No hedging, no filler, and no answer that exists only to sell you the next package. If something here still doesn't fit your situation, a specialist will take the question for free.
Not always. If you're testing an idea with no customers, no contracts and no employees, a sole proprietorship costs nothing and you can form later without losing anything. Form an entity when you take on real liability: signing a lease, hiring someone, taking client money, selling a physical product, or holding property.
The one case for forming early is when a customer or platform requires a registered business to contract with you.
Are you selling equity to outside investors within about two years? If yes, C-Corp, almost certainly Delaware. If no, LLC in the state you actually operate from. That single question resolves it for the overwhelming majority of people.
The full comparison table covers the edge cases.
An S-Corp isn't an entity type — it's a tax election an LLC or corporation makes with the IRS. It can cut self-employment tax once profit is comfortably into six figures, in exchange for running payroll and filing a separate return. Below roughly $60,000 of net profit the compliance usually costs more than the saving. Ask your CPA to run your actual numbers.
The state you live and operate in, unless you're raising venture capital (then Delaware) or forming a pure holding entity with no state ties (then privacy and cost start to matter). Forming in a "cheap" state you don't operate from generally means foreign-qualifying at home anyway, doubling your paperwork rather than saving anything.
Compare the real numbers on the state fees page.
Yes, for both LLCs and corporations. There's no citizenship or residency requirement to own a U.S. entity. You'll need a registered agent with a physical address in the state, and getting an EIN without a Social Security number takes weeks rather than minutes because it can't be done through the online IRS tool. We file that route regularly.
Banking is the harder part — most U.S. banks want an in-person visit or a U.S. address. Tax treatment for non-resident owners is genuinely complex; get a CPA who specialises in it before your first filing deadline.
Our part takes hours. The state's part is what varies, from same-day electronic approval to two or three weeks in a busy season. We show the current estimate for your state before you pay, and offer expedited handling wherever the state sells it. Orders placed before 3pm Eastern are submitted the same business day.
We search the state register before drafting anything and tell you the same day. States reject names that are identical or "deceptively similar" to an existing entity, which is a broader test than most people expect — adding "Inc" or dropping a space usually isn't enough.
A state name check is not a trademark clearance. If you plan to build a brand on the name, run a proper trademark search too.
We can pay for expedited processing in the states that offer it — Delaware, for example, sells 24-hour, same-day and even one-hour service at rising fees. In states that don't offer expediting, no provider can genuinely speed the queue up, and anyone charging you a "rush fee" there is charging you for their own turnaround, not the state's.
We correct and resubmit at no cost to you, and we cover the re-filing fee if the error was ours. That's rare — 99.4% of our filings are accepted on first submission — and it's the reason we run a name check and a state-specific review before anything is sent.
Absolutely. Every state accepts direct filings, and for a simple single-member LLC in a straightforward state it's a genuinely reasonable option — we'll say so if you ask. What you're paying us for is the drafting, the state-specific quirks, the EIN, an agent address that isn't your house, and someone who notices a deadline three years from now.
An Employer Identification Number is your company's federal tax ID — a Social Security number for the business. You need one to open a business bank account, hire anyone, or file most business tax returns. Single-member LLCs with no employees can technically use the owner's SSN, but every bank will ask for an EIN anyway.
It's free from the IRS if you have an SSN and twenty minutes. We include it in Standard and Premium, or charge $60 to handle it on Starter.
With a Social Security number, it's issued instantly through the IRS online tool during its operating hours. Without one, the application goes by fax or mail and typically takes several weeks. We handle both, and we set expectations honestly on the second route because it's the single most common cause of a delayed bank account.
A federal report identifying the individuals who ultimately own or control a company, filed with FinCEN rather than with a state. The scope and deadlines have been amended more than once since 2024 and remain subject to change.
Because the rules keep moving, we tell you what currently applies to your entity at the time you file rather than printing a rule here that may be out of date by the time you read it. Standard and Premium include support with the filing.
