Short answer
Texas has no annual report fee, but every LLC formed or registered there must file a franchise tax report with the Comptroller each year — and most small LLCs owe $0 yet still have to file something. Skip it and the LLC drifts out of good standing and can eventually be forfeited, which is slow and expensive to reverse.
Key takeaways
- “No annual report” and “nothing due every year” are two different claims — Texas only signs up for the first one.
- Almost every Texas LLC has to check in with the Comptroller each year through the franchise tax report, even though most owe zero tax.
- Owing nothing and filing nothing are separate questions; the paperwork for zero-revenue LLCs has changed more than once, so confirm the current rule.
- There’s no natural reminder — the deadline just sits in the spring — so set a calendar reminder the day you get your EIN, not after you start operating.
Search for “Texas LLC annual report” and you’ll run into the same reassurance over and over, passed around like a piece of good news: Texas doesn’t charge one. No yearly report fee, unlike a lot of states that bill you every twelve months just to stay registered. Compared to that, Texas looks almost hands-off — pay once at formation, roughly $300, and move on with your life.
That reassurance is true. It’s also the kind of true that gets people in trouble, because “no annual report” and “nothing due every year” are two separate claims, and Texas only signs up for the first one.
The filing that doesn’t call itself a filing
Every year, the Texas Comptroller wants to hear from your LLC. It’s called a franchise tax report, and the name alone makes most new owners assume it doesn’t apply to them — franchise sounds like something for fast-food chains, not a one-person consulting business. It applies to essentially every LLC formed or registered in Texas, though.
Here’s the part that matters for a brand-new, small operation: most LLCs end up owing zero dollars in franchise tax, because the no-tax-due threshold sits well up in seven-figure revenue territory. Owing nothing and filing nothing are, once again, different questions. Depending on the tax year, Texas has required at least some form of check-in with the Comptroller even from LLCs that owe no tax at all, and exactly what that check-in looks like has shifted more than once in recent years. Worth confirming the current version rather than trusting something you read a while back, including this.
What happens if you skip it
What happens if you just don’t? Nothing dramatic, at first. No knock on the door. The LLC quietly drifts out of good standing, and eventually the state can forfeit its right to do business, which is a more annoying and more expensive problem to fix than the filing ever would have been. Reinstating a forfeited LLC means back filings, fees, and paperwork that takes weeks instead of minutes.
The reason this trips up new owners specifically is that there’s no natural trigger for it. A landlord sends a rent notice. The IRS sends a letter if you owe money. The Comptroller’s deadline, by contrast, mostly just exists on a calendar somewhere, due in the spring, and the only reminder is whichever one you set for yourself the day you got your EIN and felt done.
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The reframe worth keeping
That’s really the whole reframe. The $300 you paid to form the LLC wasn’t the price of the LLC. It was the price of admission into a yearly rhythm that Texas describes, technically accurately, as not having an annual report.
If you take one thing from this: open a calendar right now, not after you’ve started operating, and put a reminder on it for next spring. Future you, elbow-deep in actual business, will not remember to go looking for a filing that insists it isn’t one.
Not legal or tax advice — confirm with a CPA.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Published July 8, 2026
I'm Henry, a hedgehog in a bow tie who explains the dull, scary parts of building and running a U.S. business.
