Delaware LLC Cost: Full Year 1 and Year 2 Breakdown

What does a Delaware LLC cost in Year 1?

With DelawareLLC.co, a Delaware LLC costs a flat $397 in Year 1, and that is the full price — not a starting price with surcharges added at checkout. The Delaware $110 Certificate of Formation filing fee, which the state charges to register any new LLC, is already baked into the $397. So is your registered agent for the first year, the EIN application, a custom operating agreement, and hands-on help opening a US bank account and a Stripe account.

Your filing is submitted to the Delaware Division of Corporations within 48 hours. For founders without a US Social Security Number, the IRS typically issues the EIN in about 2 to 4 weeks after formation. There is a money-back guarantee on the filing and the EIN, so if we cannot complete them, you do not pay. You can see the same number on the pricing page and walk through each step on how it works.

What is included in the $397?

The $397 is deliberately all-inclusive so there is one number to budget rather than a stack of separate invoices. It covers:

• Delaware Certificate of Formation — the official state filing, including the $110 state fee.
• Registered agent for year one — legally required in Delaware and included at no extra Year 1 cost.
• EIN application — your federal tax ID, filed even if you have no US SSN.
• Operating agreement — the internal document banks and partners ask for.
• US bank account help — guided applications to Mercury, Relay, or Wise.
• Stripe approval support plus ongoing compliance tracking and a dedicated specialist on WhatsApp.

Want the detail behind two of the biggest pieces? See the Delaware registered agent requirement and the broader Delaware LLC service overview.

How does the $397 itemize line by line?

It helps to see what each bundled piece would cost if you bought it separately, because that is the comparison most founders are really making in their head. The table below breaks the $397 into its component parts and shows a rough standalone price for each. The standalone figures are approximate market ranges — verify current third-party pricing before relying on them — but they make the point: bought à la carte, the same stack typically lands in the same neighbourhood as $397, without the single point of accountability.

The headline difference is not always the raw number — it is that the standalone path leaves you assembling five or six vendors and chasing each one yourself. For the deeper mechanics of two of these line items, see the dedicated EIN for a Delaware LLC guide and the operating agreement page.

What does a Delaware LLC cost in Year 2 and beyond?

Year 1 covers formation and your first year of registered agent service. Starting in Year 2, two predictable costs recur each year:

• Delaware franchise tax: $300, due June 1. This is a flat state fee every Delaware LLC pays regardless of revenue or activity. An LLC that earned $0 owes the same $300 as one doing seven figures. Pay late and Delaware adds a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month and pulls your good standing. The full mechanics are on the Delaware franchise tax page.
• Registered agent renewal: about $99 per year. After the included first year, keeping a Delaware registered agent active runs roughly $99 annually.

That puts your ongoing cost at about $399 per year. Crucially, Delaware LLCs do not file an annual report, so there is no separate report fee — that requirement applies only to Delaware corporations. We track your June 1 deadline and remind you ahead of time so the LLC never falls out of good standing.

What is the total cost of ownership over three and five years?

Single-year pricing can mislead, because the real question is what the LLC costs to keep alive over its life. The table below models the total cost of ownership (TCO) assuming one LLC, no optional add-ons, and every June 1 franchise tax paid on time. It is the honest multi-year number rather than a teaser rate.

So a Delaware LLC held for five years costs roughly $1,993 in total — about $399 a year averaged out, with the only front-loaded amount being the formation work in Year 1. There is no escalating subscription and no surprise jump in Year 2, which is exactly the trap many founders fall into elsewhere. If your plans might involve a second entity or a different home state, the Delaware vs Wyoming comparison is worth reading before you commit.

Year 1 vs Year 2 cost: side by side

The first franchise tax is not due in your formation year. An LLC formed in 2026 makes its first $300 payment by June 1, 2027, which is why Year 1 shows $0 for the franchise tax line above.

What hidden costs catch people who file it themselves?

