

Ask HN: Expenses for C-corp startup? - dxoapv

TLDR: What are the yearly expenses and hidden costs for a Delaware C-corp?<p>I&#x27;m looking to incorporate and from what I&#x27;ve read the most common option is a Delaware C-corporation.<p>I&#x27;m aware this can be done electronically by using services like Clerky (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.clerky.com&#x2F;pricing) by filling and sumbitting a couple of forms (and paying a fee of course).<p>My question is what happens after this in regards of costs&#x2F;expenses.<p>Do I have to pay the state of Delaware extra money at some point? Do I have to pay a tax every month&#x2F;year (even if the corp doesn&#x27;t have revenue)? Do I have to pay a bookkeeper and&#x2F;or lawyer? Can all these be done remotely and if yes, how (and how much does it cost)?<p>Note: I&#x27;m not a US citizen, I&#x27;m in Europe.
======
abfan1127
I have an AZ S-Corp (very similar). I have a bunch of additional filings I
have to stay on top of. I strongly recommend using a service like ZenPayroll
to do it all for you automatically. I'm an army of 1, and its well worth the
monthly fee not to miss a single filing and have to pay the IRS a penalty
equal to 30% of your withholdings.

There are a bunch of taxes I have to pay in AZ, including withholding taxes
(federal and state), unemployment taxes, federal corp taxes. Its a mess. Be
very good at Quickbooks (or equivalent). I've made just about every mistake
possible. I regret not taking some courses on it.

Lawyers are probably not necessary early on, but definitely a good bookkeeper
or quickbooks training is very valuable.

~~~
dxoapv
Sounds like a real mess. Is there a service that takes care of all these
problems automagically? I feel I'm very inexperienced to be able to handle all
the tax/expense pitfalls (I'm not familiar with the US tax system).

Or at least a resource that describes everything that is needed from start to
finish? For example the book Venture Deals (by Brad Feld) describes the basics
of venture funding, but is there any practical guide for incorporating?

I'm very reluctant to incorporate because I don't know if I will be able to
handle all the bureaucratic mess and keep up with everything (time and cost
wise).

Really liked the 'army of 1' phrase, I'm in the same situation.

~~~
abfan1127
I originally incorporated in 2006 for the only reason of Limited Liability.
There are mild benefits (shareholder distributions are taxed as longer term
capital gains rather than income), but the extra hassle wasn't worth it for me
until I found Zenpayroll (this year!).

That being said, I would probably follow Dave Ramsey's guidance that early on,
I would just open an account, deposit checks there, pay business stuff from
there, and use Zen to pay myself. Keep it simple. Quickbooks is nice to track
that and generate invoices. Its also way over kill.

------
swampthing
You do have to pay Delaware some money every year - we have a support article
on that here:

[http://support.clerky.com/customer/portal/articles/1806530-w...](http://support.clerky.com/customer/portal/articles/1806530-what-
annual-compliance-matters-does-delaware-require-for-a-delaware-corporation-)

Also, you'll need to pay a registered agent fee every year.

~~~
dxoapv
This does not include tax on earnings though, does it?

------
abfan1127
Lecture 18 is pretty applicable here:
[http://startupclass.samaltman.com/](http://startupclass.samaltman.com/)

I'd also look into Dave Ramsey's book, Entre Leadership
([https://www.entreleadership.com/](https://www.entreleadership.com/))

------
jtfairbank
Look into InDinero. It's basically accounting as a service, super helpful.

