Step-by-step foreign qualification requirements, fees, and filing instructions for Delaware LLCs expanding into Colorado.
Colorado filing fee$100one-time
Registered agent$125/yearbased on Northwest RA
Total, all in$550
Colorado data last reviewed Sep 11, 2026 · sos.state.co.usTotals include the $100 Colorado filing fee once, Northwest RA at $125/year, and Colorado recurring state costs over the selected period. The Cost Summary below is the same year one figure without the agent.
Cost Summary
Colorado filing fee
$100
Delaware Certificate of Good Standing (Short Form)
Not required
Annual obligation in Colorado
$25/year
Estimated year 1 total
$125
Note: Year 1 total covers Colorado state fees only. Colorado does not ask for a certificate of good standing from Delaware. Registered agent fees (typically $100-$200/year) are not included.
Delaware data last reviewed Sep 11, 2026 · corp.delaware.gov
Or stop being a Delaware LLC
Registering in Colorado is one answer. The other is to move the LLC to Colorado and stop paying Delaware, a filing called domestication, which Colorado itself calls a conversion. The LLC keeps its EIN, bank accounts and contracts; only its state of formation changes.
Register in Colorado, keep Delaware
$675/year
Move the LLC to Colorado
$150/year
Keeping both states costs $525 more a year: two annual filings and two registered agents instead of one. Figures are state recurring charges plus one Northwest registered agent per state at $125 a year. The one-time filings are $220 to leave Delaware and $100 to arrive in Colorado ($50 for the filing plus $50 for its articles of organization), before any service fee. Worth doing only if Delaware is doing nothing for you beyond having been the state you filed in.
A filing service, not a registered agent. It does not replace the agent Colorado requires.
How to register your Delaware LLC in Colorado
1
Check name availability in Colorado
Before filing, verify that your LLC name (or a distinguishable variation) is available in Colorado. If your exact name is already taken, you may need to register under a fictitious or assumed name.
Colorado requires no home-state certificate when a foreign LLC registers here.
3
File the Statement of Foreign Entity Authority in Colorado
Submit your application with the $100 filing fee. See the processing time under Ongoing compliance below. Expedited processing is available, priced under Ongoing compliance below. Online filing is available.
You must designate a registered agent with a physical address in Colorado to accept legal documents on behalf of your LLC. This is required as part of the foreign qualification application.
Anniversary month (deadline: end of the second month after)
Processing time
Colorado files business organization documents online in real time: the Secretary of State states that a document submitted online is processed immediately after payment confirmation. More
Paper-only documents take 7 to 10 business days. Expedited service is a $150 paper-only line and these filings have no paper channel, so there is nothing to buy and nothing to wait for.
Expedite
$150 for a three business day turnaround, printed in the paper column of the fee schedule only. More
Colorado files business organization documents online in real time and the same schedule shows no paper channel for them, so this tier is not something a foreign registration can buy.
Note: Colorado registers foreign LLCs on a Statement of Foreign Entity Authority, filed online in 3-5 business days. The $25 periodic report is due in your anniversary month, and Colorado charges no franchise tax.
Important to know about Colorado
Colorado's periodic report is due in your anniversary month rather than on a fixed calendar date, so the deadline is different for every entity and there is no single statewide due date to remember.
Formed in Delaware but running the business in Colorado? Our guide to running a Delaware LLC in another state covers what stays with Delaware and what moves.
What does NOT require registration in Colorado13 activities
Colorado carves 13 activities out by statute. On their own, none of them requires a foreign LLC to register.
Maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding or dispute on its own behalf
Holding meetings of its owners or managers, or carrying on other activities concerning its internal affairs
Maintaining bank accounts
Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of its own securities or owner's interests, or maintaining trustees or depositories for them
Selling through independent contractors
Soliciting or obtaining orders, by mail or electronic transmission, through employees or agents, if the orders require acceptance outside Colorado before they become contracts
Creating, as borrower or lender, or acquiring indebtedness
Creating, as borrower or lender, or acquiring mortgages or other security interests in real or personal property
Securing or collecting debts on its own behalf, or enforcing mortgages or security interests in property securing those debts
Owning real or personal property, and nothing more
Conducting an isolated transaction completed within 30 days that is not one of repeated transactions of a like nature
Transacting business or conducting activities in interstate commerce
For a foreign nonprofit corporation, granting funds or distributing information to its members
Under C.R.S. Section 7-90-801(2), thirteen items, applied to foreign LLCs through C.R.S. Section 7-80-901. The list is expressly non-exhaustive under subsection (3). Item (2)(f), the order-solicitation item, was amended by HB 21-1124 effective 2021-04-19 to its current electronic-transmission wording.
Need a business address in Colorado?mail forwarding
A virtual mailbox gives your LLC a separate address in Colorado for business mail. Confirm whether the state accepts it for the specific filing field. For banking, ask your bank before buying; it may require your actual operating address.
This page provides general information based on publicly available state requirements. It is not legal advice. Verify all fees and requirements with the Colorado Secretary of State before filing.