2026 tax year
Delaware vs Wyoming LLC
Two different regimes, not two price points.
Forming in Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada does not remove tax or registration obligations in the state where your business actually operates. An out-of-state entity doing business in its owner's state must usually register there as a foreign entity and pay that state's taxes anyway.
These two get compared as though they were competing on price. They are not really competing at all, they are used by different people for different reasons, and the fee difference is the least interesting thing about them.
One has a franchise tax with a trap in it. The other has no franchise tax.
Delaware charges its LLCs a flat annual tax and asks for no annual report at all. Its corporations are the opposite: a report every March and a franchise tax computed one of two ways. And Delaware bills the authorized shares method by default. For a corporation with millions of authorized shares and a modest balance sheet that default runs into five figures, while the assumed par value method produces a fraction of it. Delaware is not obliged to calculate the cheaper one, and the bill does not mention it.
Wyoming has no franchise tax to have a trap in. Its annual charge is a license tax defined as the greater of $60 or two ten-thousandths of a dollar per dollar of assets located in Wyoming, which means the floor holds for any business without substantial Wyoming property.
So the comparison is not $X against $Y. It is a regime where the amount depends on your share structure and on knowing which method to elect, against a regime where the amount is $60 unless you own things in Wyoming.
What each charges
| State | Entity | Formation | Foreign registration | Annual report | Annual tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | LLC | $110 | $200 | none required | $300 |
| Delaware | Corporation | $109 minimum | $245 | $50 | not established |
| Wyoming | LLC | $100 | $150 | $60 | not established |
| Wyoming | Corporation | $100 | $150 | $60 | not established |
A figure marked "minimum" scales with authorized shares or capital. The real amount depends on a share structure this calculator does not ask for, so any total containing it is a floor.
Delaware in detail
Delaware LLCs: a flat annual tax due in June, no annual report, and a late penalty plus monthly interest if missed.
Delaware corporations: an annual report due March 1 at $50 domestic. But $125 and due June 30 if the corporation is foreign. The franchise tax is paid with the report, and corporations owing $5,000 or more pay it in quarterly instalments.
Wyoming in detail
Identical treatment for LLCs and corporations: the same formation fee, the same foreign qualification fee, and the same license tax formula.
No corporate income tax, no personal income tax, no gross receipts tax. Series LLCs add a small charge per series.
The short answer
If you are choosing on cost alone and have no Wyoming assets, Wyoming is cheaper and simpler. Whether cost alone is the right basis is a different question, and one this calculator does not answer.
Run it on your own state and figures
Your operating state is not preset here, because it decides the answer. Set where you live and where the work happens, and the comparison keeps that state's obligations on every column, which is what makes the totals honest.
What decides the numbers
Registered agent prices are a typical market range, not an official fee. Acting as your own agent needs an address in that state, so it is only offered where you live or work.
What changes the warnings, not the arithmetic
Set your states and figures above, then press Compare.
Questions
Which one do investors expect?
Investor preferences about structure are a conversation with the investors and with a lawyer, not a figure on this page. This calculator measures cost, and cost is not why anyone chooses between these two for a funded company.
Delaware LLCs file no annual report. Is that a saving?
Not really, the flat annual tax replaces it and is larger than most states' report fees. The saving is in effort rather than money.
Why does the Delaware column sometimes show a plus sign?
Because the Delaware corporation formation fee is marked as varying with stock, so the figure shown is a minimum rather than a price. Any total containing it is a floor.
Related
- Compare every state
- California vs Wyoming LLC
- Wyoming vs Nevada LLC
- Delaware vs Nevada
- Delaware franchise tax calculator
General information about what states charge, not tax advice. And not legal advice either. Choosing where and how to form a business involves legal questions beyond cost. Take advice before filing.