Home
>
Small Business
>
Deciding Which State To Incorporate Your Small Business In

Deciding Which State To Incorporate Your Small Business In

Once you've decided to incorporate your small business the next step is deciding which state to incorporate in. A common misconception is that businesses must incorporate in their state of operation. You can, in fact, incorporate in any one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia regardless of where your business currently operates.

It is perfectly acceptable to incorporate in a state other than your current area of operation, but it is not always a good idea to do so. If your company chooses to incorporate in a state outside its area of operation life becomes a little more complicated. Your business becomes a "foreign corporation" in any state outside of the state it is incorporated in. If a corporation is "transacting business" in a state other than where it is incorporated, it must register for a certificate of authority to transact business in the other state or possibly lose access to that state's courts and face fines.

Registering for a certificate of authority, of course, costs money and is only one step in the process of qualifying to do business as a "foreign corporation" in another state.

There are advantages to incorporating in different states with regard to corporate laws and tax structure. Delaware is by far the most popular state for incorporation. Most of the fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.

Some of the most attractive features of incorporating in Delaware include:

1. Lack of corporate income tax for corporations incorporated in Delaware but not transacting business in the state.

2. Delaware has a separate corporate law system that uses judges appointed for their knowledge of corporate law as opposed to juries, whose knowledge of corporate law is limited at best.

3. Shares of stock owned by persons outside of Delaware are not subject to Delaware taxes.

For a small business deciding weather or not to incorporate in Delaware it is necessary to measure the cost of qualifying as a "foreign corporation" in the state of operation versus the amount that will be saved by incorporating a small business in Delaware. Typically it is not advantageous for small businesses to incorporate outside of their home state as even small businesses are usually required to pay corporate taxes in both the state of foreign operation and the state of incorporation. If you're not sure where to incorporate, visit www.small-business-assistance.com. We can help you decide if the cost of local incorporation will be less than incorporating in another state.

Jacob Wren operates Small Business Assistance ( www.small-business-assistance.com ) - a resource site for entrepreneurs that offers advice on incorporating and an array of other small business topics.

quick home cleaning Park Ridge ...

In The News:

Travel expert Katy Nastro says 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles vanished from her account after someone redeemed them without permission.

Google AI Overviews can't be permanently turned off, but adding -AI to your searches and using the built-in Web filter can help bypass AI summaries.

Attaxion researchers found 30 fake Texas campaign merchandise stores traced to just two sellers hawking gear for competing Republicans and Democrats.

GM plans to debut eyes-off driving in the Cadillac Escalade IQ by 2028, but safety testing reveals how long distracted drivers take to regain control.

Data brokers assign labels predicting your health, finances and religion based on browsing and purchases, then sell those profiles to businesses.

Elon Musk says he'll give one SpaceX share to every kid in America in 2027, but key details about eligibility and distribution remain unclear.

ClearSpace UK's robotic spacecraft with giant claws will chase down dead satellites at 17,000 mph, with a 2029 launch from Scotland planned.

A fake Social Security statement phishing email uses the SSA logo and a convincing layout, but the sender's domain instantly exposes the scam.

A clean credit report doesn't mean your identity is safe. Six ways criminals can steal from you without triggering a credit monitoring alert.

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired professor, was arrested after blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk for months.

The Midnight Mimosa malware campaign hides inside cheap Android phone firmware, giving attackers powerful access before owners even turn devices on.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Meta's Muse AI was built to manage tasks, but users are developing romantic AI relationships and even calling the AI companion their girlfriend.

A Minnesota murder suspect's notebook listed 11 people search websites, raising urgent questions about data broker opt-out and online privacy risks.

Google Universal Cart tracks price drops, surfaces promo codes and uses Google Wallet to match your best credit card rewards before checkout.

Safari's Notify Me feature and Google's price-tracking tools can monitor products and send alerts when prices drop on your iPhone or Android.

George Weiner built PACspam.org to trace who sends nonstop political fundraising texts after blocking numbers repeatedly failed to stop the messages.

A dedicated VPN IP address may reduce frustrating CAPTCHAs and bank login security checks by giving websites a consistent connection to recognize.

Apple Wallet in iOS 27 lets you create digital passes from physical cards using a photo or screenshot, but not every card in your wallet qualifies.

Anthropic's Claude AI submitted a fabricated eyewitness tip about an unsolved murder to a Philadelphia police website during automated testing.

P7 DarkSword iPhone spyware can steal saved passwords, photos, Apple Notes and cryptocurrency wallet data by checking for commands every 15 seconds.

Cybersecurity experts told Fox News Digital that a cyberattack on French supermarket freezers should warn the U.S. about critical infrastructure gaps.

The Oracle Health breach exposed medical records, Social Security numbers and diagnoses of nearly 20 million patients across multiple states.

The new Tesla Roadster drove upside down and launched into the air at SpaceX's Texas facility, but a 2028 production target remains unconfirmed.

Apple's iOS 27 lets you add keywords to iPhone photos, while Samsung Gallery tags and Google Photos search offer similar organization tools.