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Delaware Foreign LLC Registration

The fee, the form, what triggers registration in Delaware, and how to file.

State filing fee $200 one-time
Registered agent $125/year based on Northwest RA
Estimated total $1,775
Delaware data last reviewed Oct 9, 2026 · corp.delaware.gov Totals include the $200 filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Delaware recurring state costs over the selected period.

Foreign Qualification

Filing fee
$200
Form
Certificate of Registration of Foreign LLC
Annual obligation
$400/year minimum entity tax
Processing time
Delaware publishes no standard turnaround and says so plainly: the Division of Corporations states that processing time for regular, non-expedited work varies with the volume of items received.
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The only durations it publishes are the four paid tiers, from next day at $50 to one hour at $1,000.

Expedite
Priced per document and added to the filing fee.
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Next day is $50 to $100 and same day $100 to $200, received before 2pm. Two hour service is $500, received by 7pm, and one hour service is $1,000, received by 9pm.

Estimated year 1 cost
$600
Visit Delaware Secretary of State ↗

Need to register your LLC in Delaware?

Northwest files the foreign registration and serves as your registered agent in Delaware, which the filing requires. Only need an agent? Northwest's registered agent service alone is $125/year.

Have Northwest register your LLC in Delaware ↗
$225 + the state fee · One year of registered agent included

Filing it yourself? Go to the official Delaware SOS portal ↗

Other registered agent options 2 alternatives
Registered Agents Inc
$200/year · Report filing included, state fees extra
Visit site ↗
Harbor Compliance
$99 first year, then $159/year · Full-service compliance option
Visit site ↗

What triggers foreign qualification in Delaware?

  • Physical presence in Delaware
  • Employees in Delaware

Important to know

  • Forming in Delaware rarely saves a small business money. If you operate in your home state you must also register there as a foreign LLC, so you pay both states' fees plus Delaware's $400 annual tax.

Delaware guides

Formed in Delaware but operating somewhere else? Our guide to running a Delaware LLC from another state covers the home-state registration you still owe. If you are deciding whether Delaware is worth it at all, the Wyoming and Delaware LLC myth explains when the out-of-state filing actually pays off.

What does NOT require registration in Delaware 12 activities

Delaware carves 12 activities out by statute. On their own, none of them requires a foreign LLC to register.

  • Bringing, defending, or settling a lawsuit or other legal proceeding
  • Holding meetings of members or managers, or handling internal company affairs
  • Maintaining bank accounts
  • Running an office or agent for transferring or registering your own securities, or keeping trustees or depositories for them
  • Selling through independent contractors
  • Taking or soliciting orders, by mail or through staff or agents, if the order has to be accepted outside Delaware to become a contract
  • Selling machinery, plants, or equipment under a contract signed outside Delaware and sending in your own technical engineers or skilled workers only to supervise the installation you agreed to in that contract
  • Borrowing or lending money, or acquiring debt, with or without a mortgage or security interest in property
  • Collecting debts or foreclosing on mortgages or other security interests, and holding and maintaining property you get that way
  • Doing a one-off transaction that is not part of a series of similar transactions
  • Doing business in interstate commerce
  • Doing business in Delaware as an insurance company

Under 6 Del. C. Section 18-912, all 12 items. Delaware puts NO time limit on the isolated-transaction carve-out, unlike the 30 days used by most states. Delaware also has NO standalone safe harbor for simply owning property. Unique items: an equipment-installation carve-out and an insurance-company carve-out. Subsection (b) protects a person who is merely a member or manager. Subsection (c) disclaims service of process, taxation and regulation under other Delaware law.

Forming a new LLC in Delaware instead? $110 to form
Formation fee
$110
Annual cost
$400/year minimum entity tax
State income tax
Income tax up to 6.6%, top bracket starting at $60,000 of taxable income (2026 tax year)
Privacy
High
Delaware has a specialized business court, the Court of Chancery, known for handling disputes over the internal affairs of Delaware companies.
Sources 14 pages

The official pages behind the figures on this page, with the date we last read each one. How we check.

Fees and costs

Deadlines and processing

Penalties and reinstatement

Forms and filing

More Delaware guides

Already operating without registering?Civil penalty, back fees and court access in Delaware, statute-cited ↗ Not sure Delaware applies to you?What counts as doing business, and what does not ↗ Changing your registered agent?The form, the fee and the steps in Delaware ↗ Operating in more than one state?Free 3-question check of where you must register ↗

This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify with the Delaware SOS before filing.