You can file form SS-4800 to change the mailing address by mail or in person. A change in Registered Agent or principal address requires filing Articles of Amendment and paying the statutory $20 filing fee.  Forms can be found on our the Forms & Fees page for mail and in person filings.

All special library materials--books, magazines and playback equipment--are circulated through the mail postage free. Patrons must borrow books each year to remain eligible for the service.

Bimonthly magazines will tell you about newly released books and related library services: Talking Book Topics and Braille Book Review. You may also order general catalogs. You can always call the library to ask about authors and titles. The National Library Service catalog is searchable online.

You must first complete an application for service and send it to the Tennessee library. All states provide the service for their residents.

Special playback equipment is loaned to patrons who use the library service. Books and magazines in the TLABM collection are recorded at a slower speed than conventional recordings and the books require special players. Players are mailed to patrons postage free. The library repairs and replaces equipment as necessary. For patrons who wish to purchase their own equipment, a vendor list is available.

The library service loans recorded, large print and braille books and magazines, music scores in large print and braille and special playback equipment. The TLABM book collection of over 50,000 titles includes popular fiction and nonfiction, best sellers, classics, history, biographies, religious literature, children's books and books in foreign language. There are over 70 popular magazines available. Go to Available Materials to find out more.

An Administrative dissolution occurs for the following reasons:

• Failure to file an annual report
• Being without a registered agent
• A foreign entity fails to maintain its assumed name due to a name conflict
• Returned payment by a financial institution

A certificate of existence is a document issued by our office that certifies that an entity is active and in good standing.

An assumed name is a name other than the true entity name under which it conducts business.  Tennessee does not recognize 'DBAs' (doing business as) or fictitious names.  The assumed name is good for 5 years and can be renewed.

1. The correct fee is not paid. The annual report fee for a corporation is $20, and an additional $20 is required if any change is made concerning the registered agent/registered office. The annual report fee for LLCs is $300 minimum up to a maximum of $3000. The fee increases by an additional $50 per member for every member over 6 members up to a maximum of $3,000.
2. An officer is not listed. If the business is a Tennessee for-profit corporation, the corporation must list at least one officer. If the business is a Tennessee nonprofit corporation, a president and secretary or required.
3. The board of directors are not listed, the box indicating that the board is the same as the officers listed is not marked, or the box indicating that the corporation does not have directors is not marked.
4. The annual report is not signed and/or dated.
5. The annual report is not typed or filled out in ink.

• The required filing fee was not enclosed.
• The document has not been signed
• The document is not clear and legible.
• The document was not enclosed.
• The document is not dated.
• An email address was not provided.
• The name that you have requested is unavailable because it is not distinguishable from another business entity on file.
• We were not able to obtain tax clearance from the Department of Revenue.  Please, contact the Tennessee Department of Revenue at (615) 253-0600 or (800) 342-1003.  Once you have satisfied their requirements, resubmit your document to our office for filing.
• The address of the registered office must be a physical Tennessee address; it cannot be a post office box, route number, or box number alone.

A business entity that has failed to file its annual report on a timely basis may be administratively dissolved and placed in inactive status. The filing history of every business is shown in the Business Information Search. Click on “filing history” for details on your business.

A registered agent is a person or company who agrees to accept legal mail on behalf of your entity.  Tennessee requires that all entities (except General Partnerships (GP) to maintain a registered agent/office in the State of Tennessee at all times.

Tax clearances are required to obtain a certificate of existence, to reinstate, and to terminate, cancel or withdraw an entity from Tennessee. 

We index information in the UCC system based upon the name of the debtor.

The required indebtedness language is “Maximum principal indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes is $____________________________.” Tennessee law imposes a recording tax on any instrument evidencing indebtedness, including, but not limited to, mortgages, deeds of trust, conditional sales contracts, and financing statements.

The “indebtedness” is the principal debt or obligation which is reasonably contemplated by the parties to be included within the terms of the agreement. "Indebtedness" does not include any amount of interest, collection expense including, but not limited to, attorney's fees and expenses incurred in preserving, protecting, improving, or insuring property which serves as collateral for the indebtedness, or any other amount, other than the principal debt or obligation, for which a debtor becomes liable unless such amount is added to the principal debt or obligation, and is used to calculate additional interest pursuant to refinancing, reamortization, amendment or similar transaction or occurrence.

