Filing Form SS-4233 on your own: a walkthrough

Everything about the fee depends on the count. Tennessee charges $50 for each member and will not go below $300 or above $3,000. An application with the wrong fee is on the state's list of common rejections.

The agent must agree to accept legal mail for the company and must work from a physical Tennessee street address; a post office box, route number or box number alone is rejected. Give the agent's county and email if the form asks.

Open TNCaB, the Secretary of State business filing portal. A first-time user creates an account. Choose the foreign LLC filing, enter the information the form asks for, upload the certificate of existence and pay by credit or debit card. The online system is open whether the filer is a corporation, a nonprofit corporation or a limited liability company formed elsewhere.

The form numbers 18 items: the company name, any assumed name and name consent, any professional or litigation-financier designation, series status, the month its fiscal year ends, the formation date and place, the date it began doing business in Tennessee if that came before qualifying, a business email address, the nature of the business, how the company is managed, any obligated member entity, the principal office, other provisions, and the registered agent.

The online route needs an account, takes the certificate as an upload and takes a card. The paper route needs the downloaded form, a printed certificate and a check or other payment the state accepts, and it adds the postage and the wait. The walk-in counter is in Nashville. Foreign limited partnerships and LLPs have no online route.

Watch for a member count that does not match the fee, a name that is not distinguishable, a registered office given as a mailbox, a missing email address, a signer who does not state a capacity and a certificate older than two months.

The reasons are on the state's list: the filing fee was not enclosed; the document is unsigned, unclear, not dated or not enclosed; no email address was given; the name is not distinguishable from another entity on file; or tax clearance could not be obtained. Add the home certificate that is older than two months and the registered office given as a post office box.

The filed application comes back with the fee receipt, and that paper is your certificate of authority. Create an account in the annual report system and calendar the due date, which is the first day of the fourth month after fiscal year end (April 1 for a calendar year).

For a paper filing, gather the completed and signed form, the home certificate dated within 2 months, and the fee for your member count. Send them to Division of Business and Charitable Organizations, 312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue, Nashville.