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How to Form an LLC in Alabama

Alabama charges $200 to form an LLC, filed with the Secretary of State, plus a name reservation you must obtain first. Two pieces of common Alabama advice are now wrong. Formation no longer goes through the county probate judge, a change Act 2020-73 made that the old probate-era form still circulating online hides, and the Business Privilege Tax no longer makes every small LLC pay a flat amount each year. There is also no annual report for an Alabama LLC.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

The Alabama filing steps

1. Check your name on the state's own search

   Search the Secretary of State's Business Entity Search, the Government Records Inquiry System, before you reserve, entering the name excluding entity designations and punctuation. An Alabama LLC name must contain the words "Limited Liability Company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or "LLC", under section 10A-1-5.06, and must be distinguishable, excluding entity designations, from existing names on the index. A search does not reserve the name, and in Alabama a reservation is not optional. You must obtain a Certificate of Name Reservation from the Secretary of State before filing your formation documents, and attach a copy to the Certificate of Formation. The reservation costs $25 by mail or $28 online.

2. Choose your registered agent

   Alabama calls this role the registered agent, with a registered office, and every filing entity must designate and continuously maintain both in this state under section 10A-1-5.31(a). The agent may be an individual who is a resident of Alabama, or a domestic entity or a foreign entity registered to transact business in Alabama, and must maintain a business office at the same address as the entity's registered office. The registered office must be a street address in Alabama where process may be personally served, no P.O. boxes, and the formation form asks for the county of that address, because the Secretary of State pays $100 of your $200 filing fee to the county treasurer of that county. Changing the agent or office takes the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity filing with the Secretary of State under section 10A-1-5.32, for $100, with the new agent's signed consent to appointment on the form. An agent resignation carries no fee.

3. File the Certificate of Formation with the Secretary of State

   File the Domestic Limited Liability Company Certificate of Formation with the Office of the Secretary of State, by mail or online through the Secretary of State's online services. The fee is $200, payable to the Secretary of State. File there, not with the county probate judge. Before January 1, 2021 the certificate went to the judge of probate, but Act 2020-73 changed section 10A-5A-2.01(e) to read that a certificate of formation shall be delivered for filing to the Secretary of State, and the current form, revised 10/2022, is a Secretary of State form. The old probate-era form, revised 3/2015, is still sitting on the Secretary of State website, so check the revision date on any form you download. The $200 is the whole state formation fee: the Secretary of State, not the filer, pays $100 of it to the county treasurer of the county of the initial registered agent, and section 10A-1-4.31(e)(1) states that payment is the entire fee due to that county for the formation. There is no separate probate fee on top. The certificate states the LLC name, the street address, including the county, of the registered office, the name of the registered agent, and a statement that there is at least one member, and a copy of the Name Reservation Certificate must be attached. The LLC is formed when the certificate becomes effective, immediately or at a delayed date no later than the 90th day after signing.

4. Get an EIN from the IRS

   Free, online, and takes minutes once your Alabama filing is approved. Never pay a service for this. See EIN for an LLC for the walkthrough and the one IRS rule (a real person as responsible party) that surprises people.

5. Write your operating agreement

   Alabama's statutory term is the limited liability company agreement, and the definition in section 10A-5A-1.02 expressly includes agreements whether referred to as a limited liability company agreement, operating agreement, or otherwise, written, oral, or implied. Under section 10A-5A-1.08(a), the agreement governs relations among the members and between the members and the LLC, and to the extent the agreement does not provide for a matter, Chapter 5A governs it by default. Section 10A-5A-2.01(d) adds that the agreement must be entered into before, after, or at the time of filing the Certificate of Formation. It is not filed with the Secretary of State.

6. Open the business bank account and handle licenses

   Bring your approved formation document and EIN letter. Then check your city and county for a general business license and your industry for state permits. Alabama has no single statewide general business license for LLCs. The recurring local item is the state and county business privilege license under Title 40, Chapter 12, which is required only for certain businesses, professions, or occupations listed there, not for all businesses. It is purchased from the local county license authority where the business is located, and that office varies by county: it may be the probate judge, the revenue commissioner, or the license commissioner. Those licenses expire September 30 and are renewed annually, and municipal licenses are separate and local. Industry-specific state boards license regulated activities separately.

Filing details that trip people up

• Do not file your formation with the probate judge, and do not pay a probate fee on top of the $200. That mechanic was repealed for LLCs by Act 2020-73, effective January 1, 2021. The current Certificate of Formation, revised 10/2022, is delivered to the Secretary of State for a single $200 fee, and the Secretary of State pays $100 of it to the county treasurer. The superseded probate-era form, revised 3/2015, still circulates on the Secretary of State website and instructs filers to contact the probate office for county fees. It is describing a repealed system.
• A name reservation is required before you file, not an optional extra. The Secretary of State's LLC page states you must obtain a Certificate of Name Reservation prior to filing your formation documents, and item 2 of the formation form requires a copy to be attached. Budget $25 by mail or $28 online for it, which is why the all-in cost on the cost page is $225 by mail or $228 online, not the bare $200 filing fee.
• There is no annual report for an Alabama LLC, and the Business Privilege Tax is not a flat yearly charge. The old combined filing, a Business Privilege Tax return captioned as an annual report, ended on January 1, 2024. The Department of Revenue's notice states the Secretary of State now processes annual reports itself, that for-profit corporations are the only entities required to file one, and that annual reports from other entities will not be accepted. The Business Privilege Tax itself is computed, and under Act 2022-252 an LLC whose computed tax is $100 or less is fully exempt and files no return at all. The report page works through the rates.
• There is no DBA or assumed-name registration in Alabama. The Secretary of State's Business Downloads page, the complete form list for entities, contains no DBA, assumed-name, or fictitious-name registration form for a domestic business, and no county DBA filing is offered by any state source either. What Alabama does offer is trade name registration as a mark, run by the Secretary of State's trademarks side rather than Business Entities, for $30 for a five-year term. That registration is optional, it is not a precondition to doing business under a name, and rights in a name come from adoption and use under common law, not from registration. Our DBA guide covers the distinction.
• Foreign LLCs pay $150 in Alabama, and no home-state certificate is attached. Registering an out-of-state LLC takes the Foreign Limited Liability Company Application for Registration with the Secretary of State for $150, and a Certificate of Name Reservation is required first, with a copy attached, just as for a domestic filing. The application does not require a home-state certificate of existence: item 8 of the form is a self-certification, signed by the applicant, that the foreign entity exists as a valid limited liability company under the laws of its jurisdiction of formation. File late and the fee schedule adds a late filing penalty of $150 per year, and an unregistered foreign entity may not maintain any action, suit, or proceeding in an Alabama court until it registers, under section 10A-1-7.21(a).

After your Alabama LLC is approved

Get the EIN, open the business bank account, and handle the Department of Revenue items your LLC triggers. For the Business Privilege Tax, an initial return, Form BPT-IN, is due within two and one-half months after the LLC organizes, qualifies, or starts doing business in Alabama, and only if the computed tax exceeds $100. After that, a calendar-year LLC taxed as a partnership files Form PPT by March 15, again only when the computed tax exceeds $100, and a partnership-taxed LLC files Alabama Form 65 for pass-through income tax. There is no annual report to calendar. What you calendar instead is the tax computation each year, and agent upkeep: keep the registered agent and office current, because Alabama law requires both to be maintained continuously, and a change filing costs $100.

The full recurring picture for Alabama, with fees and due dates, is on the Alabama annual report and compliance page, and the money view is on the Alabama LLC cost page.

Alabama LLC questions