Charterline — Form Your U.S. LLC or C-Corp in Any State

What we do

Formation first — then everything after it

Filing the company is the easy part. What actually stalls founders is the tax number, the bank that won't approve them and the deadline nobody warned them about. We cover the whole run.

LLC formation

The right structure for the overwhelming majority of new U.S. businesses. Liability protection, pass-through tax treatment, and almost no ongoing formality.

Articles of Organization drafted and filed
Custom operating agreement
EIN obtained from the IRS

Explore LLC formation

C-Corporation

What investors expect to see. Delaware or your home state, a clean 10,000-share cap table, bylaws, and the paperwork a term sheet will ask for.

Articles of Incorporation filed
Bylaws, consents and stock ledger
83(b) election instructions included

Explore incorporation

Registered agent

Every state requires one. We are a real address in all fifty, we scan legal mail the day it arrives, and your home address stays off the public record.

Same-day scanning of service of process
Compliance calendar and deadline alerts
$125 a year, in every state

Explore agent service

EIN & ITIN

Your company's federal tax number, with or without a Social Security number — and a straight answer on whether you actually need an ITIN too.

EIN with an SSN — same day
EIN without an SSN — filed and chased
ITIN on Form W-7 when it's genuinely needed

See tax identity

Banking & crypto

The gap between a filed company and one that can take money. Bank and fintech applications, payment processors, and corporate accounts at regulated exchanges.

Charged only when an account opens
Stripe, PayPal and Shopify Payments setup
Crypto corporate onboarding packs

See banking

Non-US founders

No SSN, no U.S. address, no flight. Formation, EIN, agent, address, banking and payment processing bundled into one price.

$899 all-in, plus the state fee
Saves $257 against buying it piecemeal
Banking fee only if you're approved

See the bundle

Also: business addresses, foreign qualification, trademarks, annual reports, amendments, reinstatements and dissolutions — all 32 services, all with published prices.

Our guarantees

Three promises, in writing

Each one exists because it's the thing founders are most afraid of when they hand this over.

Pay on approval

Banking and crypto account fees are charged only once an account is actually open in your company's name. If nobody approves you, you never pay for it. The risk sits with us.

Second platform free

Declined by the first bank, fintech or exchange? We rebuild the application for a second one and submit it at no extra charge. Approval criteria differ far more than people expect.

Locked renewal

Registered agent, business address and compliance renew at the price you signed up at, for as long as you stay. Not a first-year discount that triples in year two.

Real numbers

What it actually costs in your state

The state fee is set by your Secretary of State, not by us. We pass it through at cost and show it before you pay — which is why our checkout has no surprises in it.

The state fee is never marked up. What Nevada charges is what you pay Nevada.
Recurring costs are shown up front, because the annual report is the thing that catches people out.
Every figure is re-checked against the state before your filing is submitted.

Compare all fifty states

Your state

Entity

State fee$50Colorado · LLC

Charterline$299Standard package

Total today$349One-time, all in

Then yearly$10Periodic report

Among the lowest total lifetime costs in the country.

Start this filing

Registered agent included free for 12 months, then $125/yr.

How it works

Three minutes of your time

You give us the facts only you know. We do the part that involves a state government.

Tell us the basics

Company name, state, who owns it. If your name is already taken we tell you before you pay, not after the state rejects the filing.

A specialist files it

A named person on our team drafts the articles, checks them against that state's specific quirks, and submits them electronically. Same day if you order before 3pm ET.

You get the whole packet

Stamped articles, EIN letter, operating agreement or bylaws, and a compliance calendar with every date you now owe the state.

State processing times vary. Some states approve in hours; a handful take two to three weeks in busy periods. We tell you the current estimate for your state before you pay, and expedited handling is available where the state offers it.

A Charterline filing specialist reviewing formation documents at her desk — **Denver, Colorado.** Every filing is drafted and submitted by a named specialist — not a queue.

The people doing it

Someone's name is on your filing

Thirty-eight people, all on our payroll, all in the United States. When you email about your company, the reply comes from the person who drafted the articles — not from a shared inbox that routes to whoever is free.

No outsourcing. Filing operations in Denver, agent operations in Wilmington.
No commissions. Nobody here earns more for selling you a bigger package.
Phones answered in under a minute, Monday to Friday, 8am–7pm Eastern.

Meet the team

Why founders switch to us

The industry's worst habit is the upsell

You start at $0, and by the time you reach the payment screen you've been offered a "compliance kit", a "banking resolution" and a rush fee for something the state does in a day anyway. We priced the work honestly instead.

One price on the page is the price at checkout. No interstitial offers, no pre-ticked boxes.
A named specialist owns your filing from draft to approval, and you can email them directly.
Your address stays private. Our address goes on the public record, not your kitchen table.
We tell you when you don't need something. Most people asking for a Wyoming LLC should form in the state they actually live in.

