Arkansas Business Entity Search: The $150 Franchise Tax Explained

Arkansas doesn't charge an annual report fee. It charges a franchise tax instead, and the statute that sets it, Ark. Code Ann. §26-54-104, never mentions a $150 fee. It sets a rate — 0.3% of the Arkansas share of a corporation's outstanding capital stock — and then says no corporation shall pay less than $150. Every LLC is told to pay "the minimum franchise tax." $150 is the floor of a calculated tax, not the price of a filing.

Here's the catch: the calculation behind that floor is confidential. The Secretary of State's entity search shows standing, registered agent and officers. It does not show the Arkansas property ratio that drives a corporation's bill, or what was paid. For an LLC the amount is knowable — $150, by law. For a stock corporation, nobody outside the company can confirm it from the public record.

This guide covers what the free search shows, how the tax is computed, what happens after a missed May 1, and — with named illustrative companies — what the record proves for KYB.

1. What the Arkansas Business Entity Search Actually Covers

Arkansas's business filings run through the Secretary of State's Business and Commercial Services (BCS) division. The search portal is free, needs no account, and its entity-type filter lists more than 30 categories — LLCs and corporations, but also banks, insurers, cooperatives, series LLCs and protected series (checked 6 October 2026).

You can search by entity name, fictitious name, registered agent, the agent's city and state, or filing number. The page also links to certificates of good standing and a bulk data download. The portal sits behind a human-verification check, so scripted lookups fail; bulk work belongs on the bulk-data route.

An Arkansas corporation search and an Arkansas LLC search are the same query on the same portal, narrowed by the entity-type filter. That is where the similarity ends — the two are taxed under different rules, and the record looks identical either way.

2. Arkansas Franchise Tax: One Floor, Three Meanings

The Arkansas Corporate Franchise Tax Act of 1979 (§26-54-101 et seq.) applies to every "corporation," a term Act 459 of 2023 redefined to include LLCs, domestic and foreign, active and inactive. Exempt: nonprofit corporations, organizations exempt from federal income tax, and partnerships under the Uniform Partnership and Uniform Limited Partnership Acts.

The $150 appears in the statute as a minimum. What it means depends on the entity type.

Entity type (§26-54-104)	How the tax is set	2026 amount
LLC (Uniform LLC Act, §4-38)	Pegged by statute to "the minimum franchise tax"	$150, flat
Corporation or bank with stock	0.3% of Arkansas-apportioned par value of outstanding stock	Greater of formula or $150
Corporation in liquidation	Lesser of the stock formula or 0.3% of Arkansas property	Minimum $150
Corporation without authorized stock	Flat	$300
Mortgage loan corporation	0.3% of stock, apportioned by Arkansas loans	Minimum $300
Insurance company	By capital stock or assets	$300 or $400

For an LLC, $150 is a floor that has become a fixed price — the 2026 LLC form says "All limited liability companies pay $150.00." For a stock corporation, $150 is where the formula stops falling.

3. How the Corporate Formula Works, Step by Step

The 2026 corporation report form (Corp1_FT_2026) walks through the statute in three steps:

1. Arkansas ratio. Arkansas real and personal property ÷ total real and personal property, both taken from the balance sheet.
2. Arkansas capital stock. That percentage × the par value of issued and outstanding stock (line 7d of the form).
3. Tax. Arkansas capital stock × 0.003. If the result is under $150, pay $150.

The break-even point follows directly: $150 ÷ 0.003 = $50,000 of Arkansas-apportioned par value. Below that, every corporation pays $150; above it, $3 per $1,000 of apportioned stock, with no ceiling.

Two inputs move the number more than filers expect. First, no-par stock is deemed worth $25 a share: 1,000,000 no-par shares carry $25,000,000 of deemed par value — a $75,000 tax at 100% Arkansas apportionment. Second, the ratio uses property, not revenue: an Arkansas warehouse raises the bill, Arkansas sales do not.

Online payment adds a layer. Act 459 of 2023 set an electronic processing fee of $4 where the filing fee is $50 or less, $5 between $51 and $167, and 3% above $167: a $150 LLC payment costs $155 online; a $3,000 corporate bill costs $90 more. Mailed filings carry no processing fee.

4. Why the Floor Exists — and Where the Money Goes

Arkansas's franchise tax dates to Act 443 of 1907, which charged $10 to $100 by authorized stock. A 2018 analysis for the legislature's Tax Reform and Relief Task Force traces the rate from 0.05% in 1911 to 0.27% in 1987, and the minimum from $17 in 1983 to $50 in 1987. Act 94 of 2003 (2nd Ex. Sess.) set today's 0.3% and $150 — and removed the $1,075,000 maximum.

