Company types

Form a C Corporation or an LLC using Stripe Atlas.

Stripe Atlas supports two options for forming a US company in Delaware: C Corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLC).

With Stripe Atlas, you can form a new C Corporation or a subsidiary of an existing corporation. The following list contains some of the characteristics of a C Corporation:

Defined governance structure: A C Corporation has a well-known, regulated, management structure.
Ownership: A C Corporation’s structure facilitates granting equity to employees, advisors, and investors.
Raising outside funding: A Delaware C Corporation is the entity generally preferred by outside institutional investors who might be unable to invest in LLCs.
Tax treatment: A C Corporation with early startup losses can generally use the losses in future years, subject to various limitations, to reduce future taxable income when the company becomes profitable.

When to form your company

If you plan to form your company near the end of the calendar year, it can make sense to wait until the start of the new year to form your company because of the tax implications. C Corporations active in Delaware any time before December 31 owe at least the minimum Delaware franchise tax for that year. LLCs active before December 31 owe the full annual LLC tax for that year.

Neither the franchise tax nor the LLC tax is prorated. Your company might also owe US federal corporate income tax for the outgoing year. It might also owe taxes to a US state other than Delaware, depending on where the LLC operates.

Company types

When to form your company

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