Choosing the state where you'll form your Incorporation

Incorporation works slightly different from state to state. Accordingly, we sell different do-it-yourself kits for different states.

If you want more information about a particular state's do-it-yourself kit or if you want to purchase a do-it-yourself kit, click on your state:

Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | Wisconsin | West Virginia | Wyoming

Warning: Almost always, the right state to incorporate in is either the state where your small business operates or the state where you're a resident. Incorporating in Delaware when you're not a Delaware business doesn't really make sense. (You're not General Electric or Microsoft, afterall.) And thinking you can incorporate in some other, low-tax state (like Nevada when you're in California) works only if you and your accountant ignore tax laws. (Tax law would always require you to pay income taxes to the state where your business operates.) Note, too, that if you want a more lengthy discussion of the right state to incorporate in, you can read another article that Steve wrote on this subject at :

Which state should I use for my new LLC?

While the aforementioned article talks about LLCs, the concepts apply to corporations, too.