Most Texas LLCs owe no franchise tax at all. That is exactly why so many owners get burned: they hear "no tax due," assume there is nothing to file, and skip a report that has nothing to do with how much tax they owe. Here is what the Comptroller actually publishes, in plain words.
Start here
Texas has no personal income tax. The state prohibited one by constitutional amendment in 2019. What Texas does have, for entities like LLCs and corporations, is the franchise tax. And attached to it is a separate, much simpler filing called the Public Information Report.
They are not the same thing. Owners who confuse them are the ones who end up with penalties, and in the worst cases, a personal liability problem they did not know existed.
The number that changed this year
If your annualized total revenue is at or below the threshold, you owe no franchise tax. The threshold is indexed for inflation every two years, so it moves:
| Report years | No-tax-due threshold |
|---|---|
| 2024 and 2025 | $2,470,000 |
| 2026 and 2027 | $2,650,000 |
A lot of articles still quote the older $2,470,000 figure. If you are reading something about the current cycle and it says $2.47 million, it is a cycle behind.
And here is the part that surprises people: the No Tax Due Report itself no longer exists. For report year 2024 and later, the Comptroller discontinued it. The form is not available for new reporting periods. If you are under the threshold, you file no franchise tax report at all.
Which sounds like great news, and is, right up until it convinces someone that they have nothing to file. They do.
The filing that still applies
The Comptroller states it directly: the PIR or OIR is due even if the entity does not have to file a franchise tax report because its revenue is at or below the no-tax-due threshold.
That last point is why this trips up so many owners. People who have run businesses in other states go looking for an "annual report," do not find one, and conclude Texas does not require anything. Texas does. It is just attached to the franchise tax system instead of the Secretary of State.
Why it actually matters
Filing late carries a $50 penalty, and that applies even when you owe zero tax. Tax paid one to thirty days late adds 5%, and over thirty days adds 10%, with interest starting on the 61st day. Annoying, but survivable.
The part worth understanding is what happens if it stays unresolved. Under the Texas Tax Code, an entity that does not satisfy its franchise tax obligations can have its corporate privileges forfeited. Section 171.252 provides that a forfeited entity is denied the right to sue or defend in a Texas court. Section 171.255 goes further: each director and officer can be held liable for debts created after the report due date, in the same manner and to the same extent as if the entity were a partnership and they were partners.
Nobody sets out to skip a one-page form. It happens because the year got busy, or because "no tax due" sounded like "nothing to do." That is a bookkeeping and calendar problem, which is a solvable kind of problem.
The other Texas question
Texas sales tax runs 6.25% at the state level, plus up to 2% local, for a maximum combined 8.25%. You generally need a permit if you sell tangible personal property in Texas or sell a taxable service. The permit itself is free.
Services in Texas are generally not taxable unless they appear on a specific list in the Tax Code. That list includes things like data processing, information services, security services, and real property services such as landscaping and janitorial work. If you are in one of those categories, this matters to you a great deal.
Bookkeeping itself is not on the taxable list, and the Comptroller addresses this directly. Its published guidance states that a bookkeeper is not performing taxable data processing services when applying knowledge of principles to produce financial reports such as income statements, balance sheets, or profit and loss statements, even when that work is done on a computer.
What is treated as taxable data processing includes payroll processing, accounts payable and receivable billing, data entry, and document scanning. That distinction is one reason we deliberately do not offer payroll or bill-paying services. We keep the work squarely on the nontaxable side of the line, which keeps your invoice simple and your exposure clean.
Where we fit
To be clear about our lane: we do not prepare or file franchise tax reports, and we do not give tax advice. Your CPA handles the filings. What every one of those filings depends on is a set of books that are accurate, reconciled, and closed on time, because the revenue figure that determines your threshold comes straight out of them.
Clean books make May 15 a non-event. Messy books make it a scramble, and scrambles are where deadlines get missed. If yours are behind, our flat-price cleanup gets you current, and a monthly plan keeps you there.
The Relief Pros, LLC is a bookkeeping firm. We are not a CPA firm or a law firm, and nothing on this page is tax or legal advice for your situation. Everything above is general information published by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Texas Legislature, current as of July 31, 2026. Rules and figures change, and the franchise tax threshold in particular is re-indexed every two years, so confirm current requirements with the Comptroller at comptroller.texas.gov and with your CPA before acting. Whether any specific filing or tax applies to your business is a question for your CPA.
Email or call. We reply within one business day, no pitch, no pressure. If we're a fit, your books can be current in about two weeks.