Is Oregon an expensive state to incorporate in?

On the filing fee alone, Oregon is the 21st cheapest of 49 states to incorporate in. Filing fees across the states run from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas — a one-off charge that is usually dwarfed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax, which is where the real long-run difference between states sits.

Is it cheaper to form an LLC or a corporation in Oregon?

They cost the same to file in Oregon: $100 either way. Choose on how you want to be taxed and governed, not on the filing fee.

Does Oregon tax corporate income?

Corporation excise tax (ORS 317.061): 6.6% on Oregon taxable income of $1,000,000 or less; 7.6% on the amount above $1,000,000 plus $66,000. Excise-tax filers pay the greater of calculated tax or the minimum tax. The minimum tax is $150.

Incorporation · OR

How to Form a Corporation in Oregon

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.

Incorporating in Oregon costs $100 to file the Articles of Incorporation – Business/Professional (Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division). Oregon does not assign a form number to this form. After that the corporation files every year and pays $100. First-year state filing charges come to $200.

Filing fee$100

Report cadenceEvery year

First-year filings$200

Corporate income taxYes

What you file in Oregon

Incorporation filing

Document	Articles of Incorporation – Business/Professional (Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division). Oregon does not assign a form number to this form.
Fee	$100
Recurring report	Annual Report / renewal, filed through the Oregon Business Registry (listed on the fee schedule as 'Renewal (Annually)'). No form number is published. — every year, $100
First report due	On the anniversary date of the original filing each year. The Corporation Division mails a renewal notice about 45 days before the due date.

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
Articles of Incorporation – Business/Professional (Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division). Oregon does not assign a form number to this form.	$100	One time
Annual Report / renewal, filed through the Oregon Business Registry (listed on the fee schedule as 'Renewal (Annually)'). No form number is published.	$100	Every year
First-year state filing charges	$200	—
Five-year state filing charges	$600	—

Oregon is the 21st 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

State	Filing fee	Difference
Montana	$35	$65
Kentucky	$40	$60
Arkansas	$50	$50
Colorado	$50	$50
Hawaii	$50	$50

A cheaper filing fee elsewhere rarely saves money if you actually operate in Oregon. 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 Oregon before incorporating elsewhere to save on the filing fee.

Oregon corporation vs Oregon 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	$100	$100
Report cadence	Every year	Every year
Report fee	$100	$100
Entity-level tax on the LLC side	—	Corporate Activity Tax (CAT)

Both entities cost $100 to file in Oregon, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.

Full Oregon LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

State taxes a Oregon corporation pays

Corporate income tax

Applies	Yes
Rate	Corporation excise tax (ORS 317.061): 6.6% on Oregon taxable income of $1,000,000 or less; 7.6% on the amount above $1,000,000 plus $66,000. Excise-tax filers pay the greater of calculated tax or the minimum tax.
Minimum tax	$150

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

Two separate items. (1) Corporate minimum excise tax (ORS 317.090), tiered on Oregon sales of the filing group, C corporations only: under $500,000 = $150; $500,000-$999,999 = $500; $1M-$1.99M = $1,000; $2M-$2.99M = $1,500; $3M-$4.99M = $2,000; $5M-$6.99M = $4,000; $7M-$9.99M = $7,500; $10M-$24.99M = $15,000; $25M-$49.99M = $30,000; $50M-$74.99M = $50,000; $75M-$99.99M = $75,000; $100M and above = $100,000. S corporations pay a flat $150 minimum excise tax. (2) Corporate Activity Tax (CAT, ORS ch. 317A), a separate gross-receipts tax: $250 plus 0.57% of taxable Oregon commercial activity above $1,000,000; registration required within 30 days of exceeding $750,000 of Oregon commercial activity; return required only above $1,000,000.

The $150 minimum tax is deliberately left out of the filing-charge totals on this page. A minimum tax is owed to the state tax authority on a tax return, not to the business filing office — but unlike an income-based tax it is a floor, so treat it as a recurring cost of keeping the corporation alive here.

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 Oregonlevies — 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.

C-corp return: Form OR-20 (Oregon Corporation Excise Tax Return); Form OR-20-INC (Oregon Corporation Income Tax Return) for income-tax filers; Form OR-20-INS for insurers

Electing S-corporation status in Oregon

Oregon follows the federal S election. Full Oregon S-corporation election guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

: $100 to file the Articles of Incorporation – Business/Professional (Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division). Oregon does not assign a form number to this form. Adding the first report brings the first-year state filing charges to $200.
: On the filing fee alone, Oregon is the 21st cheapest of 49 states to incorporate in. Filing fees across the states run from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas — a one-off charge that is usually dwarfed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax, which is where the real long-run difference between states sits.
: They cost the same to file in Oregon: $100 either way. Choose on how you want to be taxed and governed, not on the filing fee.
: Corporation excise tax (ORS 317.061): 6.6% on Oregon taxable income of $1,000,000 or less; 7.6% on the amount above $1,000,000 plus $66,000. Excise-tax filers pay the greater of calculated tax or the minimum tax. The minimum tax is $150.

Where these numbers come from

This page covers the state filing required to incorporate in Oregon and the charges that follow it. Every figure was checked against Oregon'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.

Primary sources: