Wyoming Annual Reports and Delaware Franchise Tax: A Practical Overview

Wyoming LLC annual reports and Delaware LLC franchise tax are the two ongoing state bills founders ask about most. They are not the same form, not the same due date, and not a substitute for IRS filings. Amounts and instructions change. Anything you remember from a 2019 blog is a historical citation until you confirm it on the official site for the year you are filing.

Scriplit is not a law firm or a CPA firm. This overview is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm current fees, due dates, and form versions with the Wyoming Secretary of State and the Delaware Division of Corporations (and related Delaware tax pages) before you pay. State filings do not guarantee banking, Stripe, visas, or federal tax outcomes.

Confirm on official pages every year

Use:

• Wyoming Secretary of State — LLC annual report / license tax instructions for the current year
• Delaware Division of Corporations — annual franchise tax and annual report instructions for LLCs
• Your registered agent’s reminder, as a backup alarm, not as the legal text

If this article mentions figures, they are often cited historically in public commentary. They are not a promise they remain accurate. Look up the current amount on the state’s site the week you file.

Wyoming: annual report as the usual rhythm

Wyoming LLCs have historically filed an annual report with a modest fixed fee that commentators often cited in the neighborhood of sixty US dollars for the report itself — plus whatever your registered agent charges. That “often cited historically” figure is exactly the kind of number that can move. Wyoming has also used anniversary-based timing rather than a single calendar date for every company. Your due date is tied to your formation month in the way the current Wyoming instructions describe. Do not copy a friend’s May deadline if you formed in November.

The report typically confirms the registered agent and other information Wyoming asks for that year. File even if you had no revenue. “We didn’t trade” is not a Wyoming exemption unless the current statute says it is (it generally does not work that way for a company you kept alive).

Late filings can accumulate fees and affect good standing. Reinstatement, if you lapse, is a separate state process with its own fees. Budget the report and the agent as a pair. An unpaid agent and a filed report can still leave you unreachable.

Delaware: franchise tax is the word people remember

Delaware LLCs have historically paid an annual franchise tax that public guides often cited as a flat amount on the order of three hundred US dollars — again, often cited historically, not a forever price list — along with an annual filing process through Delaware’s systems. Delaware corporations (C-corps) use a different franchise-tax calculation (authorized shares or assumed par value capital). Do not apply C-corp math to an LLC or the reverse.

Delaware due dates have commonly clustered in the first half of the calendar year for many entities; verify the date that applies to LLCs for the tax year you are paying. Paying the wrong year’s tax or using an outdated coupon causes extra correspondence.

If you formed a Delaware LLC because a lawyer said to, ask that lawyer who files the franchise tax. If you formed it from a YouTube template, you still own the calendar. Delaware is not more “automatic” than Wyoming. It is often more expensive at the state line, which is a known trade for legal familiarity.

How founders choose between the states is in Wyoming LLC vs Delaware LLC.

What neither filing is

• Not Form 5472 or any other IRS information return
• Not a US visa, ESTA, or work permit
• Not sales-tax registration in other states
• Not a registered-agent renewal by itself (pay the agent too)
• Not proof that Stripe will keep the account open

Practical filing habits

1. Put the official due date in a calendar with a two-week warning. Use the state’s portal clock, not a social-media infographic.
2. File through the official website or an agent you actually hired. Random “file your annual report” ads in search results are a known scam pattern.
3. Match the legal name and file number exactly. A missing comma in “Smith Ventures, LLC” can bounce e-filing.
4. Save the stamped receipt or confirmation PDF with the year in the filename.
5. If you foreign-qualified in a second state, that state has its own annual list. Add it.

Payment methods: some states take card; some still love ACH. International cards sometimes fail. Have a US bank or a backup method before the deadline week.

If you already missed a year

Look up reinstatement or back-file instructions on the same official site. Pay what they assess. Then order a certificate of good standing only after the public record updates. Telling a bank “we filed yesterday” while the website still says delinquent wastes everyone’s time. For the broader stack of state versus IRS jobs, see US LLC annual reports and compliance.

Scriplit’s role

We can remind and file where an engagement includes state reports, and we can point you at current official fee pages rather than treating this article as a tariff. For federal information returns, use US tax filing and a preparer who will look at your 5472 facts. For formation-year questions, contact with LLC formation selected is the right inbox.

If you take one sentence from this page: search the secretary of state site for this year’s amount the morning you pay. Historical “often cited” figures are orientation, not an invoice.