How to Form a Corporation in Ohio
By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources
Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC
Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.
What you file in Ohio
Incorporation filing
| Document | Initial Articles of Incorporation, For-Profit (Ohio SoS Form 532A) |
| Fee | from $99 |
| Recurring report | None required |
Sourcing note: form NUMBER could not be verified via official source this session because the Ohio SoS website was under maintenance; the $99 minimum fee is confirmed by statute (ORC 111.16)
This page covers the state filing and the charges that follow it. For the procedural side — name availability, registered agent, bylaws and the federal EIN — see the formation guide and how to get an EIN, both of which apply to corporations as well as LLCs.
What it costs to incorporate and stay filed
State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded — both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure would be true for every corporation.
| Charge | Amount | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Articles of Incorporation, For-Profit (Ohio SoS Form 532A) | from $99 | One time |
| First-year state filing charges | $99 | — |
| Five-year state filing charges | $99 | — |
Ohio is the 20th cheapest of 49 states on the incorporation filing fee alone. Nationally the fee runs from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas, averaging $113.06. It is a one-off charge, so over five years it is usually outweighed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax.
States that are cheaper to incorporate in
A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you actually operate in Ohio. Every state sets its own threshold for what counts as transacting business, and where that threshold is met an out-of-state corporation is generally required to register as a foreign corporation — which would mean fees in both states rather than one. Whether it applies to you depends on facts this page cannot see, so check foreign qualification in Ohio before incorporating elsewhere to save on the filing fee.
Ohio corporation vs Ohio LLC
State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.
| Corporation | LLC | |
|---|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $99 | $99 |
| Report cadence | Not required | Not required |
| Report fee | No report required | No report required |
| Entity-level tax on the LLC side | — | Commercial Activity Tax |
Both entities cost $99 to file in Ohio, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.
Full Ohio LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained
State taxes a Ohio corporation pays
Corporate income tax
| Applies | No corporate income tax |
| Rate | None — Ohio levies no corporate income tax; entity-level taxation is via the Commercial Activity Tax (gross receipts tax) |
Franchise or gross-receipts tax
Ohio has no corporate net-income tax and no corporate franchise tax (the corporate franchise tax was fully phased out after 2013). Instead Ohio imposes the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT), a gross-receipts tax at 0.26% (2.6 mills per dollar) on taxable gross receipts above the annual exclusion amount. The exclusion is $6,000,000 for 2025 and thereafter (including 2026); it was $3,000,000 for 2024. Businesses with taxable gross receipts at or below the exclusion owe no CAT and are not required to register. The former annual minimum tax (AMT) was eliminated effective 2024.
What these totals leave out: the filing-charge figures on this page are what you pay the business filing office. They exclude corporate income tax and any franchise or gross-receipts tax, because both depend on income, net worth or receipts. The section above sets out what Ohiolevies — or that it levies neither. Where a state's franchise tax carries a flat minimum, that minimum is an unavoidable annual cost these totals do not include, and over five years it can be the larger number.
Electing S-corporation status in Ohio
Ohio follows the federal S election. Full Ohio S-corporation election guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
This page covers the state filing required to incorporate in Ohio and the charges that follow it. Every figure was checked against Ohio's own published sources on July 29, 2026— the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.
Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.