Citation withheld: this record does not yet carry a review status; and its provenance is an internal operational database, which is never published as an authority.
The values are corroborated across independent internal records. What is missing is the link to the agency's own published schedule, which is what promotion to verified requires.
Cost position
Ranked 5 of 51 on first-year state
filing cost, at $55.00 against a national median
of $175.00.
The recurring entity-tax minimum is not resolved for LLCs here, so no ongoing total is computed.
See the full ranking.
Where Kentucky sits among its neighbours in the first-year cost ranking (USD)Show all 51 jurisdictionsThe full ranking with Kentucky highlighted (USD)
Registered-agent statutes, quoted verbatim
The one section on this page that clears the publication gate in full. 3 citations, verified, quoted from the official code with every elision marked.
KRS 14A.4-010
◎Verified
Kentucky Business Entity Filing Act · applies to
corporations and LLCs
Kentucky Business Corporation Act · applies to
corporations
Registered office and registered agent -- Requirement for agent's written acceptance of appointment.Each corporation shall continuously maintain in this Commonwealth a registered office and a registered agent that comply with KRS 14A.4-010.
Kentucky Limited Liability Company Act · applies to
LLCs
Registered office -- Registered agent.Each domestic limited liability company shall continuously maintain in this Commonwealth a registered office and a registered agent that comply with KRS 14A.4-010.
If an entity has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the entity may be served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the entity at its principal office. Service is perfected on receipt, the return-receipt date, or 5 days after deposit in the U.S. mail, whichever is earliest.
No Court Access. A foreign entity transacting business in Kentucky without a certificate of authority (e.g. after revocation for failure to maintain an agent) may not maintain a proceeding in any Kentucky court until it obtains a certificate of authority.
Civil Penalty. A foreign entity transacting business without a certificate of authority is liable for a civil penalty of $2 for each day of unauthorized business.
Other. Revocation of a foreign entity's certificate of authority appoints the Secretary of State as the foreign entity's registered agent for proceedings on causes of action that arose while it was authorized.
Dollar amounts named in the registered-agent statutes
What
Amount
Status
Filing fee for a statement of change of registered office or registered agent, or both
$10
○Pending review
Agent's statement of change of registered office, per affected entity, capped at a total of $2,000
$10 (max $2,000)
○Pending review
Agent's statement of resignation
No fee
○Pending review
Reinstatement penalty following administrative dissolution
$100
○Pending review
Fee for each annual report (also the per-report fee for each delinquent report on reinstatement)
$15
○Pending review
Fee collected by the Secretary of State each time process is served on him or her under ch. 14A (recoverable as costs by a prevailing party)
$10
○Pending review
Civil penalty per day for a foreign entity transacting business without a certificate of authority
$2 per day
○Pending review
16 statutory citations and their supporting verbatim quotations sit behind this section in the record and are withheld from public display until the review pass lands, because a citation presented as authority is a verification claimed. Statutory references appearing inside the summaries above are part of the recorded text rather than an authority claim, and they are not rendered as citations, linked, or emitted in this page's structured data. How the gate works.
Governance rules
Kentucky corporate and LLC governance rules
Rule
Entity
Applies
Detail
Status
Organizational Meeting Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Annual Meeting Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Written Consent In Lieu Allowed
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Bylaws Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Operating Agreement Required
LLC
no
○Pending review
Annual Meeting Required
LLC
no
○Pending review
Written Consent In Lieu Allowed
LLC
yes
○Pending review
7 statutory citations and their supporting verbatim quotations sit behind this section in the record and are withheld from public display until the review pass lands, because a citation presented as authority is a verification claimed. Statutory references appearing inside the summaries above are part of the recorded text rather than an authority claim, and they are not rendered as citations, linked, or emitted in this page's structured data. How the gate works.
Renewal certificate filed with SOS within the 6 months before expiration, $20, renews for successive 5-year term. SOS does NOT send renewal reminders - registrant must diarize
Publication
Not required. None
Online filing
Available
The regime
Kentucky requires a certificate of assumed name before any individual, general partnership, limited partnership, business or statutory trust, corporation, LLC, limited cooperative association, or filed unincorporated nonprofit association transacts business under anything other than its statutorily defined 'real name.' Individuals file with the county clerk; all listed business organizations (including general partnerships) file with the Secretary of State, with a stamped copy then filed with the appropriate county clerk.
