What does it cost to open a corporation?
Work out what forming a corporation will really cost, and what you can skip. The one unavoidable cost is your state's Articles of Incorporation filing fee; a registered agent, bylaws and stock records, and an incorporation service or attorney are optional, and there is a recurring franchise tax or annual report to keep the corporation active. The EIN is free from the IRS, and electing S-corp status is a free tax form rather than a paid second filing. The calculator sums the first year and separates the required from the upsell.
Typical range $180 – $250
- State filing fee (one-time)$100
- Registered agent (per year)$0
- Bylaws, minutes & stock records (one-time)$0
- Incorporation service or attorney (one-time)$0
- Name reservation & related state fees (one-time)$0
- Franchise tax / annual report (per year)$100
- Total$200
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Under about $300 first year means you filed the Articles yourself in a low-fee state, prepared the bylaws and stock records from templates, and act as your own registered agent. The honest low-cost way to incorporate a single-owner company.
What this assumes, and where it could be wrong
Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.
THE EIN IS FREE, AND SO IS THE S-CORP ELECTION.
The state filing fee is the one cost you cannot avoid, and it varies a lot. Filing the Articles of Incorporation with the state is what actually creates the corporation, and the fee ranges from around fifty dollars to several hundred depending on the state. Look up your specific state; it is the floor of what incorporating costs and the number to build the rest of the estimate from.
A corporation carries more internal paperwork than an LLC, and that is where the difference shows. An LLC runs on an operating agreement; a corporation needs bylaws, an organizational meeting with recorded minutes, and a stock ledger showing the shares issued to the founders. None of that has to be expensive, because templates and records kits cover a straightforward single-owner corporation, but it is real work that an LLC does not require, so budget for it even if you do it yourself.
The ongoing cost matters more than the setup for most owners. Incorporating is a one-time fee; keeping the corporation active is a yearly franchise tax or annual report, plus a registered-agent fee if you use a service. A few states charge little to maintain a corporation; others, like California, set a large minimum franchise tax every year. Over several years the recurring cost usually exceeds the setup, so weigh the yearly number, not just the first bill.
The defaults are ours and are a starting point, and the fees are your state's. The filing fee, the franchise tax, and any name-reservation or expedite charge all depend on where you incorporate, so replace the defaults with your state's actual numbers for a real estimate. An attorney is worth paying when you have multiple founders, outside investors, or more than one class of stock; a single-owner corporation can usually be filed directly with the state.