Arkansas LLC Annual Report and the $150 Franchise Tax, Counted to the Day
The Arkansas LLC annual report goes by another name, the Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report: one Secretary of State filing that carries a flat $150 franchise tax, due by May 1 and covering the calendar year just ended. Enter the year the LLC was formed, the last report paid and a payment date to see each report owed, with penalty and interest counted to that day.
Franchise tax owed by your Arkansas LLC
Arkansas Secretary of State Annual Report Forms for LLCs, LPs and Corporations
- Secretary of State website menu
- “Franchise Tax / Annual Report Forms”
- Filing site
- State Franchise Tax and Annual Report Filing System
- Title of the 2026 form
- Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report
For an LLC, all three point to one filing with one payment: the annual franchise tax of the Arkansas Corporate Franchise Tax Act of 1979 (Ark. Code § 26‑54‑101 and following). The tax goes in with the report, under § 26‑54‑105(c), and a professional LLC or a foreign LLC holding an Arkansas registration uses the same LLC form.
A corporation files its own franchise tax report, priced differently. An Arkansas annual report in the strict sense is what a limited partnership, a limited liability partnership or a limited liability limited partnership (LLLP) files, from a separate menu of the Business and Commercial Services Division (BCS).
Filing on sos-franchise.ark.org, One Tab at a Time
- To file franchise taxes online, open the State Franchise Tax and Annual Report Filing System and enter the file number printed above the company name on the tax report. Without the report at hand, the Arkansas business entity search shows it.
- Enter the Federal Tax ID. For a first report, or with no EIN on file, the portal asks for nine zeros (000000000).
- Choose “Show Available Filings” and open the LLC franchise tax report for the year due.
- Check the tax contact, the registered agent, the principal office in Arkansas and the member or manager names, then sign as a member, a manager or the tax preparer.
- Pay by card or electronic check; the portal adds its own processing fee to the $150.
The portal warns that using several tabs or windows can cause errors. At checkout it also offers a Change Monitoring Service, an optional email alert on record changes run by NIC Arkansas rather than the state, and the report is complete without it.
By mail, the form signed in black ink and a check payable to the Arkansas Secretary of State go to Business and Commercial Services, P.O. Box 8014, Little Rock, AR 72203‑8014, with no processing fee. A new name or a merger needs its own filing, since notes written on the report are not acted on.
How the $25 Penalty and the Daily Interest Are Counted
One $25 penalty applies however late the report is (Ark. Code § 26‑54‑107), and interest runs at 10% a year on the tax and penalty. The form turns that rate into 0.000274 a day, about 4.8 cents a day on a late LLC report.
- A. Original tax owed (due May 1, 2026)
- $150.00
- B. Late filing penalty
- $25.00
- C. Tax and penalty
- $175.00
- D. Interest: $175 × 0.000274 × 152 days
- $7.29
- E. Total paid on September 30, 2026
- $182.29
- Lines A to E follow the calculation printed on the 2026 form.
The same section caps tax, penalty and interest for one tax year at twice the tax owed, which is $300 for an LLC. At 4.8 cents a day, interest reaches that ceiling after about seven years and two months.
The Secretary of State may waive the penalty and interest for a company that was reasonably mistaken about the law, or one that is insolvent or bankrupt. It must waive them for a company that shows it did no business in Arkansas during the period and intends to dissolve, under § 26‑54‑107(d).
November 1 Notice, December 31 Revocation, January 31 Proclamation
An unpaid report leads to revocation by the end of the year it was due:
- May 1The report and $150 are due. The $25 penalty applies from May 2, or after the next business day when May 1 is a weekend day; interest runs from May 1.
- By November 1The Secretary of State mails notice that the company is subject to revocation (§ 26‑54‑107(b)(2)).
- After December 31Businesses that have not paid that year’s tax enter revoked status, as the office’s year-end notice puts it.
- By January 31The yearly proclamation revokes the charters of delinquent companies, domestic and foreign (§ 26‑54‑111).
Tax left unpaid for three years also follows the people behind the LLC. Under § 26‑54‑114, a present or past member or manager of a company that owes it cannot form a new entity in Arkansas or register one from another state, while an organizer who only signed the formation papers is not covered.
May 1 Falls on a Saturday in 2027
Ark. Code § 26‑18‑105(b) treats an act required by a state tax law as timely on the next business day when the last day “falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday”, and the franchise tax form cites that section. The Secretary of State applied it in years when May 1 was a Sunday, announcing May 2 deadlines in 2016 and 2022.
In 2027, a report and payment made on Monday, May 3, are on time under that rule, and the calculator treats them that way. The Secretary of State’s spring bulletin is where the 2027 date is announced.
On paper, the report counts as filed on the date of the U.S. Postal Service postmark, or when the office receives it before close of business. A postage meter date does not count, and there is no extension to request.
No Franchise Tax in the Formation Year
Under § 26‑54‑105(d)(2), the first report waits for the following calendar year, counted from formation, or from Arkansas registration for a foreign LLC. An LLC formed on August 14, 2026 files its first report and pays $150 by May 3, 2027, for tax year 2026.
Paper forms go to the tax contact on file; a company with no form by March 20 must ask for one in writing.
Bringing Back a Revoked Arkansas LLC Within Five Years
Under § 26‑54‑112, a revoked company regains its rights, powers and property, as of the date it was revoked, once it files every delinquent report and pays the tax, penalty and interest for each year. The calculator above adds up that bill and shows the five-year date.
The same section closes the door five years after the revocation when the company was revoked by proclamation and its charter was also forfeited. Close to that mark, BCS takes calls at 888‑233‑0325.
December 31 Decides Whether a Closing LLC Owes Another $150
At dissolution, an LLC pays the tax for the prior calendar year and the $150 minimum for the year in which it dissolves (§ 26‑54‑105(d)(1)). The office’s year-end notice sets December 31 as the cutoff, by filing or postmark, to keep the next year’s tax from accruing; a Statement of Dissolution costs $50.
A Statement of Dissolution postmarked December 30, 2026 closes the LLC with tax year 2026 to pay, plus 2025 if the May 1, 2026 report is still unpaid. Postmarked January 4, 2027, it adds tax year 2027.