Everything you need to register a foreign LLC in Texas.
State filing fee$750one-time
Registered agent$125/yearbased on Northwest RA
Total, all in$1,125
Texas data last reviewed Aug 25, 2026 · sos.texas.govTotals 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. 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 for standard expedite, which the Secretary of State describes as processing ahead of regular submissions, typically within two to three business days. Above that, $500 for the next business day and $750 for the same business day, both counted from a noon cut-off. The two fast tiers are routed through in-person delivery or the TexasExpress mailbox rather than ordinary SOSDirect submission, so a filer cannot buy them on the normal online path. Every tier is charged per document and sits on top of the filing fee.
Estimated year 1 cost
$750
Note: Texas has one of the highest qualification fees in the country at $750.
Texas data last reviewed Aug 25, 2026 · sos.texas.gov
Formation in Texas
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
Moderate
No income tax, but the franchise tax applies to larger businesses. The 2026 no-tax-due threshold is $2.65M (increased from $2.47M).
What triggers foreign qualification in Texas?
Physical presence in Texas
Employees in Texas
Revenue from Texas sources
Important to know
$750 filing fee is among the highest in the country
Franchise tax filing is required even if no tax is owed
Certificate of Good Standing from home state must be dated within 90 days of filing
Activities that do NOT require registration in Texas
The following activities are explicitly carved out by statute. On their own, they do not require a foreign LLC to register in Texas.
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.
This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify with the Texas SOS before filing.