Forming a corporation in the state of Delaware is similar to incorporating in any other state. You must file your Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State and pay a filing fee. Delaware also requires you to submit an Appointment of Registered Agent form along with a Certificate of Formation form if you are not using the services of an experienced legal entity service provider such as Corporation Center. The forms listed below are available on our site. Keep reading if you’d like to know more about the documentation needed to form Delaware corporations.
Articles of Incorporation
The articles of incorporation are a legal document that establishes your corporation in Delaware. They must be filed with the Secretary of State, and they are often referred to as Articles or Incorporation Certificates, depending on where you look.
The person who signs these documents is usually known as the incorporator, although this is not always the case. The process of filing can be done online from anywhere in the world but requires an address within Delaware for legal and delivery purposes (different states charge different filing fees for a certificate of incorporation).
As a general rule, you should incorporate your company before you begin doing business. Most states require you to file this form before you begin engaging in specific activities under your company’s name. In most circumstances, you must first file for incorporation in order to:
Start filing corporate taxes
Hire company personnel
Open your company’s business account
Appointing Directors and Registered Agents
When you form a corporation in Delaware, you must appoint at least one director and one registered agent. Directors are the people who run your company. They manage day-to-day operations and make decisions on important matters like hiring employees and negotiating contracts with clients. The registered agent is the person who receives legal documents on behalf of your company. By law, every state requires corporations to appoint a registered agent to receive service of process—the official notification that someone wants to take legal action against them for an alleged violation of law or regulation. Your business’s legal identity is connected to its registered office, so it’s important for you not only to file articles of incorporation but also maintain an address where all official communications can be sent in case something happens with regard to lawsuits or other lawsuits against your business.
Registered Agent Information
You must provide the name, address, and phone number of your registered agent. As stated before, a Delaware Registered Agent is a person or company that is legally responsible for receiving important legal documents on behalf of the corporation. The registered agent can be you as an individual or a local business you own, such as an accountant’s office or law firm. To maintain its status as a Delaware corporation, your LLC must have a registered agent located in Delaware who is available during normal business hours.
Approved Corporate Names
The name must be distinguishable from any other name that is already registered. The name may not be the same as an existing corporate entity, corporation, limited liability company or LLC formed under the laws of this State or any other state or territory (including Puerto Rico) or a foreign country.
The name may not be similar to the name of another corporation incorporated in this state within five years prior to your filing date. If you have any questions regarding whether your proposed corporate name is available for use by another corporation in Delaware, please contact our office.
You also should avoid using descriptive terms such as “Corporation”, “Company” and “Co”. Descriptive terms are not considered distinctive enough to secure your registered corporate name against confusion with others in the marketplace who might use similar words and/or symbols in their own names.
Filing Your Corporation Forms Online With Our Help
The most important step in forming your corporation is to file the appropriate forms with the Delaware Division of Corporations. You can get help filing these forms online by using the following simple formula: Visit the website, search for the forms tab, find the appropriate category such as a corporation, and choose to file the necessary documents online or by mail.
Unfortunately, it can take days to gather your articles of incorporation and all the necessary documentation and mail them to the Secretary of State’s office. The Corporation Center, fortunately, is here to assist you. On a state-by-state basis, we provide easy-to-navigate online forms for entrepreneurs like you to use in order to incorporate your business. Take a look through some of the forms we have available.
Ensure That Your Taxes are in Good Order
When you form a corporation in Delaware, you’ll need to be aware of the state’s tax laws.
If you do have an outstanding tax obligation and decide to incorporate, it’s critically important that you pay any past-due taxes before moving forward with incorporation. Otherwise, this could result in penalties and interest charges being levied against your business—which would be counterproductive and quite costly!
To Sum Up…
This is just a small overview of some of the things you’ll need to do to set up your Delaware corporation. Unfortunately, there are several aspects to creating a solid business, and if you have questions about any of them, we’re here to help. Feel free to contact us at any time with questions about forming your Delaware corporation! At the Corporation Center, we’re always eager to help and have the necessary forms and tools to make this process easier.
