How to form an LLC in Delaware (2026)

What are the steps to form an LLC in Delaware?

Delaware keeps formation short, with one document to file and one agent to name, and the ongoing cost is a yearly tax.

Below is the full sequence in order, with the state's fee and the form or method named for each step where Delaware publishes one.

1. Check that your LLC name is available with the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations. You can reserve a name for $75 for 120 days.
2. Name a registered agent in Delaware: a person or company with a Delaware address who accepts legal papers for the LLC.
3. File the Certificate of Formation ($110) with the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations. The state fee is $110. Filing methods: Online via the Document Filing and Certificate Request Service, or by mail.
4. Wait for approval: No fixed time; regular (non-expedited) processing varies with volume. Faster options: LLC formation: 24-hour +$50, same day +$100.
5. There is no recurring annual report for Delaware LLCs.

The agent step has a Delaware twist. Under 6 Del. C. § 18-104, the registered office may but need not be a place of its business in the State of Delaware, and the list of who may act as agent starts with the LLC itself. The office still has to be in Delaware, so an owner with no Delaware address names a Delaware resident or an agent company.³

Choosing a service instead of filing on your own is a separate question. The Delaware LLC services comparison sorts every provider by our rating and shows its first-year total with the Delaware fee added.

How do you check and reserve a Delaware LLC name?

Check the name against the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations records before you file. If you need time, a reservation costs $75 and holds the name for 120 days.⁴

Reserving is optional. It can help when the paperwork waits on partners signing up or a bank account opening, and you want the name held meanwhile. A name that is ready to file can go straight onto the Certificate of Formation.

Who can be the registered agent for a Delaware LLC?

Delaware law lists four kinds of agent. The agent may be the LLC itself, an individual resident in Delaware, a domestic LLC, corporation, partnership or statutory trust, or a foreign corporation, LLP, LP, LLC or statutory trust, according to 6 Del. C. § 18-104.³

Every option shares one condition. The statute describes an agent having a business office identical with such registered office, and the registered office has to be in Delaware. So an LLC can act for itself only if it has a Delaware address where legal papers can be delivered. A founder in California or Florida with no Delaware office has no address to list, and would need a Delaware resident or an agent company instead.³

Service prices for the agent differ by provider. Northwest Registered Agent lists its service at $125 per year, Bizee (formerly Incfile) includes it for the first year with formation and then charges $149/year, and Inc Authority includes it for the first year and then renews it at $249/year. The list of services with an agent included compares those terms, and Bizee's pricing page shows its own.^{5, 6, 7}

How do you file the Certificate of Formation, and how fast is it?

Delaware accepts the Certificate of Formation online through its Document Filing and Certificate Request Service or by mail. Mailed requests need a cover sheet. The state publishes no standard review time; regular work varies with volume.^{8, 9}

The state sells two rush tiers for an LLC formation, each charged on top of the $110 filing fee.¹

1. Review within a day, listed as 24-hour +$50.¹
2. Review on the same day, listed as same day +$100.¹

Neither tier changes the filing itself. It only moves the document up the queue at the Division of Corporations.

A formation service adds its own clock in front of the state's. Some services state a time to prepare and submit, and that time ends when the document reaches Delaware, not when it is approved. The LLC timeline guide explains the gap between the two, and the fastest stated filing list compares the providers' published times.

What does a Delaware LLC cost in the first and second year?

Year one costs the $110 filing fee plus any plan or rush fee. From year two, the fixed state cost is the $400 annual tax, plus any agent or plan renewal.^{1, 2}

The table gives each provider's first-year total in Delaware with the plan we compare. Rows follow our rating, highest first, with ties in the editorial order set out in how we rate.

First year: state filing fee plus the provider's compared plan. Second year: the recurring state fee plus the plan's renewal, if it renews. In Delaware that includes the $400 yearly LLC tax.

Totals are our arithmetic on the published figures. Registered agent renewals are extra unless a plan includes the agent. Try other plans in the calculator.

Read the two columns differently. The second-year column adds the $400 annual tax to each plan's renewal, along with the state's report fee, which is $0 in Delaware because there is no report. The first-year column leaves the tax out. That matches the timing: the state's tax page says "The annual taxes for the prior year are due on or before June 1st", so the tax for the year you form is paid the following year, due on or before June 1.^{2, 10}

Agent renewals are also outside the second-year column unless the plan includes the agent for good. Inc Authority is the clearest case. Its Free LLC plan totals $110 in the first year, the filing fee and nothing more, and then its agent renews at $249/year. Northwest Registered Agent totals $149, and its $125/yr agent renewal starts after the first year. The Inc Authority profile and Northwest profile list what else each plan leaves out.^{7, 11}

To run your own mix, try the LLC cost calculator. The lowest-cost services list and the national LLC cost guide compare the same figures without the Delaware tax.

What does a Delaware LLC pay or file each year?

A Delaware LLC files no annual report. The state's page puts it plainly: "There is no requirement to file an Annual Report." What the LLC owes instead is the $400 annual tax, due on or before June 1.²

The tax page gives the same $400 figure for domestic and foreign LLCs alike and doesn't publish any scale tied to income.²

Paying late is costly. Delaware adds a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month on the tax and the penalty, so a missed payment grows each month it stays open.²

An LLC that loses its standing can be brought back through revival, Delaware's word for reinstatement. The revival filing costs $220, and any unpaid annual taxes and penalties are not included in this figure.¹

Plans that promise annual report filing need a closer look here, since there is no Delaware report to file. Ask a provider whether its compliance service pays or reminds you about the annual tax before counting on it. The package contents guide separates filings a plan makes from reminders it sends.

How do you change a Delaware registered agent?

You change agents by filing a Certificate of Amendment Changing Only the Registered Office or Registered Agent of a Limited Liability Company, and the state fee is $50. File it before you cancel the old service so the LLC never goes without one.^{1, 12}

Delaware treats a gap seriously. When an agent resigns without naming a successor, it must give the LLC at least 30 days' written notice, and the resignation takes effect 30 days after the certificate is filed. If the LLC doesn't designate a new agent within 30 days of the agent's resignation, its certificate of formation is canceled, under 6 Del. C. § 18-104.³

So a resignation letter from an agent is a deadline, not a notice to file away. The registered agent included list shows which plans include an agent and for how long.

What if your LLC was formed outside Delaware?

An LLC formed in another state registers in Delaware with a Foreign Certificate of Registration, and the fee is $200. The state's tax page also lists foreign LLCs among those that pay the $400 annual tax.^{1, 2}

The reverse case comes up too. An owner who forms in Delaware but runs the business from another state may find that state expects its own foreign registration. That is a question for an accountant or lawyer in the state where the work happens. The state fees table compares formation and recurring report fees across states, including Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.