Operation
- You are not required to maintain a physical presence in Delaware like a business office address. The only address required is that of your Delaware Registered Agent which is required for the sole purpose of receiving service of process, and the annual Delaware Corporate Franchise Tax notice, or LLC Tax notice.
- Delaware has a separate court system – the Court of Chancery – to exclusively adjudicate corporate litigation plus a fully established corpus of case law and a very capable corporate bar. Delaware’s Court of Chancery is one of the most important corporate law courts in the country, second only to the Supreme Court of the United States, in its impact on corporate law.
- One single individual may simultaneously hold all the executive offices and titles of a Delaware Corporation.
- Delaware laws offer confidentiality by shielding from public records the identities and personal information of privately held corporate business owners.
- The bylaws of your Delaware Corporation may be formulated or altered at any time by its director(s).
- Your Delaware Corporation stock can be privately owned or publicly traded on any stock exchange anywhere in the world when properly registered.
- The director(s) of a Delaware Corporation may determine what percentage of the consideration received from the issue of their stock is to be considered capital.
- The liability of a shareholder of a Delaware Corporation is limited by the amount of his investment in the Corporation plus the corporate tax liability – provided that the Corporation has conducted its business according to all applicable state and federal laws.
- Delaware Corporations are permitted, under certain circumstances, to pay dividends out of net profits even if there is no surplus.
Taxes
- There is no state corporate income tax in Delaware on goods or services provided by Delaware Corporations operating outside of Delaware, and there is no state corporate tax on interest or other investment income (known as passive income) in Delaware, when earned by a Delaware Holding Company.
- The State of Delaware has no personal property tax. There are no State real estate property taxes, and the local County real estate property taxes are very low.
- Delaware has no ad-valorem or value-added taxes (VATs) and no use tax, inventory or unitary tax.
- There is no State of Delaware inheritance tax on stock of Delaware Corporations operating outside of Delaware held by non-residents of Delaware and there is no Delaware capital shares or stock transfer taxes.
- Delaware permits S-Corporations, which, with the federal tax laws of 1986, can be very advantageous. Resident non-United States citizens (which have been issued a Social Security Number) may form or hold shares in S-Corporations. IRS regulations prevent all Non-United States citizens form holding any shares or interest in S-Corporations.
- The Delaware Corporate franchise tax is minimal and is not based on earned income.
- In addition to this, whether your Corporation is physically located in Delaware or not, as a Delaware Corporation, your purchases in Delaware are not subject to sales tax.