The do-it-yourself path looks like just $110, but several costs hide behind that headline and surface later. The most common is the registered agent: Delaware law requires one with a physical Delaware address, so a $50 to $200 annual fee is unavoidable unless you live in the state. Next is the EIN, which is free from the IRS but often blocks non-US founders who lack an SSN and must file Form SS-4 by fax or mail and wait weeks, sometimes resubmitting after rejections.

Then come the quieter ones. A weak or generic operating agreement can get your bank application rejected, costing time. Banking and Stripe applications done without guidance are where many non-resident founders stall outright, and a frozen Stripe account or a declined Mercury application can stop revenue entirely. Finally, missed compliance dates are a real cost: forget the June 1 franchise tax and Delaware adds a $200 penalty plus 1.5% monthly interest and revokes good standing, which can break banking and contracts. None of these show up in the $110 sticker, but all of them are real money. The flat $397 absorbs every one of these risks into a single fee with a specialist on the other end.

What optional add-ons might cost extra?

The $397 covers everything most founders need to launch. A few situations call for optional services that are priced separately and only charged if you choose them:

• ITIN. If you need a personal US taxpayer ID (an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) for your own tax filings, that is a separate service handled through itin.so. An EIN for the business is different and is already included.
• Expedited state filing. Delaware offers faster processing tiers for an additional state charge if you need formation confirmed unusually quickly.
• Document apostille or certified copies. If a foreign bank or government needs an apostilled or certified copy of your formation documents, those state-issued documents carry their own fees.
• Form 5472 filing. Foreign-owned single-member Delaware LLCs must file Form 5472 with the IRS each year; missing it carries a $25,000 penalty. This is a federal obligation, not a state fee, and can be handled as an add-on.

Is it cheaper to form a Delaware LLC yourself?

You can file directly with Delaware and pay only the $110 state fee. But that bare $110 is rarely the real total. Delaware law requires a registered agent with a physical Delaware address, and a paid agent typically runs $50 to $200 a year. You would then apply for your own EIN, draft your own operating agreement, and navigate US bank and Stripe applications without guidance — steps that trip up many non-US founders.

Once a paid registered agent is added to the $110, do-it-yourself costs often approach or exceed $397 — and you still carry every coordination task alone. The flat $397 turns the whole process into one number with a specialist beside you. When you are ready, you can review pricing or start through how it works.

How does the $397 compare to Atlas, Firstbase, and doola pricing?

The big international formation brands generally use a different shape of pricing than a flat one-time fee, so a careful comparison matters. Several charge a formation fee plus an annual subscription that recurs every year and may bundle, or exclude, the state fee and registered agent depending on the tier. Others run a $0 formation headline that is funded by a mandatory yearly plan. The numbers below describe the general structure rather than any specific current price — always confirm a provider live pricing before deciding — but the structural contrast is the real story.

The practical difference: with a subscription model, stopping payment can mean losing your registered agent and compliance coverage, which can push the LLC out of good standing. With the $397 model, after Year 1 you owe only the state $300 franchise tax and the ~$99 agent renewal — there is no formation subscription quietly recurring in the background. For the full-service picture across formation, banking, and compliance, see the Delaware LLC formation guide.

What actually drives the cost of a Delaware LLC?

When founders see a wide range of prices, it is usually these four levers moving. First, the state fee ($110) is fixed and identical everywhere — nobody can make it cheaper. Second, the registered agent is the single biggest swing factor in ongoing cost, ranging from about $50 to $200 a year depending on the provider. Third, what is bundled versus unbundled: a low base price almost always means the EIN, operating agreement, and compliance are sold separately, so the true total only appears at checkout.

Fourth, and most expensive of all for non-residents, the support and success layer — whether anyone helps you actually open a bank account, get Stripe approved, and stay compliant. That layer is where cheap services quietly cost the most, because a stalled bank application or a frozen payment processor delays revenue far beyond any filing fee. The $397 model collapses all four levers into one fixed, all-inclusive number, then keeps your only ongoing costs the unavoidable state $300 and the ~$99 agent renewal. To go deeper on the entity choice itself, the Delaware C-Corp page explains how corporation costs differ.

