Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Alabama

Doing business in Alabama from another state

If your LLC does business in Alabama as Alabama defines it, you register with the Alabama Secretary of State, Business Entities Division for $150.

Step 1: put these questions to Alabama’s law

  1. An employee or contractor works from the state. Ask whether the statute counts work done by people located in the state, and whether employees and independent contractors are treated alike.
  2. You sell to customers there but have no one on the ground. Ask whether the statute treats sales from outside the state differently from activity inside it.
  3. The LLC owns or leases property there. Ask whether owning or leasing real estate is listed as an activity that does, or does not, count.
  4. You open an office, shop or warehouse. Ask whether a fixed place of business is named in the statute. Settle the answer before you sign a lease.
  5. You hold meetings or keep a bank account there. Ask whether the statute lists these ancillary activities, and whether they count by themselves.

The law, as listed in the state’s own sources: Code of Alabama, section 10A-1-7.01.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Foreign Limited Liability Company (LLC) Application for Registration
Fee
$150
Paper from your home state
None for an LLC
Agent
A registered agent in Alabama

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Alabama (2026)

Step 3: if you would rather not file it yourself.

#ServiceService feeAlabama feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$150Year one included, then $149/yr
2AL Registered Agent.org$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr
3Alabama Registered Agent.co$199$150Year one included, then $99/yr

Mainstay Filing: Its Alabama checkout showed $383 in total on October 28, 2026, including $34 in state processing charges.

Service prices read from each provider’s Alabama page on October 28, 2026. The state fee is the official figure below and is paid to the Alabama Secretary of State, Business Entities Division.

Alabama questions

When does an LLC from another state have to register in Alabama?

When its activity in Alabama meets Alabama’s own definition of doing business. We do not paraphrase it; read it in the law linked below.

What does registering in Alabama cost?

$150 to the Alabama Secretary of State, Business Entities Division.

What is required after registering?

Business privilege tax return (Alabama Department of Revenue), no fee (due: same date as the federal return), and a registered agent in Alabama.

Sources