Form a Texas LLC from Georgia: Complete 2026 Guide

Start with the numbers. A Texas LLC costs $300 to file (or $300 online), and the recurring state cost is $0 franchise tax for LLCs with revenue below the no-tax-due threshold ($2.65 million for the 2026-27 report years), but a Public Information Report (PIR) must still be filed every year by May 15 regardless of revenue — a full franchise tax return is only required above the threshold. State tax treatment: no personal or corporate state income tax. Privacy treatment: Texas requires a public information report but does not always require individual member names to be listed depending on management structure. For a founder in Georgia the practical reading is that Texas is the state with the highest upfront fee but a generous no-tax-due threshold, so the question to ask is whether that trait matches how you plan to run the business.

Texas state fees are $300 to file ($300 online where available). The other line items are the same wherever you form: a registered agent at roughly $100-150 a year, a free EIN straight from the IRS, and a free business bank account at Mercury or Relay. What differs by state is the recurring cost, and for Texas that is $0 franchise tax for LLCs with revenue below the no-tax-due threshold ($2.65 million for the 2026-27 report years), but a Public Information Report (PIR) must still be filed every year by May 15 regardless of revenue — a full franchise tax return is only required above the threshold. With EasyBrise Global Launch ($295 in year one, registered agent included; $149 a year to renew) the typical first year stays well under $500.

A Georgia-based founder should lean toward Texas if you expect meaningful revenue and want a state with no personal or corporate income tax and a straightforward no-tax-due threshold, and you don't mind a higher upfront filing fee. Weigh it against the other four states on cost, privacy and reporting now, since a later switch is a dissolve-and-reform exercise, not an amendment.

Housekeeping for a new Texas LLC owned from Georgia. Federal Beneficial Ownership Information reporting is not something you need to do: FinCEN's rule in force since August 14, 2026 permanently exempts all US-formed LLCs. What you do need: an Operating Agreement, a business bank account, payment-processor accounts if you will take cards, and two recurring dates, your Texas annual obligation ($0 franchise tax below the $2.65 million no-tax-due threshold, plus a Public Information Report every May 15 regardless of revenue) and the annual federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120.

Nothing about Texas formation requires you to be in the US. Your registered agent supplies the Texas address and receives official mail, the Articles of Organization go to the Texas Secretary of State, and the EIN comes from the IRS afterwards. Since a Georgia resident has no SSN, Form SS-4 gets "Foreign" or "N/A" in the SSN line. The international phone line (267-941-1099) takes roughly 45-60 minutes and is the quickest route; fax and mail take 4-6 weeks.

A Georgian founder expecting large US revenue may prefer Texas: no state income tax and no franchise tax below $2.65 million. The Public Information Report is due every May 15 even when no tax is owed.

Over five years, the state-level cost of a Texas LLC is a $300 filing fee and nothing recurring, so $300 in total, before the registered agent. That makes Texas the second cheapest of the five states on this measure. The same arithmetic across the five states runs from $50 to $2,110. For a Georgian owner, the question is whether the LLC's income counts as Georgian-source, so plan for a written view from a Georgian accountant before you form.

Georgia is not on Mercury's prohibited-countries list, which is based on country of residence, and it is not on Relay's list, which looks at the citizenship and residency of the owners. Both banks run their own reviews, so approval is never guaranteed. Neither bank's published rules restrict international wires involving Georgia. Lari are converted to dollars when you fund the account, so compare the rate and any fee at your Georgian bank.

As a Georgian owner, your recurring dates look like this. State: the Texas Public Information Report is due every May 15, even when no franchise tax is owed. Federal: Form 5472 with the pro forma Form 1120 is due on the return due date, April 15 for a calendar-year LLC, extendable with Form 7004. For the one-off EIN call, the IRS line (6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern) is open 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. Georgian time in US standard time (2 p.m. to 7 a.m. in US daylight time). Put the state date and the federal date in your calendar when the EIN arrives, because a missed Form 5472 carries a $25,000 minimum penalty.

Georgia appears on lists of US income tax treaty partners, and the Georgian summary says Georgia has more than 55 tax treaties. The summary does not say whether a US treaty is in force, and the US arrangement has been understood to rest on an older convention, so confirm the current position in the IRS treaty tables before relying on any treaty benefit. For a typical founder whose LLC earns only non-US-source income, a treaty changes little because there is usually no US federal income tax to reduce.

As described in a Georgian tax summary, a Georgian resident's foreign income is generally not taxed and tax falls only on Georgian-source income under articles 79 and 82 of the Tax Code. The same summary stresses that source depends on where the income is actually generated, so a service physically performed from Georgia can be recharacterised as Georgian-source. It describes a flat 20 percent rate on Georgian-source income. That makes the place where you do the work the central fact: ask a Georgian accountant for a written view, and keep contracts and records showing where services are performed and for whom.

The Georgian summary states that source depends on where income is actually generated, not on the payer's citizenship or the currency received. It says a service physically performed from Georgia can be recharacterised as Georgian-source. A founder who works from Tbilisi or Batumi for clients abroad should therefore not assume that foreign clients put the income outside Georgian tax. Ask an accountant how your particular services are analysed.

The summary describes a flat 20 percent rate on Georgian-source income of individuals, and a small business status for sole proprietors with a 1 percent rate on turnover up to 500,000 lari a year and 3 percent on turnover above that from the month the cap is passed. It also says the 1 percent regime excludes many activities, including consultancy, legal, audit, medical, architectural and financial intermediation, while IT development, design, digital marketing and production qualify. Whether any of this applies to an LLC owner depends on the facts.