Request a search by filing an Information Request (UCC11). The fee for a copy search is $15.00 for each filing plus $1.00 per page.

Our online search (https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC) displays summary information about a financing statement (debtors, secured parties, dates). Information Requests (UCC11) can now be submitted online and as soon as payment is complete, you are able to retrieve a .pdf file of the images.

Please note that a financing statement fling will not appear in a UCC11’s search results until the processed-through date in the office has passed the online filed date and time.  The processed-through date appears in red at the top of the UCC Online Services page

Currently, credit cards, debit cards, and e-check payments are available for web filed documents. File online at https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC

We do not accept faxed or emailed filings. However, you may file online at https://TNBEAR.TN.gov/UCC.

UCC forms are available online on our Business Forms & Fee page.

Use the online UCC search tool or file a UCC11 Information Request.

T.C.A. § 47-9-516(b) provides a list of rejection reasons. The following are some examples:

• The UCC filing is not filed on the proper form. The appropriate forms are the Tennessee forms prescribed by T.C.A. § 47-9-521 and those approved by the International Association of Commercial Administrators (IACA).
• The correct total amount due for the filing fee and recording tax (if applicable) was not submitted. Note: When an inadequate payment amount for multiple transactions is submitted with a UCC3, all transactions are rejected.
• When filing an amendment, the initial financing statement file number is not legible or cannot be matched to an un-lapsed initial financing statement.
• For a continuation, the record is not filed within the six month window prior to the lapse date.
• In the event of an assignment, the filing fails to legibly provide the name and mailing address of the assignee.
• When an amendment adds a new party, the record does not legibly provide the new party’s name and/or mailing address.
• When an amendment adds a new debtor, the record does not legibly identify the debtor’s name and/or mailing address.
• When an initial financing statement or an amendment that increases the maximum principal indebtedness does not include the required indebtedness language.
• A check could not be honored.
• The original file number (UCC1) was not provided when you submitted a UCC3.

Please be sure that any filing not submitted on a Secretary of State form (especially search requests) includes all of the required information. Our forms contain all of the required information.

A UCC financing statement is effective for a period of five (5) years. A financing statement lapses or terminates at the end of the five-year period. A continuation statement can be filed to extend the lapse date if it is filed within six (6) months before the security interest expires. An initial financing statement filed in connection with a public-finance transaction or manufactured-home transaction is effective for a period of thirty (30) years after the date of filing if it indicates that it is filed in connection with a public-finance transaction or manufactured-home transaction. If a debtor is a transmitting utility and a filed initial financing statement so indicates, the financing statement is effective until a termination statement is filed.

A UCC financing statement is valid until it lapses.

If the recording tax on the stated indebtedness has been paid at the county level, the following are required:

• The indebtedness language (“Maximum Principal Indebtedness for Tennessee Recording Tax Purposes is $_______________________”)
• A statement to declare that the recording tax on the stated indebtedness has been paid at the county level, and
• Attach a tax receipt to the document if sending your filing in on paper. Enter the tax receipt details (County, date paid, receipt number, and amount paid) online if web filing or web preparing the filing).

Make sure any receipt that you provide is readable. If you request an exemption from the indebtedness tax, you MUST request it in writing with an explanation for the request.

• Example #1: A UCC1 states that the maximum amount of indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes is $1,500.00. Since the first $2,000.00 of indebtedness on a financing statement is exempt, no recording tax is due.
• Example #2: A UCC1 states that the maximum amount of indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes is $25,000.00. The amount of recording tax due is ($25,000.00 - $2,000.00) x .00115, or $23,000.00 x .00115, which equals $26.45.
• Example #3: A UCC3 amendment to the UCC1 financing statement in example #2 increases the indebtedness amount from $25,000.00 to $30,000.00 and the amendment states that the maximum amount of indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes is $5,000.00. Since the $2,000.00 exemption has already been utilized regarding this financing statement when the UCC1 was filed, the amount of recording tax due is $5,000.00 x .00115 which equals $5.75.

A recording tax of eleven and one-half (11.5¢) cents for each one hundred ($100) dollars of indebtedness is due on any financing statement or amendment to a financing statement. You must state the “maximum principal indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes” on either the face of the instrument or on an attached sworn statement “ The first two thousand ($2,000) dollars of total indebtedness is exempt from the recording tax; however, the exemption can only be taken once in relation to a financing statement. This tax is often referred to as the indebtedness tax.