.ky.gov

Franchise tax

from $175

Kentucky calls it the Limited Liability Entity Tax, collected by Kentucky Department of Revenue. It follows revenue, so $175 is the floor rather than the bill.

last verified 2026-08-09

apps.legislature.ky.gov

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

0 to 3 business days

Filed online, 0 to 3 business days, and 0 to 3 business days by mail, as the state states it. This state sells no expedited service.

as observed on 2026-08-06

sos.ky.gov

Name designators

The name shall end with the phrase "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "LLC" or "LC." A professional limited liability company's name shall end with "professional limited liability company," "professional limited company," "PLLC," or "PLC." In either name the word "limited" may be abbreviated "Ltd." and the word "company" may be abbreviated "Co."

Accepted endings for the legal name. Statute: KRS 14A.3-010(3).

last verified 2026-08-04

apps.legislature.ky.gov

Name reservation

$15

Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days before you form.

last verified 2026-08-04

sos.ky.gov

DBA

assumed name

LLCs file at the state level for $20; other business forms file with the county.

last verified 2026-08-04

sosbes.sos.ky.gov

An individual as the agent

allowed

Whether a person may hold the seat, so nobody has to be hired. The terms Kentucky attaches, and the entity question, sit in the registered agent section.

last verified 2026-08-10

web.sos.ky.gov

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 Kentucky trade name rules?

Kentucky calls it the assumed name, and splits the filing: an LLC registers with the state, while other business forms file locally. The state filing costs $20.

Where an LLC files

sosbes.sos.ky.gov

How long it lasts

5 years

An assumed name is effective for five years from the date of filing and is renewed for successive terms by filing a renewal certificate within the six months before the term expires, in the same offices as the original.

Newspaper publication

not required

What the filing protects

no exclusive right

An assumed name discloses the name a business trades under and grants no exclusive right: KRS 365.015(7) provides that filing a certificate of assumed name does not automatically prevent the use of that name or protect it from use by other persons. Kentucky does screen entity assumed names on the way in, since KRS 365.015(2)(d) bars any certificate filed with the Secretary of State from setting forth an assumed name that is not distinguishable upon the Secretary of State's records from any other name previously filed and on record, so an active entity assumed name blocks a later filing that is not distinguishable from it.

Where to search existing names

sosbes.sos.ky.gov

Assumed names filed by entities appear in the Secretary of State's business search, since they must be distinguishable upon those records. Assumed names filed by sole proprietors sit only in the relevant county clerk's records and are not in the state search.

one record, verified 2026-08-04 · KRS 365.015

apps.legislature.ky.gov

What does it take to register an out-of-state LLC in Kentucky?

Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Kentucky. The registration costs $90. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.

Registration fee

$90

Flat $90.00 filing fee for the Application for Certificate of Authority, listed for foreign corporations and LLCs on the Business Filings fee page.

sos.ky.gov

The official form

Application for Certificate of Authority for a Foreign Business Entity

web.sos.ky.gov

Filed with

Kentucky Secretary of State, Division of Business Filings, P.O. Box 718, Frankfort, KY 40602

web.sos.ky.gov

After registration

File the annual report by June 30 of each year after the year the entity was formed, accompanied by the $15.00 filing fee, and maintain a registered agent in Kentucky.

sos.ky.gov

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 Kentucky?

Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Kentucky. Kentucky lets a natural person serve, so no commercial agent is required.

An individual as the agent

Allowed

in the state's words Each business entity must appoint and continuously maintain a registered agent to receive legal service of process (i.e., a lawsuit), who shall be an individual resident of Kentucky, a Kentucky entity, or a foreign entity authorized to transact business in Kentucky.

web.sos.ky.gov

The LLC as its own agent

not read at this pin

A mailbox service as the address

not read at this pin

Address rule

Street Address Only (No Post Office Box Numbers)

web.sos.ky.gov

one record, verified 2026-08-10

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.

The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.

Back to the 51-state index