The floor survives because of where the money goes. Under §26-54-113(b), the first $8,000,000 a year goes to general revenue and the rest to the Educational Adequacy Trust Fund, which supports the constitutional adequacy duty affirmed in Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee (2002). Repeal is a school-funding question. The latest attempt, HB1750 of 2025, died in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on 5 May 2025.

Collections rose 58% between FY2020 ($24.8M) and FY2025 ($39.1M) with no change in rates — the base grew, not the rate.

5. May 1, November 1, January 31: What Non-Payment Looks Like

Reports cover the calendar year ending 31 December and are due on or before May 1; Acts 1046 and 1140 of 1991 eliminated extensions. Timely means received by close of business or USPS-postmarked by midnight — postage-meter dates don't count.

• May 2: §26-54-107 adds a $25 penalty plus 10% a year interest on tax and penalty — (tax + $25) × 0.000274 × days late — capped at twice the tax for any tax year.
• November 1: the Secretary of State mails notice that the entity is subject to revocation.
• January 31: the Secretary of State proclaims revoked every domestic and foreign entity still delinquent for a prior year (§26-54-111).
• After revocation: tax keeps accruing until the entity is dissolved, withdrawn or merged.

The per-year cap rarely binds for an LLC: the $175 tax-plus-penalty takes about 2,607 days to reach $300. What grows is the stack of years — $1,108.61 by the end of 2030, against $750 paid on time.

Reinstatement under §26-54-112 requires every delinquent report and all tax and penalties, and is retroactive to the revocation date. Act 459 of 2023 cut the window from seven years to five for a revoked, forfeited charter. Penalties and interest can be waived for a reasonable mistake about the computation, or insolvency (§26-54-107(d)).

The sharpest consequence sits in §26-54-114. An entity owing past-due franchise tax cannot file documents, create a new Arkansas entity or obtain authority to do business — and neither can any present or past officer, director, member or manager. Incorporators and organizers are carved out. A delinquent franchise tax is a signal about the people, not just the company.

6. Edge Cases: Foreign Entities, Nonprofits, Series LLCs

Foreign entities pay the same franchise tax and are revoked under the same proclamation. Entry costs more: $270 online or $300 on paper for a foreign LLC, $300 for a foreign corporation's certificate of authority. Transacting business without authority carries a $100–$5,000 civil penalty, per the BCS FAQ.

Nonprofit corporations are outside the franchise tax. They file a free annual report due August 1 under Act 569 of 2007 — a May 1 check tells you nothing about them.

Protected series appear as their own entity types in the search. A $50 Protected Series Designation (Uniform Protected Series Act, Act 665 of 2019) includes its own franchise tax contact sheet; the series receives its own report, due May 1 after formation.

Dissolving does not skip the year: a Final Franchise Tax Report ($150 for LLCs, minimum $150 for corporations) accompanies the dissolution.

Filing (Arkansas BCS, 2026)	Online	Paper
Domestic LLC certificate of organization (LL-01)	$45	$50
Domestic articles of incorporation (DN-01)	$45	$50
Foreign LLC certificate of registration (FL-01)	$270	$300
Foreign corporation certificate of authority	$300	$300
LLC amendment (LL-02)	$22.50	$25
Annual franchise tax — LLC	$150 + $5 processing	$150
Change of registered agent (DO-03)	No fee	No fee

Sources: Arkansas Secretary of State LLC, foreign LLC and corporation forms & fees pages and Corporate Fee Schedule Rev. 1/25, checked 6 October 2026.

7. How to Run an Arkansas Business Search, Step by Step

1. Open the Secretary of State's corporation search (sos-corp-search.ark.org). No login; expect a human-verification check.
2. Set the entity type if you know it — "Domestic Limited Liability Company" for an Arkansas LLC lookup, "Foreign For Profit Corporation" for an out-of-state company.
3. Search by name or filing number. The filing number is the stable identifier; for a trade name, use the fictitious-name field.
4. Open the record and read status, entity type, date filed, principal address, registered agent and officers.
5. Read status as a franchise tax signal. The BCS FAQ names unpaid franchise tax as the most common cause of revocation.
6. Cross-check the officers against the people you are dealing with. They are self-reported by the entity, not verified by the state.
7. Order a certificate of good standing when a lender needs a dated document.

For how Arkansas fits the wider pattern of state registers, see the Secretary of State business entity search overview.

8. Worked Example: One LLC, One Corporation

Two named illustrative companies — "Ozark Trail Outfitters LLC", a Fayetteville-area outdoor retailer, and its supplier "Ouachita Timber Supply, Inc." Both are illustrative, not real, currently registered companies.