How does Delaware LLC cost compare for an LLC vs a corporation?

One of the most useful cost facts is that a Delaware LLC and a Delaware corporation are taxed very differently by the state. An LLC pays a flat $300 franchise tax and files no annual report. A corporation pays a franchise tax that starts at a $175 minimum (Authorized Shares Method) or a $400 minimum (Assumed Par Value Method) — you pay the lower of the two — plus a $50 annual report fee, both due March 1, and corporations do file an annual report.

For a small corporation a minimum bill can land near $225 ($175 + $50), which can read as cheaper than the LLC $300 — but a corporation franchise tax can climb steeply with authorized shares and tops out at a $200,000 maximum, while the LLC stays flat at $300 forever. That predictability is a core reason solo founders and small teams favour the LLC. If you are weighing the structures, read the Delaware C-Corp breakdown alongside the Delaware annual report rules.

What does the cost mean for foreign-owned and single-member LLCs?

For a non-US founder, the state-level cost of a Delaware LLC is the same $397 then ~$399 a year — ownership and residency do not change the state fees. What changes is the federal picture. A foreign-owned (25% or more non-US) single-member Delaware LLC is treated as a disregarded entity and must file Form 5472 together with a pro-forma Form 1120 each year. Missing that filing carries a $25,000 penalty, and it is due with the 1120 on April 15 (extendable). This is a federal obligation, entirely separate from the Delaware $300, and it is the single most expensive mistake a foreign founder can make on cost grounds.

The takeaway is that your true annual cost as a non-resident is the ~$399 state-and-agent baseline plus whatever your federal filings require — which is why budgeting only for the franchise tax can be a trap. The $397 service includes compliance tracking so the Form 5472 deadline does not slip silently, and 5472 preparation is available as an add-on. For the country-specific view, founders often start with the Delaware LLC for non-residents guide, then read about the Delaware LLC itself.

How does Delaware cost compare to other states?

People often ask whether another state is cheaper. These are approximate figures — confirm current fees with each state before relying on them — but they show how Delaware compares:

• Delaware: ~$110 formation, flat $300 franchise tax, no annual report, and the respected Court of Chancery for business disputes.
• Wyoming: ~$100 formation and ~$60 minimum annual report, with no state income tax and strong privacy — covered in depth at wyomingllc.co.
• Florida: ~$125 formation and a ~$138.75 annual report.
• Texas: ~$300 formation with a margins-based franchise tax, though no tax is due below roughly $2.47M in revenue.
• California: ~$70 formation but an $800 minimum annual franchise tax — usually the most expensive state to keep an LLC in, and California residents operating in California usually must register there anyway.
• Nevada: ~$425 initial (including the state business license and list) and ~$350 per year ongoing, privacy-focused.

Delaware’s flat, predictable $300 and its no-annual-report rule keep ongoing math simple, which is one reason international founders choose it. The full head-to-head with Wyoming lives on the Delaware vs Wyoming page, and for more on getting your federal tax ID, see ein.so.

A quick note on BOI and FinCEN reporting cost

Founders frequently ask whether beneficial ownership (BOI) reporting adds a cost. As of a March 2025 FinCEN interim final rule, BOI reporting was removed for US domestic reporting companies, and US persons are treated as exempt — only certain “foreign reporting companies” are covered under that interim rule. This area is evolving, so do not budget or plan around it without checking the current FinCEN guidance, which can change. There is no BOI line item in the $397, and where any reporting does apply it is a federal matter separate from your Delaware state fees. When in doubt, confirm the latest status directly with FinCEN before assuming an obligation or a cost. The remaining, reliable numbers are the ones above: $397 in Year 1 and about $399 a year after, with the state $300 and ~$99 agent renewal being the only certain recurring costs.