How we work See full pricing

A completed formation document packet fanned out on a desk

charterline.com/dashboard

Articles of Organization Filed

EIN (Federal Tax ID) Issued

Operating agreement Signed

Registered agent Active

Beneficial ownership reportDue in 21 days

Colorado periodic reportDue Mar 2027

Every deadline the state gives you, in one place, with a reminder attached.

Honest comparison

How we stack up

We are not the cheapest sticker price in the category, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Here is where the money actually goes.

	Charterline	Typical "free" filer	Traditional law firm
Formation, standard package	$299 + state fee	$0 + state fee	$1,200–$2,500
Registered agent, year one	Included	$99–$299	$200–$400
EIN from the IRS	Included	$50–$99 add-on	Included
Operating agreement / bylaws	Drafted for you	Generic template	Drafted for you
Upsells during checkout	None	Four to seven screens	None
Who handles your file	A named filing specialist	Whoever picks up	A paralegal, billed hourly
Typical time to your documents	Same day to 10 business days	3 to 20 business days	1 to 3 weeks

Competitor figures are indicative list prices for comparable packages as of 2026 and exclude government fees. Every provider changes pricing; check theirs before you decide.

0Companies formed since 2019

0States we file in and serve as agent

0Filings accepted on first submission

0Median first response from support

Pricing

Flat packages, state fee at cost

Pick the level of help you want. The state's fee is added at cost on top — and shown to you before payment.

Starter

You know what you want and just need it filed correctly.

$99+ state fee

One-time. Registered agent sold separately at $125/yr.

Choose Starter

Includes

Name availability check
Articles prepared and filed
Digital document delivery
Compliance calendar

Standard

Everything most founders need to open a bank account and start trading.

$299+ state fee

Registered agent free for 12 months, then $125/yr.

Choose Standard

Everything in Starter, plus

Registered agent, first year free
EIN obtained from the IRS
Custom operating agreement or bylaws
Banking resolution
Beneficial ownership filing support

Premium

Multi-member, multi-state, or raising money in the next year.

$499+ state fee

Registered agent free for 12 months, then $125/yr.

Choose Premium

Everything in Standard, plus

Expedited state filing where available
Multi-member or cap-table setup
S-Corp election (Form 2553) if you want it
First annual report filed for you
30-minute call with a specialist

All prices in USD. State fees range from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts — see the full table.

Customers

What people actually say

“I'd used one of the free ones before and spent forty minutes clicking ‘no thanks’. This was one price, one screen, and the articles came back stamped the next morning.”

“They talked me out of a Wyoming LLC. I live and work in Ohio, and they explained I'd just be paying two states instead of one. That cost them money and earned my trust.”

“We incorporated in Delaware on a Thursday and had the whole package — bylaws, stock ledger, 83(b) instructions — before our Monday investor call.”

Questions

The ones we get every day

If yours isn't here, a specialist will answer it in plain English — no consultation fee, no pitch.

All questions Ask us directly

If you're running a business that pays you and a small number of partners, an LLC is almost always the answer: less formality, pass-through taxation, and no double tax on profits.

A C-Corp makes sense when you intend to raise from venture investors, issue stock options to employees, or keep profits inside the company to reinvest. Investors expect a Delaware C-Corp, and converting later is possible but costs real money.

You can, but for most small businesses it's a bad trade. If you actually operate from your home state, that state will require you to register as a foreign entity anyway — so you end up paying two sets of fees, two annual reports and two registered agents.

The exception is a company raising outside investment, where Delaware is genuinely worth it. We'll tell you honestly which camp you're in.

Every state requires your company to name a person or business with a physical in-state address who can accept lawsuits and official state mail during business hours. That's the registered agent.

You can name yourself, but your home address then appears in a public database, and you have to be there during business hours. We do it for $125 a year and scan anything that arrives the same day.

Our side takes hours. The state's side is what varies: some approve electronic filings within a day, others queue for two to three weeks in busy seasons. We show you the current estimate for your state before you pay and offer expedited handling wherever the state sells it.

No. The package price plus your state's filing fee is the total, and both are shown before you enter card details. The only recurring cost is registered agent service at $125 a year, which is free for your first twelve months on Standard and Premium.

No, and we're careful about the line. Charterline is a document filing and registered agent service. We can explain how the options generally work and file accurately, but we can't give you legal or tax advice specific to your situation. For that you want a licensed attorney or CPA — and we'll say so when the question calls for one.

Ready when you are

Three minutes to give us the details. A specialist takes it from there, and you get the whole document packet when the state signs off.

Start my company Talk to a specialist first

No account needed to get a quote · State fee shown before payment · U.S.-based support

Your company,filed properly.

Formation first — then everything after it

LLC formation

C-Corporation

Registered agent

EIN & ITIN

Banking & crypto

Non-US founders

Three promises, in writing

Pay on approval

Second platform free

Locked renewal

What it actually costs in your state

Three minutes of your time

Tell us the basics

A specialist files it

You get the whole packet

Someone's name is on your filing

The industry's worst habit is the upsell

How we stack up

Flat packages, state fee at cost

What people actually say

The ones we get every day

Ready when you are

Your company,
filed properly.