Obligare / Delaware franchise tax calculator
Due March 1

Delaware franchise tax calculator: both methods, side by side

Delaware bills every corporation by the authorized shares method and lets it pay by the assumed par value capital method instead. For a startup with millions of authorized shares the first number is in the tens of thousands of dollars and the second is a few hundred. Enter four figures and see both, as the Division of Corporations computes them.

From the certificate of incorporation, all classes.
Issued and outstanding, treasury shares included.
Total assets from the federal return, Form 1120, Schedule L, for the year.
0 for no par. Most startups: $0.0001 or $0.00001.
$85,165Authorized shares method
$800Assumed par value method
$850You pay, with the $50 report fee

Use the assumed par value capital method: assumed par 0.125000 a share, assumed par value capital $1,250,000, $800 of tax instead of $85,165.

How Delaware computes it

Authorized shares method. 5,000 shares or fewer: $175. 5,001 to 10,000: $250. Each further 10,000 shares or part of one: $85 more. The most under either method is $200,000. The Division's first bill always uses this method, which is why a corporation with 10,000,000 authorized shares is told it owes $85,165.

Assumed par value capital method. Divide total gross assets by issued shares to get the assumed par value. Count every authorized share whose par value is below the assumed par at the assumed par, and every share whose par is above it at its par; that total is the assumed par value capital. The tax is $400 for each $1,000,000 of it or part of one, at least $400. With one class of shares the arithmetic is what the calculator does above; with several classes at different par values, each class is counted at the higher of its par and the assumed par, and the Division's own calculator takes the classes one by one.

Both are paid by March 1 with the annual report and its $50 fee, online with the Division of Corporations. Missing it costs $200 plus 1.5% interest a month, and a corporation that stays unpaid for a year has its charter voided. A corporation that owed $5,000 or more the previous year pays in installments from June 1. Delaware LLCs pay a flat $400 by June 1 instead and never use either method.

Source: the Division of Corporations' franchise tax calculation page, read October 22, 2026. The calculator is arithmetic, not advice; the Division's figure on the filing is the one that counts.

Put March 1 in your calendar

The Delaware franchise tax is one of the dates on a Delaware corporation's calendar. The others, federal and state, are a form away, free to read.

Show a Delaware corporation's calendarThe rule, with the agency page