Don?t forget Arizona! Because you are operating a ?
Foreign Corporation? in Arizona, they?ll want to know about it so they can collect taxes. Arizona (as do most states) requires that you file a Certificate of Authority to do business in the state with a filing fee of $300! To file this document, you must submit also a Certificate of Good Standing from Delaware ($25 more to DE for this document). Keep in mind, to incorporate in Arizona only costs $50. Lastly, Arizona will still require you to file an Annual Report (with $45 in additional fees) every year.
QUICKER PROCESSING
Like the lowering of fees, most states offer more ?
Expedited Service? now (often for a ?reasonable? bribe? I mean, ?fee?). Some states are every bit as quick as Delaware or Nevada.
PRO-BUSINESS COURTS
This is a great reason, especially if your name is IBM, you operate in over one hundred countries and you get sued a lot! However, for a very small business, which may never venture outside of the state in which they operate, there?s another problem: choice of forum. For example, let?s say John?s Florists, Inc. is a Nevada corporation operating in Texas which gets sued by one of John?s floral suppliers, a company based in California. Since John chose to incorporate in NV partly because of its pro-business courts, he should feel confidant of success. But at what cost? Now he can be sued in three forums: California, Texas, and Nevada or perhaps even federal court! If John?s attorney isn?t able to handle the litigation, for any reason, then John will need to hire a law firm. For two of the three forums (NV or CA), this will be a long distance relationship which always increases costs. Any litigation is costly and time consuming, but by adding jurisdiction, choice of forum, and choice of law issues, John has just increased his legal bills tremendously by providing the lawyers with many more issues to litigate. Sounds expensive!
