Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Delaware than New York?

Delaware's filing fee is lower ($110 vs $200), but that's not the full picture: operating in New York means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($250) and paying a Delaware registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $510 for the Delaware route versus $200 for forming in New York.

Can I form my New York business in Delaware?

Yes. Any New York business can form its LLC in Delaware. But if the business operates in New York, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($250 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Delaware have better asset protection than New York?

Delaware offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while New York doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.

State Comparison

New York LLC vs Delaware LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in New York.

Based in Delaware? Read Delaware LLC vs New York LLC →

Compare New York LLC vs Delaware LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 13, 2026

If your business is based in New York, a New York LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Delaware LLC run from New York generally must also register in New York as a foreign LLC (New York's $250 filing fee). If your business is based in Delaware, a Delaware LLC needs no foreign registration there; a New York LLC run from Delaware generally must also register in Delaware as a foreign LLC (Delaware's $200 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A New York LLC runs $479.50 in year one and $29.50/yr after; a Delaware LLC runs $510 and $400/yr. See the full breakdown below.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

Delaware is the state owners ask about by name, and for a New York business it is the more expensive habit. It costs $110 to form, then a flat $400 alternative entity tax every year with no proration and no annual report, against $29.50 recurring in New York, and missing June 1 adds a $200 penalty. Delaware keeps members off the filing; New York does not, and adds six weeks of LLC Law 206 notices in two county-designated newspapers plus a $50 Certificate of Publication. A Delaware LLC trading here still pays $250.

Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.

Compare LLC formation services →

Ready to file? Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.

Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

Factor	New York	Delaware
Filing Fee	$200	$110
Processing Time	Not published by the state	Not published by the state
Annual Report Fee	$9 (biennial)	None ($400/yr entity tax instead)
Annual Report Due	Anniversary month (biennial)	None required
State Income Tax	Yes	Yes
Anonymous LLC	No	Yes
Publication Requirement	Yes	No
Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state)	N/A, you're in your home state	$250 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: New York LLC cost and Delaware LLC cost.

Business Climate: New York vs Delaware

Factor	New York	Delaware
5-year business survival rate	51.9% (#23 of 51)	48.1% (#37 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+10.9% YoY (#4 of 51 by volume)	+2.5% YoY (#33 of 51 by volume)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: New York vs Delaware

State A

State B

New York

✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$200

Annual report fee$9 / 2 yrs

State entity tax$25/yr, Partnership, LLC and LLP Annual Filing Fee

Publication (one-time)From $250

Report dueAnniversary month (biennial)

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penalty$0

Delaware

✓ Cheaper Upfront

Formation fee$110

Annual report feeNo report required

State entity tax$400/yr, Annual LLC Tax (alternative entity tax)

Report dueNone required

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penaltyNo report to file late. The annual tax carries its own penalty

Total Cost

New York

Delaware

1 Year

$479.5

$510

3 Years

$538.5

$1,310

5 Years

$597.5

$2,110

Will you operate outside your home state?

Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Montana's annual report is free when filed by April 15 and $35 after, a waiver that applies to reports filed between January 1 and April 15. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.

Filing Fees & Formation Costs

New York charges $200 to form an LLC, while Delaware charges $110. Delaware is $90 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Delaware but operate in New York, you must also register as a foreign LLC in New York (a $250 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Delaware route at roughly $510, versus $200 for simply forming in New York. Note that New York also requires newly formed LLCs to publish a newspaper notice (New York requires publication of the LLC's formation once a week for six weeks in two county-designated newspapers (LLC Law §206)), which adds to the true formation cost. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither New York nor Delaware publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.

Taxes: New York vs Delaware

Both New York and Delaware levy a personal income tax on pass-through business income, and your LLC's profits will be taxed where you live and operate. Forming in Delaware doesn't change what a New York-based owner pays. New York LLCs treated as partnerships/with NY-source income owe an annual filing fee of $25-$4,500 based on NY gross income. Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required).

Privacy & Asset Protection

Delaware allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Delaware's Certificate of Formation requires no member or manager names, and LLCs file no annual report, so ownership never appears on a public filing. New York doesn't offer that same privacy. The NY LLC Transparency Act (effective 2026) requires beneficial-ownership reporting to the state, and formation requires newspaper publication of the LLC's existence. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. One important caveat: if you register your Delaware LLC as a foreign LLC in New York, that New York registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in New York.

Annual Maintenance Costs

New York LLCs file a biennial report ($9, due in the anniversary month, every two years), and Delaware LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in Delaware while operating in New York, you maintain filings in both states, Delaware asks for no report, but New York still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Delaware registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Delaware route to roughly $559 a year, versus about $34 to keep a domestic New York LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: New York LLCs treated as partnerships/with NY-source income owe an annual filing fee of $25-$4,500 based on NY gross income. Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required).

When Delaware Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Delaware makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. New York puts owner or manager information on public filings and Delaware doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in New York still requires a public foreign registration there), you're raising venture capital or institutional investment. Many investors specifically prefer or require Delaware entities, your business genuinely operates in Delaware, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Delaware in the near future. For a typical small business based in New York, none of these usually apply. Registering a Delaware LLC to do business back home means $250 in New York foreign-registration fees, on top of Delaware's $110 formation fee, while New York's own biennial report runs $9 and is due in the anniversary month, every two years. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Delaware's filing fee is lower ($110 vs $200), but that's not the full picture: operating in New York means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($250) and paying a Delaware registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $510 for the Delaware route versus $200 for forming in New York.
: Yes. Any New York business can form its LLC in Delaware. But if the business operates in New York, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($250 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Delaware, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Delaware offers more formation privacy. It allows anonymous LLCs while New York doesn't. Core asset protection is similar, though: both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members. For most small businesses the practical difference is modest.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a New York-based business, New York: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Delaware is worth considering only if you actually do business there, want an anonymous holding company there or have investor requirements that point there. For a Delaware-based business, the same reasoning points to Delaware.
: Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither New York nor Delaware publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork. Only 19 of the 50 states publish anything about non-expedited turnaround at all. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Delaware while operating in New York means you're not fully set up until the New York foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in New York versus Delaware, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — New York and Delaware side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: MyStateLLC 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

Ready to form your LLC?

Using a formation service? We compare the 4 formation services that pay us a commission, on three-year service cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.

Compare LLC formation services →

Our affiliate partner ZenBusiness files your LLC formation paperwork, from $0 + state fee.

Start your LLC with ZenBusiness →

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. MyStateLLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

More State Comparisons

New York vs Florida →New York vs Georgia →New York vs Hawaii →New York vs Wyoming →Delaware vs Wyoming →

New York LLC Guide →Delaware LLC Guide →

📎

Embed this comparison, free

Add the New York vs Delaware cost calculator to any page. Works in WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, and any HTML site.

<iframe src="https://www.mystatellc.com/tools/compare-states?embed=1&stateA=NY&stateB=DE" width="100%" height="720" frameborder="0" style="border:0;max-width:900px;display:block;margin:0 auto;" title="New York vs Delaware LLC Cost Comparison" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="text-align:center;font-size:.8125rem;color:#6b7280">Source: <a href="https://www.mystatellc.com/llc/compare/new-york-llc-vs-delaware-llc">MyStateLLC, New York vs Delaware LLC Comparison</a></p>

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.