Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Kentucky

Doing business in Kentucky from another state

If your LLC does business in Kentucky as Kentucky defines it, you register with the Kentucky Secretary of State, Division of Business Filings for $90.

Step 1: put these questions to Kentucky’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.

Kentucky’s sources do not name a statute on this page; start at the Kentucky filing page.

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Form FBE, Certificate of Authority (Foreign Business Entity)
Fee
$90
Paper from your home state
None for an LLC
Agent
A registered agent in Kentucky

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Kentucky (2026)

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

#ServiceService feeKentucky feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$90Year one included, then $149/yr
2KY Registered Agent.org$199$90Year one included, then $99/yr
3Kentucky Registered Agent.co$199$90Year one included, then $99/yr

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

Kentucky questions

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

When its activity in Kentucky meets Kentucky’s own definition of doing business. We do not paraphrase it; read it through the Kentucky filing page.

What does registering in Kentucky cost?

$90 to the Kentucky Secretary of State, Division of Business Filings.

What is required after registering?

Annual report (Kentucky Secretary of State), $15 (due: between January 1 and June 30 each year), and a registered agent in Kentucky.

Sources