7 items, in order: certificate of organization (llc) and the annual franchise tax report, doing business under an assumed name (dba) certificate, employer identification number (ein), sales and use tax permit and employer withholding registration, city business license and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in Arkansas
7 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page.
What licenses do you need to open a business in Arkansas? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Arkansas takes. A license specific to your kind of business comes from the agency that regulates it; if one of the twenty named businesses is close to yours, its page lists those too.
Every row checked against its agency’s page; the latest on Oct 21, 2026.
Step 1 of 4Set up the business. Now: Certificate of organization (LLC) and the annual franchise tax report
0 of 7 items done. Each step opens when the one before it is complete. Progress stays on this device. Log in to save it to your account and pick it up anywhere.
Set up the business0 of 3
File online through the Secretary of State’s Corporations Online Filing System. The certificate names a registered agent with an Arkansas street address. The franchise tax is a flat tax, not a report of activity, and it is filed with the Secretary of State rather than the tax department; miss it and penalties accrue until the LLC is revoked.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- sos.arkansas.gov
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Register for taxOpens after step 1
Approve the spaceOpens after step 2
Before the first hireOpens after step 3
Then pick the place
- The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the businesses already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
- The full reportWhether the rules allow a business at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
Have an address in mind?
Check the address freeNo account. The business check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
Secretary of State LLC filing fee schedule (revised January 2025, under Act 1041 of 2021); Secretary of State franchise tax pages; Arkansas Code 4-70-203; county clerk assumed name instructions (Benton, Saline and Carroll counties); Secretary of State fictitious name form (revised January 2025); IRS EIN page; DFA register for a tax account page; ATAP business registration; City of Little Rock, Starting a Business in Little Rock and Obtaining Permits and Licenses; municipal ordinances; City of Little Rock Planning and Development business start-up guidance; municipal ordinances; Division of Workforce Services employer UI information (2026 rates and wage base); Workers’ Compensation Commission basic facts; Arkansas Code 11-9-102. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.