Tennessee Form SS-4233, item by item

The statute has the application give the name of the foreign LLC; the jurisdiction under whose law it was formed and the date it was formed; the street address of its registered office in Tennessee and the name of its registered agent there; the street address of its principal executive office; the obligated-member information where that rule applies; and the number of members when there are more than six. The form expands those points into 18 numbered items.

The form asks whether the company has a professional LLC or litigation-financier designation, whether it is a series LLC, and which month its fiscal year ends. The fiscal year month matters later, because it fixes the annual report due date, which is the first day of the fourth month after fiscal year end (April 1 for a calendar year).

The company gives a business email address, which is where every reminder from the state goes, and the nature of its business.

The principal office, any other provisions and the registered agent follow. The agent's address has to be a physical Tennessee street address; a post office box, route number or box number alone is rejected. The agent section is where the form ends and the signature begins.

The certificate has to be a certificate of existence, or a document of similar import, authenticated by the Secretary of State or other official who keeps the LLC records where the company was formed, dated no more than two months before the filing. We time the request so the date still fits on filing day.

The Secretary of State lists these as reasons: 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. We check each before filing.