Incorporating in Nevada is very popular for California residents. Pretty often in the Woodland Hills office of We the People/The Document People, we are asked for advice and guidance on incorporating services in Nevada. We certainly do, as a matter of fact, we can assist you open a corporation or LLC in all 50 States (so do our other offices in Santa Monica, San Fernando, etc.)!
Incorporating in Nevada is popular because of low income taxes and strong protection against piercing the corporate veil. However, there are some additional costs that should be kept in mind when incorporating in Nevada.
Here is a rundown of the more common ones:
1. If you don’t have a physical address and a person you can appoint to be your agent for service of process, you’ll need to shop around for one. Prices vary a lot and there are a lot of companies out there offering this kind of service; we have found one that charges $49 per year.
2. Business license: unless you are shooting a movie or commercial in the State or run a handful of very specific businesses in the State of Nevada, you’ll need to take care of this: it runs $200 per year. It’s due by the end of the month following incorporation. So when you’re incorporating in Nevada on – say – November 10th, you’ll need to take care of the Nevada business license by December 31st. The penalty for being late is pretty steep and kicks in even if you are just one day late;
3. Initial list of officers: this is the Nevada correspondent of the California Statement of Information, which is the document used to communicate to the Secretary of State who the officers/managers of the entity are. The fee for filing the initial list of officers is $125 (as a comparison, it’s only $20-$25, in California, depending on whether you have a LLC or a corporation). Same caveat for the deadline. You have to pay pretty quickly after incorporating, or you’ll be facing a steep penalty.
So in all you’ll have about $350 of yearly extra expenses that you wouldn’t have in California. Also, if you are a California resident, you might be required to pay Franchise Tax Board fees regardless of where you have incorporated. That’s why we refer customers to local CPAs before incorporating in other States.
The Document People is a network of legal document assistants who specializes in assisting customers incorporating in Nevada, and all 50 States. We look forward to offering you incorporating services in We the People Santa Monica, We the People Woodland Hills, We the People Glendale and The Document People Torrance, San Fernando Anaheim and Oceanside.
