How much does a Corporation cost in Washington?

The base cost is the Washington state filing fee for your Articles of Incorporation, and our formation service is free on top of it. Corporations carry more setup than an LLC, such as bylaws, an organizational meeting, and issuing stock, but those are documents we include rather than extra state fees. See Washington's current figure on the pricing page, and weigh the ongoing formality before choosing a corporation over an LLC.

No, because they are the same Washington corporation with a different tax election, not two filings. You form the corporation once and pay the Washington state fee once; the S-corp election is a separate IRS form with no state formation cost of its own. The election can lower self-employment tax once profit is steady, but it adds payroll and a return, so the saving is a tax question, not a formation-cost one.

Our formation covers preparing and filing your Articles of Incorporation, a specialist review, a bylaws template, and an EIN walkthrough, with the Washington state fee passed through at cost. What is not bundled, and should never be sold as mandatory, are optional extras like expedited processing or certified copies. The pricing page shows exactly what is included and what each option costs.

Miss the Washington annual report or franchise tax and the state moves you out of good standing, which can freeze financing and contracts, then eventually dissolve the corporation. Recovering means a reinstatement filing plus back fees, so a skipped filing becomes far more expensive than the report itself. That is why the recurring calendar matters as much as the formation.

The Washington formation fee is often similar for both, so the difference is mostly ongoing. Corporations carry more recurring obligations, annual meetings, minutes, and in some states a share-based franchise tax, so they usually cost more to maintain than an LLC. Choose a corporation for its ability to raise capital and issue equity, not to save money.

Yes, and the cost matches a US founder's: the Washington state fee plus our free formation. The one extra step is the EIN, which we obtain from the IRS for you when you have no Social Security Number, at no added state cost. A C-corp is often the structure non-US founders use to raise money, so plan the tax side early; our EIN guide is the place to start.

Add the Washington filing fee, our formation service (free), any options you select, and the first-year recurring items: the annual report, a registered agent, and any franchise tax, plus the soft cost of running required meetings and records. Because Washington's amounts vary, the pricing page shows current figures so your first-year budget reflects reality, not a padded bundle.