Doing Business in Another State

Doing Business in Another State › States › Delaware

Doing business in Delaware from another state

If your LLC does business in Delaware as Delaware defines it, you register with the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations for $200.

Step 1: put these questions to Delaware’s law

  1. An employee or contractor works from the state. Ask whether the statute counts work done by people located in the state, and whether employees and independent contractors are treated alike.
  2. You sell to customers there but have no one on the ground. Ask whether the statute treats sales from outside the state differently from activity inside it.
  3. The LLC owns or leases property there. Ask whether owning or leasing real estate is listed as an activity that does, or does not, count.
  4. You open an office, shop or warehouse. Ask whether a fixed place of business is named in the statute. Settle the answer before you sign a lease.
  5. You hold meetings or keep a bank account there. Ask whether the statute lists these ancillary activities, and whether they count by themselves.

The law, as listed in the state’s own sources: Delaware Code Title 6, chapter 18, subchapter XI (fees and annual tax).

Step 2: if the answer is yes

Form
Certificate of Registration of a Foreign Limited Liability Company
Fee
$200
Paper from your home state
Certificate of existence from the jurisdiction of formation, no older than 180 days
Agent
A registered agent in Delaware

Best 3 Foreign Registration Services in Delaware (2026)

Step 3: if you would rather not file it yourself.

#ServiceService feeDelaware feeAgent
1Mainstay Filing$199$200Year one included, then $149/yr
2DE Registered Agent.org$199$200Year one included, then $99/yr
3Delaware Registered Agent.ai$199$200Year one included, then $99/yr

Service prices read from each provider’s Delaware page on October 28, 2026. The state fee is the official figure below and is paid to the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations.

Delaware questions

When does an LLC from another state have to register in Delaware?

When its activity in Delaware meets Delaware’s own definition of doing business. We do not paraphrase it; read it in the law linked below.

What does registering in Delaware cost?

$200 to the Delaware Department of State, Division of Corporations.

What is required after registering?

Annual LLC tax (Delaware Division of Corporations; no annual report), $400 (due: june 1), and a registered agent in Delaware.

Sources