What a corporation costs, state by state.
The question has a different answer in every state, and two answers in each: what the state charges to put the corporation on the register, and what it asks for every year afterwards. The second one compounds. On top of that sits the tax election, which is federal, and the state treatment of it, which is not. Pick your state for the whole picture.
Four things that change with your state.
Nobody forms a corporation once and never hears from the state again. What it takes to start and what it takes to stay are separate questions, and states answer them independently of one another.
What the state charges to form
Every state charges to put a corporation on the register, and the amount is set by that state alone. It is the figure people quote when they compare jurisdictions, and it is the one that matters least over a few years, because it happens once.
What recurs annually
After formation, states want to be told the company still exists. That arrives as an annual report, sometimes with a state level charge attached to it and sometimes without, on a cycle the state sets. Over time this line, rather than the formation filing, is what separates one state from another.
C-corp or S-corp
The S-corp election is federal and does not change the entity, only how its profit is taxed. States do not follow that uniformly. Some tax the corporation at state level regardless, others have no state income tax at all, so the same election lands differently depending on where you are.
When the state's year turns
States count the year differently. Some run the annual obligation from the anniversary of incorporation, others from a fixed date applied to every company on the register. It decides whether a corporation formed late in the year has months before its first annual filing, or weeks.
The first number is the one people compare. The second is the one they live with.
Pick your state.
Each state page sets out what that state charges to form a corporation, what it asks for each year afterwards, how it treats a C-corp against an S-corp, and where the two figures put it relative to everywhere else on this list.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
Comparing states is a fine exercise and rarely the deciding one, because most corporations are formed where the business actually operates. The steps below assume that decision is already made.
Check your state
What the state charges to form a corporation, and what it asks for each year afterwards. Both are on the state page, and the second is the one worth reading twice.
Pick the tax lane
A C-corp by default, or an S-corp election on top of it. The election is federal and filed separately, and what your state does with it is covered on the state page.
We file the incorporation
Prepared on your state's current forms and filed with the office that takes them. You get the recorded incorporation and the date the annual clock starts running from.
Book the annual date
The annual filing is the part that actually recurs, and it arrives on the state's schedule rather than yours. It goes on the calendar the day the corporation exists.
Forming is a one-off. The annual filing is the relationship.
The rest of What it costs.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Annual report cost
Annual report cost, state by state
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What an LLC costs, state by state
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Trademark cost, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on What it costs.
The questions people ask before they incorporate.
What does a corporation cost to start?
One state filing, plus whatever else you choose to put around it. The filing charge is set by the state, it is charged once, and it varies widely from one jurisdiction to another. What it does not include is the recurring side, which is where states differ most: an annual report, a state level annual charge, or in a few states nothing due at state level each year.
What recurs after the first year?
The annual filing, on the state's cycle. Most states want a report confirming the corporation still exists and that its details are current. Some attach a state level charge to that and some do not. The cadence and the date are set by the state rather than by you, and missing the date is what puts the corporation's standing on the register at risk.
Does the S-corp election change what I pay?
It changes how profit is taxed federally, not what the state charges to keep the corporation registered. The two are separate lines. Some states tax the corporation at state level regardless of the federal election, others have no state income tax to apply at all, so an election worth making in one state can be neutral in another. Each state page compares the two.
What is the difference between a C-corp and an S-corp?
One is the default and the other is an election on top of it. A corporation is a C-corp unless it elects S-corp treatment federally, and that election changes how profit is taxed rather than what the company legally is. The state's treatment is a separate question again, which is why the comparison appears on every state page rather than once nationally.
When is the first annual filing due?
It depends how your state counts the year. States that run from the anniversary of incorporation give you a full one. States that use a fixed date apply the same one to every company on the register, so a corporation formed shortly before that date can face its first annual filing almost immediately. It is worth knowing which kind of state you are in before choosing a formation date.
What happens if the annual filing is missed?
The corporation stays on the register, but its standing changes, and that is the part noticed at a bank, in a financing round or during a sale. Getting back to good standing is its own piece of work, separate from simply filing on time. States differ on how long they wait and what they call the status in the meantime, which is one more reason to protect the annual date.
Keep going, in order.
What it costs
Every hub in what it costs, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
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