Where it is filed
Individuals file the certificate with the county clerk of the county of their principal place of business. Business organizations deliver the certificate to the Secretary of State with an exact or conformed copy, and a stamped 'filed' copy is then filed with the county clerk of the county of the registered agent (or principal office); if the entity maintains neither in Kentucky, the certificate is filed only with the Secretary of State.
Term and renewal
Five years from the date of filing.
Name restrictions
An assumed name filed with the Secretary of State must be distinguishable from every name already of record with the Secretary of State.
Assumed names for registered entities
Kentucky's Business Entity Filing Act supplies the foreign-entity name-conflict mechanism: a foreign entity whose real name does not satisfy KRS 14A.3-010 may adopt a fictitious name (or add an entity identifier) to qualify, and any entity transacting business under other than its real or duly adopted fictitious name must comply with the assumed-name statute, KRS 365.015.
Where do I file an assumed name (DBA) in Kentucky?
It depends on who is filing. An individual (sole proprietor) files the certificate of assumed name with the county clerk of the county of his or her principal place of business. General partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations, LLCs, trusts, and limited cooperative associations deliver the certificate to the Secretary of State, and a copy stamped 'filed' is then filed with the county clerk of the county where the entity maintains its registered agent or principal office (KRS 365.015(3)).
How long does a Kentucky assumed name last?
Five years from the date of filing. It may be renewed for successive five-year terms by filing a renewal certificate within the six months before the term expires, in the same manner as the original filing (KRS 365.015(4)).
Does filing a Kentucky assumed name protect the name from use by others?
No. KRS 365.015(7) states: 'The filing of a certificate of assumed name shall not automatically prevent the use of that name or protect that name from use by other persons.' A certificate filed with the Secretary of State must, however, be distinguishable from names already on the Secretary of State's records (KRS 365.015(2)(d)).
What does a Kentucky assumed-name filing cost?
The Secretary of State receives a fee of twenty dollars ($20) for filing each certificate, amendment, and renewal certificate; the county clerk receives a fee under the separate KRS 64.012 fee schedule (KRS 365.015(11)).
Recurring entity-level tax
The record does not resolve this for LLCs
○Pending review
What it is called
not captured
Administering agency
Kentucky Department of Revenue (filed with income tax returns: Forms 720/720S/725/765, Schedule LLET); SOS separately administers the KRS 136.060 one-time organization tax at incorporation.
Corporation minimum
not recorded separately
How it is computed
KRS 141.0401(2): annual LLET on EVERY corporation and EVERY limited liability pass-through entity (LLCs, LPs, LLPs with limited liability) doing business in Kentucky, for taxable years beginning on/after 1/1/2007. Tax = the GREATER of $175 or the amount under (2)(b); (2)(b) amount = the LESSER of (i) gross-receipts method: $0.095 per $100 of Kentucky gross receipts, or (ii) gross-profits method: $0.75 per $100 of Kentucky gross profits. Small-business relief under both methods: if gross receipts (or gross profits) from all sources are $3,000,000 or less, LLET = $175 flat; between $3M and $6M, phase-in reduction ($2,850 x (6M - KY gross receipts)/3M under the receipts method; $22,500 x (6M - KY gross profits)/3M under the profits method), never below $175; $6M or more, full rate. Affiliated groups test the $3M/$6M thresholds on group-wide totals. Minimum $175 due 'regardless of the application of any tax credits'. Statutory exemptions list in KRS 141.0401(6) (e.g., financial institutions, insurance companies - not fully extracted). Sole proprietorships and general partnerships without limited liability are NOT subject (not 'limited liability pass-through entities'). This is IN ADDITION TO the one-time KRS 136.060 organization tax at incorporation (see corp_formation.formula).
No per-state franchise-tax research document exists for this jurisdiction.
See the national picture.
Filing-office closures, 2026
Stored as a delta against the federal baseline:
5 days this state closes that the
federal government does not, and 2 federal
holidays its filing office works through.
These come from a research pass its own author graded CANDIDATES. They are shown because they are useful and withheld from every ranking on this site because they are not ratified.