How Much Does It Cost to Start an LLC in Texas?

How much does it cost to start an LLC in Texas? The headline number is refreshingly simple: $300 to the Texas Secretary of State. But the all-in cost depends on whether you DIY the paperwork or hire help, and whether you need extras like a registered agent or an EIN.

I’ve walked several friends through Texas LLC formation, and the process is genuinely one of the more straightforward states — no annual report fees, no publication requirements, no nonsense. Here’s the full cost picture.

How Much Does It Cost to Start an LLC in Texas? The Required Costs

The one mandatory cost: the $300 filing fee for the Certificate of Formation (Form 205), filed with the Texas Secretary of State. That’s it — Texas has no annual report and no annual LLC fee, which makes it cheaper over time than states that charge $100+ every year just to exist.

Every Texas LLC also needs a registered agent — someone with a Texas physical address available during business hours to receive legal documents. You can be your own registered agent for free (using your home or business address), or hire a service for $100–$300/year. Being your own agent saves money but puts your address on public record; a service buys privacy and reliability. For most home-based businesses, the service is worth it.

Optional Costs Worth Considering

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS is free — always get it directly at irs.gov, never pay a middleman for it. You’ll need it to open a business bank account and hire employees. An Operating Agreement isn’t filed with the state but every LLC should have one; templates run $0–$50, lawyers charge $300–$800 for custom ones. For single-member LLCs, a solid template is fine.

Formation services (LegalZoom, Northwest, etc.) charge $0–$300 plus the state fee to handle the paperwork. Honest assessment: Texas filing is easy enough that most people don’t need them, but if paperwork gives you hives, $100 for someone else to file correctly is reasonable. What you should never pay: anyone charging you for an EIN or ‘mandatory’ extras that aren’t. The SBA’s Texas resources at the U.S. Small Business Administration list the legitimate steps without the upsell.

The Costs People Forget

Beyond formation: business bank account (free to $15/month — and yes, you want one; see Is it worth opening a business bank account for a side hustle), local business licenses or permits ($0–$100 depending on your city and industry), and Texas franchise tax — the famous ‘no income tax’ state still taxes businesses. Good news: the franchise tax has a no-tax-due threshold ($2.47 million in revenue for 2024–2025), so most small LLCs owe $0 but still file the report.

Also budget for the unsexy stuff: bookkeeping software ($15–$30/month), business insurance if your industry needs it, and possibly a DBA (‘doing business as’) filing ($25) if you’ll operate under a name different from the LLC’s legal name. None of these are formation costs strictly, but they’re first-year costs that surprise people.

Texas LLC cost summary:

• Mandatory: $300 state filing fee. No annual report fee, ever.
• Registered agent: free (yourself) or $100–$300/year for privacy.
• EIN: free at irs.gov — never pay for one.
• Operating Agreement: $0–$50 template is fine for most single-member LLCs.
• Watch for: franchise tax filing (usually $0 owed), local permits, business bank account.

DIY Filing: The 20-Minute Walkthrough

File online at the Texas Secretary of State’s SOSDirect portal: create an account, select Certificate of Formation for an LLC, enter your LLC name (check availability first with the state’s name search), registered agent details, organizer info, and pay $300 by card. Processing is typically 3–5 business days online.

After approval: get your free EIN at irs.gov, draft the Operating Agreement, open the business bank account, and get any local permits. Total realistic first-day cost for a DIY single-member LLC: $300 state fee + $0 EIN + $0 self-registered-agent = $300. Add a registered agent service and you’re at $400–$600 all-in for year one. Texas makes this easy — take the win.

The Bottom Line

How Much Does It Cost to Start an LLC in Texas? What Most People Get Wrong

What most people get wrong: thinking the LLC is the hard part. The $300 filing takes twenty minutes; the ongoing discipline — separate bank account, clean books, annual franchise tax report (even when $0 is owed), registered agent maintained — is where LLCs actually live or die. An LLC you treat like a personal piggy bank offers no liability protection at all; courts call it ‘piercing the veil,’ and commingled funds are exhibit A. The paperwork is the easy 5%; the habits are the other 95%.

Second mistake: paying for things Texas gives free. The EIN is free at irs.gov, the franchise tax is $0 for most small businesses (but the report still must be filed), and ‘expedited processing’ upsells are rarely necessary for standard filings. Formation services marking up free government services is a whole industry — know what’s actually free before anyone invoices you for it. And don’t forget the local layer: Texas cities have their own permits, and the state filing doesn’t cover those.

Don’t forget the business name clearance beyond the state filing — check the USPTO trademark database and your domain availability before you fall in love with a name. Texas will happily let you register an LLC name that infringes someone’s federal trademark, and discovering the conflict after you’ve printed business cards is an expensive lesson. The state checks for duplicates within Texas; nobody checks for trademark conflicts except you. Thirty minutes of searching now prevents a forced rebrand later.

Starting an LLC in Texas costs $300 to the state plus whatever you choose for a registered agent — realistically $300–$600 all-in for a DIY formation. No annual fees, straightforward online filing, and a franchise tax most small businesses never actually pay. It’s one of the best states for keeping formation cheap; spend the savings on the business itself.

Texas makes LLC formation cheap and simple — $300, twenty minutes online, no annual fee. Spend your energy on what comes after: separate finances, clean books, filed reports, and the local permits the state filing doesn’t cover. The LLC is a tool; the discipline is what makes it work.