Tennessee FONCE exemption for franchise and excise tax of 6.5%

[Jose Bu]

I'm trying to see if anyone as the owner of rental real estate property in their LLC has had luck in getting the FONCE exemption ?

Basically I'm looking to buy property in Gatlinburg and will be renting it out to another company who will be doing Short term rental with that property. My lender has given me the option to either close in the name of the LLC or my personal name. I would like to close in the name of the LLC for extra liability protection as the owner, however LLC's are subject to TN franchise and excise tax unless they apply for one of the exemptions. FONCE is one of the exemptions that my Single member LLC falls into, since its only collecting passive rent income. I'm trying to get an idea if investors have had luck in getting FONCE approved for their single member LLCs.

Hope I can get some answers directly from investors here. 

Thanks, appreciate any help.