Business Formation & Incorporation
KelliWorks: Your Partner in Forming and Protecting Your Business
Starting a company means navigating state paperwork, licensing, and compliance rules that change depending on where you're forming, and getting it wrong can cost you time and money later. KelliWorks handles the entire formation process for you, from filing your LLC or corporation to keeping you compliant year after year.
How It Works
Four simple steps to your new business
Tell us your proposed business name, entity type, and state of formation.
Enter details for each owner or member — we collect everything our filing partner needs for your formation.
A few quick questions about your anticipated revenue, employees, and any add-ons like EIN or expedited filing.
Pay once, securely via Stripe. Your order is submitted to our filing partner only after payment is confirmed.
Your One-Stop Shop for Starting a Business
From your first filing to your annual report, KelliWorks manages the entire lifecycle of your business entity so you can focus on running your company instead of tracking deadlines.
Our Business Formation Services
We obtain your federal Employer Identification Number as part of formation, so you're ready to open a business bank account and start operating.
We obtain your federal Employer Identification Number as part of formation, so you're ready to open a business bank account and start operating.
We act as your registered agent, receiving legal and state documents on your business's behalf and keeping you compliant in every state you operate in.
We help you get your business bank account open and ready to go as soon as your entity is formed.
We track your state's filing deadlines, annual, biannual, or quarterly, and handle the ongoing filings so your business stays in good standing.
Need an S-Corp election, business license research, or a BOI report? We can add these to your formation package.
Choose the turnaround that fits your timeline. We'll walk you through the options for your state.
You work directly with KelliWorks throughout formation and beyond. We coordinate everything on your behalf so you're not managing multiple vendors.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
OUR New business formation service:
The questions we hear most from new business owners.
For most people, your home state is the right answer. If you live in Texas, form in Texas. If you live in Oregon, form in Oregon. Delaware, Wyoming, and Nevada get marketed heavily, but they only make practical sense in a few specific situations: You are raising venture capital or have institutional investors You have real operations, employees, or property in that other state You own investment real estate there You are building a company that may be acquired or go public If none of those apply to you right now, forming out of state creates a problem you may not expect. You will still need to register in your home state anyway (as a "foreign LLC"), which means you are paying fees and filing compliance requirements in two states with nothing to show for it.
A foreign LLC is what it is called when an LLC does business in a state other than where it was originally formed. The word "foreign" has nothing to do with international business. It just means formed somewhere else. Here is where it catches people off guard: you form a Wyoming LLC because you saw an ad for it, but you actually run the business from your home in Ohio. Ohio sees you doing business there and requires you to register your Wyoming LLC as a foreign LLC in Ohio. Now you are paying formation fees in Wyoming, annual fees in Wyoming, a registered agent fee in Wyoming, and Ohio registration fees, Ohio annual filings, and Ohio ongoing compliance. You have doubled the paperwork with nothing to show for it on the other end.
Delaware is a legitimate choice, but for a narrower list of businesses than most people realize. It makes sense when:
- You are raising a Series A or beyond (most VC firms require Delaware entities)
- You are building a company toward an acquisition or IPO
- You need to issue stock options or equity to employees or advisors
- You have multiple outside investors who need formal governance structures
That is the honest list. Solo service providers, freelancers, local businesses, online stores, and most single-owner operations have no practical reason to choose Delaware over their home state. The advice to "just form in Delaware" floats around a lot online, but it was written with venture-backed startups in mind, not the average new business owner. You can always convert or restructure later if your growth path calls for it.
No. For online and virtual businesses, your registration state is based on where you the owner manage and operate the business from, not where your customers happen to be. If you work from your home office in North Carolina and sell to customers across all 50 states, North Carolina is your home base. You do not need to register in every state where a customer places an order.
The exceptions are real, though. If you have employees in another state, a warehouse there, a physical office, or meaningful operations in that state, those things can create registration requirements. Having customers there alone does not trigger it.
Not if you live somewhere else. This is one of the most common misconceptions about LLC formation.
LLCs are pass-through entities by default. Your profits pass through to your personal tax return, and you pay income tax based on where you live, not where the LLC was formed. If you live in Georgia and form a Wyoming LLC, you still owe Georgia state income tax on your business income. Wyoming's lack of state income tax does not help you because you are not a Wyoming resident.
Wyoming and Nevada's tax advantages only benefit people who actually live and work in those states. For everyone else, forming there adds costs without removing any tax obligation you already have.
The math works against most people. Here is a realistic example: someone living in Illinois forms in Wyoming instead of Illinois.
- Wyoming costs: formation fee around $100, registered agent $50 to $150 per year, annual report $60 per year
- Illinois foreign registration (still required): $150 to $500 depending on entity type, plus Illinois annual fees and compliance
If they had just formed in Illinois to begin with, they would have one formation fee, one set of annual requirements, and nothing else. The out-of-state route typically runs $300 to $600 more per year for most small businesses, and the extra cost buys nothing.
The honest answer is a narrower list than most people expect. Delaware makes sense for:
- Tech startups and SaaS companies planning to raise institutional funding
- Companies being built toward a sale or public offering
- Businesses that need to issue equity compensation to employees or contractors
- Companies with multiple outside shareholders who need formal governance from day one
If your business does not fit one of those descriptions right now, your home state is the right starting point. Structure follows the business, not the other way around.
Form where you actually live and run the business from, unless you have a specific reason not to.
For virtual businesses and remote owners, "where you operate" is generally determined by where you make decisions, manage clients, perform services, and run the business day to day. If that is your home state, start there.
The real exceptions (investor requirements, real estate in a specific state, genuine multi-state operations) exist, but they are the exception, not the rule. If anything about your situation feels complicated, a short conversation with a business attorney or CPA before you file is almost always worth the cost.
Not sure where to form or what structure is right for you?
Answer 5 questions and we’ll point you toward a starting recommendation for your state, entity type, and tax classification. Takes about 90 seconds.
Where do you live and primarily run your business from?
Your location is the single biggest factor in choosing a formation state.
What best describes your business?
Pick the closest match. This shapes your entity and tax options.
Do you plan to raise outside investment?
Venture capital and institutional investors have strong opinions about entity structure.
What do you expect your annual net profit to be?
Net profit after business expenses, before taxes. This affects which tax structure makes sense.
How is the business structured?
Ownership and team setup affects which entity types are available to you.
This quiz is for general educational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice.
Talk to a licensed attorney and CPA before making final decisions about your business structure.