Arkansas LLC Annual Report: Due Date, Fee and Late Penalty

Arkansas LLC annual franchise tax report rules at a glance

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Deadlines, penalties and dissolution rules are Arkansas's, read from its statutes and the pages of the Arkansas Secretary of State; the statutes are cited in the text.

How Arkansas's annual franchise tax report works

Arkansas does not call it an annual report. The yearly filing is the Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report, filed with the Secretary of State, and the $150 is a franchise tax rather than a filing fee, which is why the Secretary of State's franchise tax portal is separate from its other business filings. The report is due May 1 every year and the state accepts it from January 1.

The report itself is short: it confirms the registered agent and office, the principal address, and the names and addresses of the managers or members, and it must be signed by a member or manager. The $150 is flat for an LLC whatever its size, unlike the corporation version, which runs on outstanding stock.

Arkansas prices lateness as a formula, not a flat fee: a $25 penalty plus 10% a year interest on the tax and the penalty, running from May 1 until paid (A.C.A. 26-54-107). A report a few months late costs a few dollars of interest on top of the $25; one left for years costs noticeably more.

Who files it and what the form asks

Every Arkansas LLC on the state's active record owes the annual franchise tax report for each report year, whether or not it did any business; an LLC that has stopped trading still owes it until it files articles of dissolution. A member, manager or someone they authorize signs it, and in practice the owner, the registered agent or the company's accountant files it.

The form confirms what the state already holds: the principal office and mailing address, the registered agent and registered office, and the people who run the LLC, with the Arkansas-specific fields described above. What matters is that anything that changed during the year is corrected here, because the state sends its notices, including the next year's reminder, to the addresses on the report.

Changing the registered agent is best treated as a separate filing in Arkansas: the annual franchise tax report confirms the agent on record, and the state's statement of change names the new one. Owners who switch agents usually file the change first so the report shows the right agent. We can make the switch for you, and the Arkansas registered agent rules cover who may serve. Every state's change form and fee is in how to change a registered agent.

When the Arkansas annual franchise tax report is due

Arkansas uses one date for every LLC: May 1, every year. The state starts accepting the report on January 1, so the filing window runs from then to the due date, and filing in the first weeks of it is the simplest way never to meet the penalty.

There is no grace period: the day after the due date the report is late. Arkansas keeps accepting that year's report through December 31 of the report year; after that the consequences below take over.

Your first annual franchise tax report

The first annual franchise tax report is due May 1 of the year after the LLC was formed: formed any time in 2026, first report by May 1, 2027. Nothing is owed in the formation year itself.

The state fee and the late penalty

The state fee is $150 a year. It is set by Arkansas and published on the state's own schedule; anyone who files for you pays the same amount to the state, and the state fee is shown separately wherever the filing is sold.

Arkansas adds a $25 penalty plus 10% a year interest on the $150 franchise tax.

If you missed the Arkansas annual franchise tax report

Every January the Secretary of State revokes the charter of every entity that still owes a prior year's franchise tax (A.C.A. 26-54-111), so a May 1 miss turns into a revoked LLC by the end of the following January. There is no separate reinstatement fee: the LLC files every missed franchise tax report and pays each year's $150 with its $25 penalty and the interest, and reinstatement is barred after five years. One missed year typically costs about $175 in state charges plus a little interest.

The ladder is the same everywhere: a late fee where the state has one, then loss of good standing (which blocks a certificate of good standing and the loans, contracts and registrations that need one), then administrative dissolution or revocation, then reinstatement. Our guide to reinstating a dissolved LLC walks through the steps and the state fees in every state, and we file reinstatements. Until the LLC is dissolved, the cheapest fix is almost always to file the report now.

Before you file the Arkansas annual franchise tax report

The filing itself takes minutes once the details are to hand; most of the time lost on an annual franchise tax report is spent hunting for them. Have ready:

• The LLC's Arkansas file or entity number, as it appears on the articles or on the Arkansas Secretary of State business search; no account is needed on the state's portal.
• The registered agent's current name and Arkansas street address; if the agent has changed, file the change first.
• The principal office and mailing address as they should read for the coming year.
• The names and addresses the Arkansas form asks for (above), spelled as the state has them.
• A card for the $150 state fee.
• The signer's name and capacity: member, manager or authorized person.

Save the state's confirmation when it arrives. It is the proof of filing a bank, a lender or a buyer will ask for, and the date on it is the date the state goes by.

How Arkansas compares with its neighbors

Arkansas's annual franchise tax report is due May 1, with a state fee of $150. Next door:

• Missouri: no LLC annual report at all.
• Tennessee: an annual report due the first day of the fourth month after the fiscal year end (April 1 for a calendar year) (fee varies, no late fee).
• Mississippi: an annual report due April 15 (no fee, no late fee).
• Louisiana: an annual report due the anniversary date of formation ($35 state fee, no late fee).
• Texas: a franchise tax report due May 15 (no fee, no late fee).
• Oklahoma: an annual certificate due the anniversary date of formation ($25 state fee, no late fee).

An LLC registered to do business in more than one of these states owes each state's report on each state's calendar; the formation state's filing never covers a foreign registration, and the due dates rarely line up.