How to Dissolve an LLC in Alabama (2026)

Closing an Alabama LLC takes one form and one fee. What catches people is not the filing, it is the annual privilege tax return that keeps coming due for as long as the company stays on the state's books.

Does Alabama Require a Tax Clearance Certificate?

Not for a domestic LLC. This is the most common thing guides get wrong about Alabama.

The Alabama Department of Revenue's own instructions list a single step for dissolving a domestic entity: complete the Articles of Dissolution for your entity type. The Certificate of Compliance, which is Alabama's version of tax clearance, is part of the separate process for a foreign entity withdrawing from Alabama, not for an Alabama LLC closing down.

If your LLC was formed in another state and only registered to do business in Alabama, that is a withdrawal, and the clearance step does apply. Everything below is for an LLC formed in Alabama.

What Does It Cost to Dissolve an Alabama LLC?

$100. That is the Secretary of State's fee for Articles of Dissolution.

Two smaller costs are worth knowing. Paying by card adds a convenience fee of 3% of the total plus $2. And if a check bounces, the state charges $30 and removes the filing from the record, so the dissolution does not count.

What Goes on the Articles of Dissolution?

The form is short. It asks for:

• The LLC's current name exactly as the state has it on record
• The Alabama Entity ID number, in the format 000-000-000, which you can look up in the Secretary of State's business entity search
• The date the Certificate of Formation was filed
• The reason for dissolving
• The date you want the dissolution to take effect
• A signature from someone authorized to sign for the LLC

The form must be typed. By mail, you send two copies with a self-addressed stamped envelope to Secretary of State, Business Services, P.O. Box 5616, Montgomery, Alabama 36103. The state also accepts the filing online, which skips the mail entirely.

Why the Privilege Tax Is the Real Reason to File

Alabama charges a Business Privilege Tax, and every LLC registered in the state has to file the return and annual report that go with it. The Department of Revenue is blunt about how long that lasts: the tax "remains due every registered year until the entity is legally dissolved/withdrawn through Alabama Secretary of State, regardless of whether or not such entity is actively doing business in Alabama."

There is some relief. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, an LLC that would only owe the minimum tax is exempt from the tax itself. But the filing obligation does not stop because the business stopped. An LLC nobody is using keeps generating a return due date every year until the Articles of Dissolution are on file.

That is the whole case for filing now instead of letting the company sit. The dissolution costs $100 once. Leaving it registered means another return every year, and missed returns turn into notices.

What If Your Alabama LLC Is Behind?

Alabama's dissolution process for a domestic LLC has no clearance step, so being behind on privilege tax returns does not stop you from filing the Articles of Dissolution. It does not erase what is owed either. Returns for the years the LLC was registered are still the LLC's obligation, so it is worth catching them up as part of closing rather than finding out later from a notice. Our guide on dissolving an LLC you are behind on walks through how to handle that order of operations.

The Short Version

• Form: Articles of Dissolution (domestic LLC)
• Fee: $100, plus 3% + $2 if you pay by card
• Tax clearance: not required for a domestic LLC
• Filing: mail, courier, or online
• Why now: the privilege tax return is due every year the LLC stays registered

We file Alabama dissolutions for $99 plus the state's $100 fee, and we handle the paperwork end to end so the next privilege tax year never arrives.