What this is: Trust us when we say that if you missed the March 1 deadline for Delaware domestic corporation annual reports and franchise tax payments, you are certainly not alone.
What this means: There is a remedy to avoid additional late fees, so let’s cut straight to how you can get your Delaware corporation back in good standing and minimize additional penalties.
Delaware Annual Report Late Fees and Penalties
When domestic Delaware corporations (including exempt corporations) fail to file an annual report and/or pay franchise taxes by the March 1 deadline, the Delaware Division of Corporations imposes a $200 penalty in addition to the original annual report fee and taxes due, plus 1.5% interest per month applied to any unpaid tax balance.
What About Certificates of Good Standing?
Aside from these financial penalties, Delaware will not issue a Good Standing Certificate for any delinquent corporation until they have met the annual report filing and payment of franchise tax payments.
At Cogency Global, our compliance filing services enable you to you file on time, stay compliant and in good standing.
What Consequences Can Be Avoided by Keeping up to Date?
For Delaware corporations that are actively conducting business, getting up to date on annual report filings and past-due franchise taxes as soon as possible means avoiding many consequences, including representation to any lender that the company is in good standing in the state of Delaware, representations of the company to their business stakeholders that they are actively doing business in Delaware and in all other states they are required to conduct business.
How to File Delaware Annual Reports and Pay Franchise Taxes
You have a few options for getting back to good standing:
- File directly with the Delaware Division of Corporations.
- Contact your Delaware registered agent for assistance with filing your annual report and paying your franchise taxes due, along with any penalties and interest accrued.
- You may also want to consider having your registered agent handle compliance filings on your behalf in Delaware and all of the other states where you conduct business. This can ensure that all of your filing deadlines are met in a timely manner, avoiding any additional fees or risk to your corporation’s good standing.
This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered, or relied upon, as legal advice.
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Hello! Could you please help me to understand what does Statement of Info Due Date mean? And what should I do if the company is already has Forfeited – FTB Status in the register? The Statement of Info Due Date was 02/28/2020 and the inactive date is 08/02/2021. What steps should I undertake? Please advise Thank you
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I’m attorney at law in Colombia with some clients who will need to file the annual report and franchise tax for their Delaware companies. The prior company who did that for them no longer answer and they are worried for the late payments. Could you help me with those filings and also if I have new clients for new companies could you help me with those?
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