If you are a corporation, limited partnership (LP), limited liability company (LLC), or business trust. . .chartered, qualified, or registered in Tennessee or doing business in this state, then you must register for and pay franchise and excise taxes. This sometimes comes as a surprise to people who incorporate or create their entities in another state (like Delaware, Nevada, or Wyoming) but then do business or own property inside that entity in the State of Tennessee.

Anyone who owns an LLC in Tennessee is liable for Franchise and Excise taxes unless they qualify for one of seventeen exemptions (the article referenced above lists all of them.) This article is going to focus on exemption #11: the Family Owned Non-Corporate Entity (FONCE) exemption.