Best LLC Formation Services in Delaware

Delaware's Court of Chancery is the single biggest reason businesses incorporate here. It uses judges, not juries. Decades of case law give you predictable outcomes no other state can match.

Series LLCs are available in Delaware. You can create multiple protected cells under one parent LLC without filing separate entities. Few states allow this. It helps if you hold rental properties or run distinct business lines. Each registered series carries its own $100 annual tax.

Delaware does not charge sales tax, which matters if you sell physical goods. Compare that to neighboring Pennsylvania at 6% or New Jersey at 6.625%. The trade is that Delaware taxes the seller's gross receipts instead. Your buyer saves. A business selling inside the state saves less than it looks.

Delaware does not make you write an operating agreement, though nearly every formation package includes a draft. Section 18-201(d) of the LLC Act assumes your company has one. Nothing is filed with the state. The Act even counts an oral or implied understanding. Skip it and the default rules decide your ownership split and your exit terms. On a single member LLC the bundled draft is mostly a bank account formality. On a two member LLC it settles what happens when you disagree.

Most people who form here do not live here. The ranking above turns on that. A Delaware LLC run from another state still owes the $400 tax. It still needs a Delaware registered agent every year. Your home state will generally want the same company registered there too, with its own fee and its own annual report. So read the Then every year column, not the price due today.

1. Get your State of Delaware Business License from the Division of Revenue. Any in state activity triggers it. The general fee is $75 for a first location.
2. Pay the $400 annual LLC tax by June 1st each year. Delaware LLCs file no annual report. The tax is the whole obligation, and it is due whether or not you earned a dollar. Miss the date and the state adds $200 plus 1.5% interest a month, per the Division of Corporations.
3. Draft and sign your operating agreement. Delaware does not require one and nothing is filed with the state, but without it the LLC Act's default rules govern member rights, profit distribution and management authority instead of your own terms.
4. Apply for an EIN from the IRS. This is free and takes minutes online. You need it to open a business bank account, hire employees, or file federal taxes.
5. Skip the federal BOI report. FinCEN exempted every company created in the United States, in an interim final rule published 26 March 2025. A final rule made that permanent on 14 August 2026. A domestic Delaware LLC files nothing. Only entities formed under foreign law and registered here still report. A letter asking for a fee to file one is a scam, and FinCEN says so.
6. Open a dedicated business bank account. It is what keeps your liability protection real. Delaware courts will pierce the veil if you mix personal and business funds.

• Annual LLC Tax - Delaware charges a flat $400 per year due June 1st, even if your LLC earns nothing. It went up from $300 for 2026. The tax sits on top of the filing fee, which is what catches first-time founders off guard.
• Late Fee Penalty - Miss the June 1st deadline and you owe an immediate $200 penalty plus 1.5% monthly interest on the tax and the penalty together.
• Business License Fee - Conduct business in Delaware and you need a state business license. It comes from the Division of Revenue. The rate is generally $75 for a first location. Generally is the state's own word. The fee varies by activity. Each separate business activity needs its own license.
• Gross Receipts Tax - Delaware charges no sales tax. It taxes the seller instead. Sell goods or services in the state and you owe gross receipts tax. It lands on revenue, not profit. Rates run from 0.0945% to 1.9914% by activity. The trigger is the one that requires the license. An LLC formed here but operating elsewhere does not owe it.
• Getting Back In Good Standing - Three years of unpaid tax cancels your certificate of formation. Reviving it costs $220. You also owe every year of back tax, the $200 penalty for each of those years, and the interest, per the state fee schedule.