Delaware LLC Annual Tax Increases to $400 in 2026 | Taxculate
If you have a Delaware LLC, limited partnership, or general partnership, your Delaware LLC annual tax isgoing up, from $300 to $400, and part of the increase is already in effect, applied retroactively to thestart of the year. Delaware has enacted House Bill 400, a sweeping update to the fees and taxes administered by theDelaware Secretary of State and the Division of Corporations. The Delaware LLC annual tax increase is the first major update to many of these fees in over a decade, and it touches nearly every stage of the business lifecycle: formation, annual maintenance, record requests, expedited filings, and dissolution. The Core Change: Delaware’s Annual Tax Increase The headline change affects the flat annual tax paid by most Delaware entities: Delaware LLC annual tax increase annual tax changes are effective retroactively to January 1, 2026. In practice, that means theyapply to the 2026 tax year and will first show up when businesses pay their annual tax by the June 1,2027 deadline. Worth noting: HB 400 does not change the standard franchise tax rates for Delaware corporations. Thisbill targets “alternative entities”, LLCs, LPs, GPs, and LLPs, specifically. Filing and Service Fees Are Also Going Up Separately from the annual tax, a broad range of filing and administrative fees increase effective August1, 2026, including: Expedited processing fees see some of the largest jumps. The maximum fee Delaware can charge forrush service increases across every tier, from 24-hour service up to same-day, 2-hour, 1-hour, and thefastest 30-minute option, which can now run as high as $10,000. Note that these are new statutory caps,not automatic new prices, Delaware has the authority to charge up to these amounts, but currentpublished fees remain in place until the state issues an updated schedule. Why the Increase? According to the bill’s sponsors, the fee schedule for these entities hadn’t been meaningfully updatedsince 2014. Adjusted for inflation, the original $300 annual tax would be roughly $417 in today’s dollars,so lawmakers framed the increase partly as a catch-up adjustment. Delaware is home to more than 2million registered business entities, and fees and taxes tied to the Division of Corporations account forroughly 37% of the state’s total revenue. Alternative entities like LLCs and LPs currently contribute about 10% of that total, and the bill is projected to add meaningfully to the state’s general fund. Delaware LLC annual tax increase, What This Means for You For a single-member LLC, the increase amounts to $100 a year, not a reason on its own to reconsiderDelaware as a home for your business. But the impact compounds if you: Action items: Taxculate At Taxculate, we help businesses stay ahead of changing state compliance requirements, not just annual tax deadlines. From tracking Delaware filing obligations to managing ongoing compliance across multiple entities, we ensure nothing falls through the cracks so you can focus on growing your business.
