I wanted to share a quick story. Last month, a founder reached out to us in a total panic. He’d just opened a letter from the State of Delaware with a tax bill for $175,000. For an early-stage company, that’s not just a bill—it’s an extinction event.
The Reality of the "Default" Bill: Delaware often uses the "Authorized Shares" method by default. If you have a high share count but low assets, their system generates a massive number. It’s essentially a placeholder until you prove otherwise.
We got on the phone with the state and it turns out all they needed was to see Form 1120 to verify the actual assets. Once the form was emailed, that $175k bill didn't just drop—it completely disappeared.
The lesson for everyone here: If you get a scary bill in the mail, don't panic.
Don't forget March 01 is the deadline for Delaware franchise tax. Since there are about a dozen other deadlines like this, we built a simple way to track them.
Instead of a spreadsheet, you can go to taxhero.vc/checkin, answer a few quick questions about your startup, and it’ll generate a custom automated calendar for you.
It takes about a minute and puts everything on autopilot so you can go back to actually building your product.
Has anyone else dealt with these "phantom" bills from Delaware or other states?
The Reality of the "Default" Bill: Delaware often uses the "Authorized Shares" method by default. If you have a high share count but low assets, their system generates a massive number. It’s essentially a placeholder until you prove otherwise.
We got on the phone with the state and it turns out all they needed was to see Form 1120 to verify the actual assets. Once the form was emailed, that $175k bill didn't just drop—it completely disappeared.
The lesson for everyone here: If you get a scary bill in the mail, don't panic.
Don't forget March 01 is the deadline for Delaware franchise tax. Since there are about a dozen other deadlines like this, we built a simple way to track them.
Instead of a spreadsheet, you can go to taxhero.vc/checkin, answer a few quick questions about your startup, and it’ll generate a custom automated calendar for you.
It takes about a minute and puts everything on autopilot so you can go back to actually building your product.
Has anyone else dealt with these "phantom" bills from Delaware or other states?