Delaware Division of Corporations — contact, fees, and licensing
Official Resource
Delaware Official SOS WebsiteDelaware's business entity registrations are handled by the Division of Corporations within the Department of State. Delaware is unusually corporation-friendly by design — its General Corporation Law and Court of Chancery have made it the formation jurisdiction of choice for a large proportion of U.S. publicly traded companies and many venture-backed startups, regardless of where those companies actually operate.
Updated August 2026
Office contact
- Street / courier address
- John G. Townsend Building, 401 Federal Street, Suite 4, Dover, DE 19901
- Mailing address
- Division of Corporations, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903
- Phone
- (302) 739-3073
- Corporations email
- corp@delaware.gov
- Franchise Tax email
- DOSDOC_Ftax@delaware.gov
- Phone hours
- Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (excluding state holidays)
- Document request service hours
- Mon–Thu 7:45 a.m.–11:59 p.m. / Fri 7:45 a.m.–10:30 p.m.
- Division homepage
- corp.delaware.gov
- Document request portal
- icis.corp.delaware.gov/ecorp2
Entity formation and filing fees
Fees below are from the Division's official fee schedule, revised August 1, 2026 under House Bill 400 (signed into law May 21, 2026). Verify current amounts at corp.delaware.gov/fee before filing. All fees are non-refundable. Delaware also charges separate expedited service fees — same-day service is $100–$200 depending on document type; 1-hour priority service is $1,000 per document and 2-hour priority is $500 per document (HB 400 raised the statutory maximums for these expedited tiers, but the published fee schedule had not been updated to the new maximums as of August 2026).
| Filing | Standard fee |
|---|---|
| LLC — Certificate of Formation | $110 |
| LLC — Annual Tax (due June 1 each year) | $300 |
| Corporation — Certificate of Incorporation (base rate; increases with authorized stock) | $109 |
| Corporation — Annual Report fee (non-exempt) | $50 |
| Corporation — Franchise Tax (minimum, Authorized Shares Method) | $175 |
| Exempt Corporation — Annual Report (no franchise tax) | $25 |
| Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Partnership — filing | $200 |
| LP / GP / LLP — Annual Tax | $300 |
| Name Reservation (120 days, all entity types) | $75 |
| Certificate of Good Standing — Short Form | $50 |
| Certificate of Good Standing — Long Form | $175 |
Delaware's LLC Certificate of Formation fee is $110. Corporation fees are tiered by authorized capital — the $109 base applies to standard 1-page incorporations; the Division publishes fee calculators for larger stock authorizations. Name reservations cost $75 in Delaware, compared to $10–$25 in most states.
House Bill 400 also raises Delaware's flat annual entity taxes, effective for the 2026 tax year and first reflected in taxes due in 2027: the alternative-entity tax for LLCs, limited partnerships, and general partnerships rises from $300 to $400, and the per-partner tax for LLPs and LLLPs rises from $200 to $300 (subject to the applicable statutory cap). The $300 LLC/LP/GP annual tax and other amounts shown above are the rates in effect for tax year 2025, due June 1, 2026.
Key Delaware state licensing agencies
Delaware Division of Revenue
- What it covers
- Delaware business licenses (required to operate in Delaware), gross receipts tax, withholding tax, trade name registrations (DBAs moved here effective February 2, 2026)
- Website
- revenue.delaware.gov
Delaware One Stop Business Registration
- What it covers
- Consolidated portal for all state and local licenses, certificates, and registrations — including trade names since February 2026
- Website
- onestop.delaware.gov
First Steps Delaware
- What it covers
- Guidance portal for new businesses — step-by-step checklists for common business types
- Website
- firststeps.delaware.gov
This guide is informational only and is not affiliated with the Delaware Division of Corporations or any state agency listed above. Contact information and fees verified against official Delaware Division of Corporations sources, August 2026. Fee schedule effective August 1, 2026 under House Bill 400. Verify current fees at the official state website. Last verified: August 2026.