Tennessee tax forms & filing.

Things to know about filing in Tennessee

• Tennessee fully repealed its Hall Income Tax on interest and dividends effective 2021 — there is no current Tennessee tax on individual investment income.
• Tennessee has a Franchise and Excise Tax on businesses (corporate net worth and corporate income above thresholds) — relevant for self-employed Tennessee residents operating as S-corps, C-corps, or LLCs that elect corporate treatment.
• Tennessee has no state estate or inheritance tax — federal estate tax only.
• Tennessee has a state sales tax that's among the highest in the country plus local sales tax surcharges — but neither affects the individual income tax return.

Tennessee Hall Income Tax fully repealed — 2021

Tennessee's Hall Income Tax (a flat tax on interest and dividend income above thresholds, in effect for decades) was fully repealed effective the 2021 tax year. There is no current Tennessee tax on individual interest, dividends, or any other investment income.

Filers who remember the Hall tax should know that pre-2021 returns are still completable but no current Hall return is required. The state is now genuinely a no-individual-income-tax state on all income types — wages, investments, retirement.

Practical effect: Tennessee competes with Florida, Texas, and other no-tax states for tax-motivated relocations. The 2021 repeal completed Tennessee's transition into the no-individual-income-tax category, alongside the historical absence of wage taxation.

Tennessee Franchise and Excise Tax — relevant for businesses

Tennessee imposes a Franchise and Excise Tax on businesses with Tennessee nexus — the Franchise Tax based on net worth and the Excise Tax based on net earnings, both above defined thresholds. Most C-corps and many LLCs/S-corps electing corporate treatment owe F&E.

Sole proprietorships, single-member LLCs (disregarded for federal tax), and certain pass-through structures may be exempt depending on the activity. The F&E threshold and exemptions are nuanced — we confirm at intake for self-employed TN residents and business owners.

F&E is filed annually with the Tennessee Department of Revenue, separate from any federal or individual filing. New TN business owners frequently miss the F&E obligation in their first year — we flag this at intake when a new TN LLC or corp is described.

Refund status

Tennessee does not have an individual income tax refund tracker because there is no individual income tax return. For your federal refund, use the IRS Where's My Refund tool.

Multi-state considerations

If you lived or worked in more than one state during the tax year, you typically file a part-year resident return in each state. If you live in one state and work in another, you usually file as a resident where you live and as a nonresident in the work state — claiming a credit on the resident return for taxes paid to the work state. Reciprocity agreements between some neighboring states change this default; we map this out at intake.

Tennessee-specific multi-state nuances are addressed in the quirks list above when they apply.

Get the current-year forms

State tax rates, brackets, and forms change every year. We point to the Tennessee Department of Revenue as the authoritative source for current-year information. Form numbers above are stable; rates, deduction amounts, and credit limits are not — always verify before relying on a specific dollar amount.

Open the Tennessee Department of Revenue website →