Operating in Kansas with a Delaware Company
Delaware is known for its strong corporate law structure and unparalleled liability protection. For this reason, clients from all over the world come to Delaware to incorporate their business even though they are not physically operating the business from Delaware.
When incorporating in Delaware, your business is domestic to Delaware and foreign to every other state. The process by which one state gives you the authority to operate there, even though you incorporated in another state is called “foreign qualification”. This post addresses Delaware LLCs and Corporations that operate in Kansas.
Filing a Kansas Foreign Qualification is the first step after forming your Delaware Company. Before doing any business or banking in Kansas, you should complete this step. Like many other states, Kansas has an application process, a state fee and requires additional documents from Delaware. Kansas also requires that you have a Registered Agent in Kansas to act as the middleman between the contact person for the company and the Kansas Secretary of State. Any notices from Kansas will go to the Registered Agent, whose job is to forward those notices to the company’s contact person.
Typically, clients get started by contacting their Delaware Registered Agent for assistance with the application. Harvard Business Services, home of the $50/year Registered Agent fee, has helped many Delaware Companies foreign qualify in Kansas. We can prepare the application, obtain the Certificate of Good Standing that Kansas requires from Delaware, and act as the Kansas Registered Agent. Once qualified as a foreign entity in Kansas, your company receives a Certificate of Authority from the Kansas Secretary of State. This is proof that your Delaware Company has the authority to do business in Kansas.
Once qualified to do business in Kansas, please keep in mind that you are responsible for paying the ongoing fees for both states in order to remain in good standing. Harvard’s Delaware Registered Agent fee is $50/year and the Kansas Registered Agent fee is $99/year. Delaware has a $300/year Franchise Tax for an LLC and a $225/year Franchise Tax for a minimum stock Corporation. The Corporation Franchise Tax goes up if the number of shares is over 5,000. Kansas has an annual report fee which is $50/year for an LLC or a Corporation. Your Registered Agent sends out notices before each fee is due.
If you have additional questions about registering your Delaware Company to do business in Kansas, or are ready to get started, please contact Harvard Business Services at 1-800-345-2677 or email devin@delawareinc.com.
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