No. We file formation and compliance documents with states and the IRS forms directly tied to them — SS-4 for an EIN, 2553 for an S-Corp election. Income tax returns are a CPA's job, and you want an ongoing relationship with one rather than a filing service that touches your return once a year.
No, and neither can anyone else. Every regulated bank, fintech and exchange has to verify the beneficial owner directly — that's the law, and an account opened by a third party in your name is a fraud problem waiting to become yours.
What we do is prepare the application to the platform's exact standard, tell you which providers are approving founders from your country this month, submit it alongside you and handle the follow-up questions. You complete identity verification yourself. The full explanation is here.
We rebuild the application for a second platform and submit it at no extra charge — approval criteria differ far more between providers than most people expect. And because the banking fee is only charged once an account is actually open, a decline costs you nothing.
If we think your industry or jurisdiction won't be approved anywhere, we say so before you pay rather than after.
Probably not, and this is one of the most over-sold services in the industry. An ITIN is a personal tax number for individuals who must file a U.S. return but can't get an SSN. It is not required to form a company, get an EIN, or open a bank account.
You likely need one if you personally have a U.S. filing obligation, or a platform is withholding 30% from your payouts and you want to claim a treaty rate. We charge $349 and we'll tell you on the call if you can skip it.
We prepare corporate onboarding packs for regulated exchanges: certified formation documents, an ownership and control chart, a certificate of good standing, and the source-of-funds narrative that stalls most corporate applications. Then we walk you through the application.
You complete KYC yourself — we're deliberately not part of that step. We also screen before taking the work on, because some industries and jurisdictions won't be approved anywhere and we'd rather say so than take your money. More detail here.
Realistically three to five weeks. The IRS online tool is closed to applicants without an SSN, so Form SS-4 goes by fax or mail and waits in a queue. Anyone promising 24 hours on that route is either guessing or charging you for luck.
It's the long pole in the whole process — no bank account, no Stripe and no payment processing can start until it lands, which is why we file it the day your articles are approved.
Partly, and it's worth being precise. Wyoming, New Mexico and Delaware don't publish member names in the state formation record, and our address goes on the filing instead of yours. That keeps you out of a searchable public database.
It does not make you untraceable. Your bank knows exactly who you are, federal beneficial ownership reporting applies where required, and we don't set up nominee owners or directors. If untraceable ownership is the goal, we're the wrong firm and we'll tell you that on the first call.
At minimum: file your state's annual or biennial report, pay any franchise tax, keep a registered agent appointed, and file your federal and state tax returns. Corporations add an annual shareholder meeting, board consents for significant decisions, and a maintained stock ledger.
Your compliance calendar lists every one of these with dates and reminders. Cadences vary a lot by state — Ohio asks for nothing, Massachusetts wants $500.
A late fee first, then loss of good standing, then administrative dissolution — typically after one to two missed cycles. A dissolved entity can lose its liability protection and its name, and you may be personally exposed for anything the business does while it's dissolved. Most states allow reinstatement, but it costs considerably more than the report would have.
Keep the company genuinely separate from you. A dedicated business bank account, no paying personal expenses from it, contracts signed in the company's name, adequate funding for what the business does, and your state filings kept current. Courts set the shield aside when an entity is a formality on paper and the owner's wallet in practice.
Any time. It's a one-page statement of change per state, and we file it and cover the state's change fee when you're switching to us. There's no lock-in and no notice period. More on switching.
Don't just stop filing. Settle debts, make final distributions, file a final tax return, then file articles of dissolution with the state and cancel any foreign registrations. Abandoning an entity leaves accruing fees and penalties in your name and can complicate your next business. We file dissolutions for $149 plus the state fee.
No. Charterline is a document filing and registered agent service. We are not attorneys or accountants, we don't provide legal or tax advice, and using this site doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. We explain how things generally work and file accurately — and when your question needs a licensed professional, we say so rather than guessing.
Ask it. There's no consultation fee and no obligation, and we'll tell you if the answer is "you don't need us for this".