Consider this important stat for a moment: over 50 percent of publicly traded companies in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.
Delaware is one of the smallest states in the U.S both in population size and landmass. So why do businesses like to incorporate in Delaware?
Delaware is great for business incorporation for a number of reasons, the most important being:
- A flexible legal framework and specialized court system that allows companies to resolve disputes quickly with a judge rather than a jury
- A business-friendly tax system that gives you ways to legally reduce your business’ tax bills.
- Under Delaware's jurisdiction, pro-business laws and policies making incorporating businesses in Delaware easy while maintaining the utmost privacy.
Now let’s consider Wyoming.
Wyoming can also be a great choice for incorporation because of:
- Low administrative costs; generally lower than in most states
- Strong personal asset protection and data laws
- Strong fiscal health
DELAWARE | WYOMING |
- Registered companies can operate anywhere in the world, provided there is a Delaware registered agent to represent the firm locally.
- No state sales tax
- No state corporate tax for those firms that operate out of the state
- Flexible business formation and support for business creation and protection - Annual state franchise tax of $300 - Simple paperwork and little identification information to guarantee anonymity - Delaware also doesn’t tax profits on royalty payments, trademarks, or copyrights. - No minimum capitalization | - Personal asset protection laws in place to protect business owners and company officers from losing assets in the event of litigation.
- Charges only an annual filing fee to maintain the corporation of $52. - Registered agents maintain private data for businesses rather than have sensitive data on a public database. - Easy to move your business to Wyoming from another state due to the state’s option of continuance - Easy transferability of business ownership - Does not require business owners to be U.S. citizens in order to incorporate - No corporate or personal income taxes - Lifetime proxy - No minimum capitalization |
So where should you incorporate your business?
Frankly, there is little that separates Wyoming and Delaware as both states are business-friendly and provide several benefits for your business. Plus they are not expensive and save you a lot on tax bills in the long run.
You need to weigh the benefits of both states against your long-term business goals to determine which state works better for your company.
If you’re looking to incorporate your company in either of the states there is no better partner than Firstbase.io to help you do just that.
Firstbase.io is backed by Y Combinator, Carta Ventures, CEO of TransferWise, and many others. We've helped 10000+ entrepreneurs like you launch their businesses in the U.S. with only 5 minutes per application. Click here to get started.