How much does it cost to incorporate in West Virginia?

$100 to file the Articles of Incorporation (Form CD-1), domestic for-profit corporation. Adding the first report brings the first-year state filing charges to $125.

Is West Virginia an expensive state to incorporate in?

On the filing fee alone, West Virginia 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 West Virginia?

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

Does West Virginia tax corporate income?

6.5% flat on West Virginia taxable income (starting point is federal taxable income); no income threshold or exemption bracket.

How to Form a Corporation in West Virginia

By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources

Incorporating in West Virginia costs $100 to file the Articles of Incorporation (Form CD-1), domestic for-profit corporation. After that the corporation files every year and pays $25. First-year state filing charges come to $125.

State filing fees to form each entity type in West Virginia: $100 to file a corporation, versus $100 to file an LLC. West Virginia imposes a corporate income tax. — Both figures are one-time state filing fees to form the entity; the report and corporate income tax lines below recur for the corporation. The LLC may also owe a separate state franchise or annual tax not shown in this grid. See the LLC's own cost page for its full recurring total. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state corporation and LLC cost datasets, compiled from state filing offices and revenue departments, July 2026; any figure we could not confirm is labeled on the page.

Cost to file$100

Report cadenceEvery year

First-year filings$125

Corporate income taxYes

What you file in West Virginia

Incorporation filing

Document	Articles of Incorporation (Form CD-1), domestic for-profit corporation
Fee	$100
Recurring report	Annual Report for Corporations (filed through the WV One Stop Business Portal / Secretary of State), every year, $25
First report due	Filed each year between January 1 and July 1; $25 if paid by the July 1 deadline ($75 for profit entities after July 1, which includes a $50 late fee)

Sourcing note: $100 filing fee (fee waived for veteran-owned and qualifying young-entrepreneur businesses)

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 (Form CD-1), domestic for-profit corporation	$100	One time
Annual Report for Corporations (filed through the WV One Stop Business Portal / Secretary of State)	$25	Every year
First-year state filing charges	$125	N/A
Five-year state filing charges	$225	N/A

West Virginia 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 $113.49. 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
Iowa	$50	$50

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

West Virginia corporation vs West Virginia 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	$25	$25
Entity-level tax on the LLC side	N/A	West Virginia Business Registration Certificate

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

Full West Virginia LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

State taxes a West Virginia corporation pays

Corporate income tax

Applies	Yes
Rate	6.5% flat on West Virginia taxable income (starting point is federal taxable income); no income threshold or exemption bracket

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

West Virginia repealed its Business Franchise Tax effective January 1, 2015; there is no franchise tax. Corporations pay only the flat 6.5% Corporation Net Income Tax.

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 West Virginia levies, 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 WV/CNF-120 (West Virginia Corporation Net Income Tax Return)

Electing S-corporation status in West Virginia

West Virginia follows the federal S election. Full West Virginia S-corporation election guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

: $100 to file the Articles of Incorporation (Form CD-1), domestic for-profit corporation. Adding the first report brings the first-year state filing charges to $125.
: On the filing fee alone, West Virginia 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 West Virginia: $100 either way. Choose on how you want to be taxed and governed, not on the filing fee.
: 6.5% flat on West Virginia taxable income (starting point is federal taxable income); no income threshold or exemption bracket.

Where these numbers come from

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

https://sos.wv.gov/business/Pages/StartBusiness.aspx
https://tax.wv.gov/Business/CorporateIncome/Pages/CorporateIncomeTax.aspx
https://tax.wv.gov/Documents/TSD/tsd100.pdf
https://sos.wv.gov/FormSearch/Business/Corporation/cd-1.pdf
West Virginia statute: W. Va. Code 59-1-2 (filing fees)

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It describes rules that can differ from state to state, and fees, rates, forms and deadlines can change after we review them. It cannot tell you what applies to your own business: that turns on where the business is formed, where it operates and how it is taxed. Confirm anything you rely on with the state or federal agency concerned, or with a licensed attorney or CPA, before you act on it.

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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.

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