Delaware Foreign LLC Registration

Delaware LLC registration at a glance

Filing

Certificate of Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company (no form number)

State fee

$200 filing fee

Total with us

$399, first year of Delaware registered agent service included

Home-state certificate

Required, dated within 180 days

Delaware yearly filing

Annual LLC Tax, $300, every year

Filed with

Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations

What the Delaware filing asks for

For the filing, Delaware needs:

• The exact name of your LLC as formed
• The state it was formed in and its date of formation
• A Delaware registered agent with a street address there; we fill in ours
• A principal office address
• A certificate of good standing from the home state, no older than 180 days when Delaware receives it

LLC into Delaware, by home state

The first-year total adds the home state's certificate fee to the $399 checkout total; the certificate is ordered from that state.

If you do business in Delaware without registering

An unregistered LLC doing business there cannot start a lawsuit in Delaware courts until it registers. Its contracts stay valid, and it can still defend a case brought against it. Members and managers do not become personally liable just because the LLC skipped registration. Delaware penalties for unregistered business: up to $200 for each year or part of a year. A Delaware court can order the LLC to stop doing business there until it registers.

Delaware registered agent rule

Delaware requires every registered foreign LLC to keep a registered agent there. Delaware allows an individual resident of Delaware, or a domestic or foreign entity other than the LLC itself that has a Delaware business office at the registered office to serve. The agent's address must be a street address in Delaware, not a P.O. box. A resigning agent stays responsible for 30 days after filing the resignation. Our $199 includes the first year of Delaware registered agent service, then $149 a year.

Delaware yearly filings

Once registered, your LLC files the Delaware Annual LLC Tax every year, at $300. From year two, keeping the Delaware registration costs $449 a year with our registered agent service.

How long Delaware takes

We file it with the Delaware Department of State. Paid speed-ups: 24-hour $50, same-day $100, 2-hour $500, 1-hour $1,000; they are optional and not in the total.

Leaving Delaware later

If your LLC stops doing business there, it ends the registration by filing a Certificate of Cancellation of Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company. Until that is filed, Delaware's yearly filing stays due.