Delaware doesn't discount your LLC for veteran status

Why Delaware Has No Veteran LLC Fee Waiver

Two costs matter here and neither bends for service. The domestic formation fee is fixed on the Division of Corporations schedule, and the recurring cost is a flat annual LLC tax that Delaware charges regardless of revenue, activity, or whether the company did anything all year. That annual tax is worth checking carefully. The current text of 6 Del. C. § 18-1107(b) sets it at four hundred dollars per year for every domestic LLC and every registered foreign LLC, which is higher than the three-hundred-dollar figure that still circulates on formation sites and comparison tables. We read it directly from delcode.delaware.gov. If a budget you're working from assumes the lower number, adjust it before you file rather than after your first bill. Delaware's general business licence under 30 Del. C. § 2301 is a separate cost again, priced per activity with an add-on for each additional location, and it is not waived for veterans.

Authority: Delaware Division of Corporations Fee Schedule (revised Aug. 1, 2024): 'Limited Liability Companies — Formation – domestic, $110.00' state filing fee. The fee schedule contains zero occurrences of the word 'veteran'. — corpfiles.delaware.gov

Other Delaware Fees Veterans Do Not Pay

• Two narrow occupations only: Del. Code tit. 30, § 2116 provides that no honorably discharged soldier or sailor is required to procure a licence to work as a 'book agent' / canvasser for the sale of books, or as an auctioneer. Delaware's general business licence (30 Del. C. § 2301, typically $75/year per activity plus $25 per additional location) is NOT waived for veterans.: waived. Del. Code tit. 30, § 2116 (Auctioneer and book agent exemption for veterans): 'No honorably discharged soldier or sailor shall be required to procure any license to follow the occupation of canvassing for the sale of books or for the occupation commonly known as that of "book agent" or for the occupation of auctioneer. The certificate of honorable discharge … shall be conclusive evidence of the right … to follow the occupations hereinbefore mentioned without having procured a license therefor.'.

Veteran-Owned Business Certification in Delaware

1. 1

   Decide between VOBE and SDVOBE

   The Office of Supplier Diversity certifies Veteran Owned Business Enterprises and, separately, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business Enterprises. Service-connected disability isn't required for the base veteran category, so you can certify on veteran status alone.

2. 2

   Document majority veteran ownership and control

   OSD applies a majority-ownership threshold, and for an LLC that means your operating agreement and membership records need to show it plainly. Have your DD-214 and, for SDVOBE, your VA rating decision in the same folder.

3. 3

   Apply through the Office of Supplier Diversity

   The application runs through OSD, which sits in the Division of Small Business at the Delaware Department of State. There is no application fee, and certification runs for three years before you have to renew.

4. 4

   Treat it as visibility, not as a preference

   OSD's own description of the benefit is increased visibility to state agencies. We could not verify any bid preference or set-aside for veteran-owned firms; the only set-aside OSD points to, under Del. Code tit. 16, is for individuals with disabilities and is not a veteran program. Register in the state's vendor systems too, or the certification sits where nobody sees it.

Program details verified against business.delaware.gov.

State Benefits vs Federal Benefits — What Is Actually Different

Most of what gets published as “veteran LLC benefits in Delaware” is actually federal, and identical in all 50 states. Three separate things get run together:

Certification is worth doing on its own merits, but it is not a discount on formation. If a page tells you Delawaregives veterans a “free LLC” and then links you to a certification portal, it has conflated the first row with the second.

Free Help for Veteran Business Owners in Delaware

The Office of Supplier Diversity inside the Division of Small Business is the state office that actually touches veteran-owned businesses in Delaware, and it handles both certification and the questions that come after it. Because Delaware is small, its Division of Small Business regional business managers are unusually reachable, and worth a call about licensing and registration. If you're forming in Delaware while living somewhere else, remember that your operational help, and your local business licence, will come from your home state instead.

Delaware Office of Supplier Diversity, Division of Small Business — business.delaware.gov

Veteran Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) are funded by the SBA and provide free business planning and formation counselling to veterans, service members and military spouses. Find your VBOC.

Forming the LLC Itself

Nothing about the formation process changes because you are a veteran — the forms, the registered agent requirement and the annual filing are the same. The full walkthrough lives in our Delaware formation guide rather than being repeated here.

How to start an LLC in Delaware →

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