Step 1 — the LLC. A wholesaler extending credit searches "Ozark Trail Outfitters" filtered to domestic LLCs. One match: good standing, a Fayetteville registered agent, a manager listed as officer. The tax question is closed — $150 by statute — and good standing confirms the May 1 payment.

Step 2 — the corporation. Ouachita Timber Supply, Inc. has 100,000 issued shares at $1 par: $100,000 of outstanding stock. Its balance sheet puts $2,400,000 of property in Arkansas out of $6,000,000 in total — a 40% ratio. Arkansas capital stock is $40,000; at 0.3% that is $120, so it pays the $150 floor.

Step 3 — what the public can see. Under §26-54-105(h), outstanding stock with par value is public; the property ratio is not. A reviewer can compute only a ceiling: $100,000 × 0.003 = $300. The true figure sits between $150 and $300.

Step 4 — the no-par trap. Had Ouachita issued 10,000 no-par shares, the form deems them $25 each: $250,000. At the same 40% ratio the tax is $300. Same company, same assets, two different bills.

Step 5 — ownership. The LLC shows a manager; the corporation shows a president and secretary. Neither shows equity holders.

9. What the Record Proves — and What It Doesn't — for KYB

Arkansas's register proves existence, standing, an agent for service of process and named office-holders. Act 459 of 2023 limited what a franchise tax report makes public to five items: name and address, the principal officers, authorized stock with par value, outstanding stock with par value, and state of incorporation. LLC member names stay confidential unless the member is a designated manager or officer, or the LLC has no registered agent.

Question	Answered by the Arkansas record?
Does the entity exist, and since when?	Yes — filing number, type, date filed
Is franchise tax current?	Indirectly — via good standing vs. revoked
How much tax did a corporation pay?	No — property ratio is confidential; only a ceiling is computable
Who manages it?	Partly — officers and designated managers
Who owns it, and how much?	No — shareholders and non-manager members are not public
Is it barred from new filings?	Not shown — §26-54-114 bars are enforced at filing

A manager is not an owner. A good-standing LLC can be controlled by someone the record never names, and the officer list is self-reported. For KYB and supplier onboarding, the Arkansas lookup starts an ownership check rather than ending one — see UBO vs. PSC vs. shareholders.

The gap widens with subsidiaries: a foreign LLC registered in Little Rock is often owned from Delaware or Texas, and further up from abroad. Zephira's ownership data covers 640M companies across 220 countries and territories (zephira.ai/coverage, Q3 2026), so the chain behind an Arkansas record can be followed past the state line in one lookup instead of register by register. Standing also changes on fixed dates — good standing on 30 April can be delinquent on 2 May — which is the case for ongoing company monitoring over a one-off check.

10. Arkansas vs. Its Covered Neighbours

Arkansas's neighbours took opposite paths. Oklahoma repealed its corporate franchise tax from tax year 2024 (HB 1039 of 2023) and charges LLCs a flat $25 annual certificate. Texas taxes revenue, but owes nothing below a $2.65M no-tax-due threshold for 2026 reports. Tennessee stacks a Secretary of State annual report on top of a net-worth franchise tax.

State	Recurring LLC obligation	Fixed or floor?	Corporations
Arkansas	$150 franchise tax, May 1	Fixed for LLCs	0.3% of apportioned stock, $150 floor
Oklahoma	$25 annual certificate, anniversary date	Fixed	Franchise tax repealed from tax year 2024
Texas	Franchise tax report or PIR, May 15	$0 below $2.65M revenue	Same margin tax; 0.75% (0.375% retail/wholesale)
Tennessee	Annual report $300–$3,000 + franchise tax	Floors: $300 and $100	$20 annual report; franchise tax 0.25% of net worth, $100 minimum

The comparison reverses the usual intuition: for LLCs, Arkansas is the fixed number and Tennessee is the floor, adding $50 per member beyond six, up to $3,000, per the Tennessee Secretary of State.

11. Verification Checklist for an Arkansas Entity

1. Match on filing number, not name (why registry identifiers beat fuzzy matching).
2. Confirm the entity type — it decides which tax rule applies.
3. Check status after May 1. A check run in April reflects last year's payment.
4. If revoked, ask for the reinstatement plan and confirm it is within five years of revocation.
5. For corporations, compute the ceiling from public outstanding stock at 0.3%, remembering no-par shares count at $25.
6. Treat officers as contacts, not owners. Verify ownership independently.
7. For foreign registrants, check the home state — Arkansas standing says nothing about standing where the entity was formed.
8. Record the date of the check. Arkansas standing changes on fixed dates — May 2 and January 31 — and registry data freshness varies.

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