Incorporator The Journal of U.S. Formation
Start Free Quiz
Vol. 1 · No. 06 · May 2026
502 pieces published · updated every week

The Journal.

The honest way to read about U.S. company formation. Every piece is editorially locked before we run any affiliate link, and we date our freshness checks like a legal filing.

Lead story

North Dakota in mid-2024: the $135 LLC and the tax code behind it

A low formation fee, a November annual report, and an income tax quietly moving toward a flat rate

By The Editors June 25, 2024 6 min read

North Dakota LLC costs $135 to form through the state's FirstStop portal and $50 a year to keep, with the annual report due November 15. Those three numbers set the entire…

Read the piece
Editor's selection
Hand-picked
Analysis

A note on how this site gets published

The fourth route — git push — explained in one article.

The Editors Jun 15 1 min

News

Palkon v. Maffei: Delaware puts a price on the Nevada exit

VC Laster applies entire fairness to a TripAdvisor reincorporation, and founders reading the tea leaves in Texas and Austin should pay attention

The Editors Jun 11 7 min

By section
All sections →

Guides

Analysis

News

Reference

The full index
502 pieces · newest first
  1. №379 The public benefit corporation, four years after HB 341 Delaware's PBC is no longer a curiosity; it is a live option for companies that want purpose settled in the charter The Editors Jun 4 7 min Analysis
  2. №378 Vermont in May 2024: the $125 LLC, the $300 corporate floor, and the L3C nobody copied What it costs to form and maintain a Vermont entity this year, and the quirks the statute books hide The Editors May 28 7 min Guides
  3. №377 The CFPB's open-banking proposal and the small-business data question Section 1033 of Dodd-Frank finally has a proposed rule, and small-business accounts are inside the perimeter The Editors May 14 6 min News
  4. №376 The single-purpose entity, reappraised in 2024 The SPE still insulates a lender from the sponsor's other messes, but the per-entity reporting bill has finally arrived The Editors May 7 6 min Analysis
  5. №375 Rhode Island in April 2024: what it costs to stand up an entity A $150 formation fee, a $50 annual report that now falls in the spring, and a $400 minimum the state collects whether you earn anything or not The Editors Apr 30 7 min Guides
  6. №374 Texas stands up a business court, with a $5 million floor Chapter 25A is live on paper, opens for filings September 1, and the jurisdictional thresholds decide who gets in The Editors Apr 16 6 min News
  7. №373 The holding company, reappraised for 2024 Parent-and-subs still works, but the Corporate Transparency Act changed the maintenance bill The Editors Apr 9 7 min Analysis
  8. №372 New Hampshire in April 2024: a cheap front door and a tax code that bites in back A $100 LLC, a $100 report, and two business taxes that quietly do most of the work The Editors Apr 2 7 min Guides
  9. №371 In-house registered agent or commercial: which one wins in 2024 The statute gives you the option; the Corporate Transparency Act and the cost of one missed summons decide it The Editors Mar 26 6 min Reference
  10. №370 The beneficial owner taxonomy, as FinCEN actually wrote it Who counts under 31 CFR 1010.380(d), who does not, and the three places founders routinely miss a name The Editors Mar 19 7 min News
  11. №369 The DBA, reconsidered: a sole proprietor's last exit from BOI A fictitious name is not an entity, does not shield you, and in 2024 is the one formation path that stays out of the federal beneficial ownership registry The Editors Mar 12 8 min Analysis
  12. №368 Maine in March 2024: the $175 door fee and the $85 rent A Certificate of Formation that costs almost twice Delaware's, an annual report due every June 1, and a state income tax near the top of the national chart The Editors Mar 5 6 min Guides
  13. №367 Foreign qualify or re-incorporate: which path when you cross a state line One entity in two states versus one entity in one state, with the tax, CTA, and carrying-cost math laid out The Editors Feb 27 8 min Reference
  14. №366 NSBA v. Yellen: the CTA faces a constitutional stress test in Huntsville Summary judgment is pending before Judge Burke on enumerated-powers and Bill of Rights grounds, and the injunction scope is the whole ballgame The Editors Feb 20 6 min News
  15. №365 The Delaware statutory trust, reappraised A 1988 statute that quietly became the default wrapper for securitizations, 1031 syndications, and registered funds The Editors Feb 13 8 min Analysis
  16. №364 Hawaii in February 2024: a $51 LLC and a 4% tax that touches everything The cheapest formation fee on the continent, paired with a gross-receipts tax that finds you before the income tax does The Editors Feb 6 7 min Guides
  17. №363 BOI reporting, day 23: volume, traffic, and what the portal is doing FinCEN opened the beneficial-ownership portal on January 1 and the first three weeks are a lesson in what 32.6 million entities actually look like The Editors Jan 23 7 min News
  18. №362 The cooperative, reappraised: a form built for patronage, not profit Subchapter T, Capper-Volstead, and why the form is quietly legible again in 2024 The Editors Jan 16 7 min Analysis
  19. №361 Idaho in January 2024: the quiet case for forming here A $100 online filing, a free annual report, and a 5.8% flat corporate rate that Delaware filers have started to notice The Editors Jan 9 6 min Guides
  20. №360 Micro-captives in 2023: the IRS keeps winning, and the rules are about to harden Why the § 831(b) election is not dead, why the promoters are, and what a clean captive looks like going into 2024 The Editors Dec 19 7 min News
  21. №359 The nonprofit corporation, reappraised at the BOI threshold What a 501(c)(3) actually costs to form in late 2023, and why the Corporate Transparency Act leaves tax-exempt entities mostly alone The Editors Dec 12 7 min Analysis