How do you set upa company in Arizona.
You register with the Arizona Corporation Commission, pay the filing fee, then run payroll and tax yourself, or let Teamed employ your team while you decide.
At a glance
Arizona entity setup in brief
Arizona charges a $50 formation fee to register your entity with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Once formed, the state taxes corporate income at a flat 4.9% and applies a minimum franchise tax of $50, calculated as a flat amount rather than tied to revenue.
- Corporate income tax
- 4.9%
- Minimum franchise tax
- $50
- Franchise tax basis
- flat
- Formation / registration fee
- $50
Formation
Registering your entity in Arizona
Setting up a company in Arizona starts with filing formation documents with the Arizona Corporation Commission. You pay a $50 registration fee at filing, choose a registered agent with an Arizona address, and wait for the state to approve your paperwork before you can legally hire, open a bank account, or run payroll.
Once approved, you still need an EIN from the IRS, state payroll tax registrations, and workers' compensation coverage before your first employee starts. None of that is instant, and most of the delay sits in the queue between filing and approval, not in the paperwork itself.
Taxes
What Arizona charges once you're incorporated
Arizona taxes corporate income at a flat 4.9%, under Arizona Revised Statutes 43-1111. That rate applies regardless of how much your entity earns, so there's no bracket creep to plan around.
Arizona also applies a minimum franchise tax of $50, and this is calculated on a flat basis rather than scaled to revenue, payroll, or number of shares. Budget for it as a fixed annual cost of keeping the entity alive, separate from whatever income tax you owe.
Compliance
Staying compliant after you set up
Forming the entity is the easy part. Keeping it compliant means filing required state reports on schedule, maintaining a registered agent, running payroll withholding correctly, and staying current on corporate income tax and the minimum franchise tax every year.
Miss a filing and you risk penalties or administrative dissolution, which then complicates payroll, benefits, and your ability to sponsor visas or sign contracts in the state. This is the part most founders underestimate when they first register.
The honest take
When an EOR beats an entity in Arizona
None of this means you should always form an entity first.
An employer of record is sometimes the better answer, a fair alternative rather than a lesser one, especially for a small or still-changing headcount, or while you're testing whether Arizona is even the right market. Talk to a member of the team about your specific situation, or run the numbers yourself with the crossover calculator, since the right call depends on salaries and how long you plan to stay.
Own entity, GEMO
Your own entity, when it's time. We set it up, migrate you in, and hand it back intact.
When Arizona stops being a test and becomes a real base, Teamed's Global Entity and Employment Operations service, which we call GEMO, handles the formation itself. We register the entity, move your employees from EOR status into direct employment with the new entity, and hand you a fully operating company, not a shell you have to learn to run. We do this across 100+ countries, so the same process applies whether Arizona is your first entity or your fifteenth.
For Arizona specifically, that means we manage the Arizona Corporation Commission filing, the registered agent requirement, and the payroll tax registrations, then transfer employment cleanly once the entity is live. You keep the team continuity, we keep the compliance risk off your plate during the switch.
Before you commit
Sometimes an employer of record is the better fit
An employer of record is sometimes the better answer, a fair alternative rather than a lesser one, especially for a small or still-changing headcount, or while you're testing whether Arizona is even the right market. Talk to a member of the team about your specific situation, or run the numbers yourself with the crossover calculator, since the right call depends on salaries and how long you plan to stay.
Contractors, employer of record and your own entity all run on one platform at Teamed, so moving between them later does not mean changing provider or re-onboarding anybody. Real HR and legal experts handle the work rather than a ticket queue.
Talk to a member of the team and we will tell you plainly which one suits where you are. If you would rather look at the numbers yourself first, the crossover calculator models it on local salaries and employer costs rather than on a headcount rule of thumb.
Who carries it
Your own entity, when it's time. We set it up, migrate you in, and hand it back intact.
Global Entity and Employment Operations, which we call GEMO, is how Teamed forms your company, registers it for tax and payroll, runs it month to month and keeps its filings current, across 100+ countries. You stay the employer. We do the work behind it.
For Arizona specifically, that means we manage the Arizona Corporation Commission filing, the registered agent requirement, and the payroll tax registrations, then transfer employment cleanly once the entity is live. You keep the team continuity, we keep the compliance risk off your plate during the switch.
They set up our EU entity and moved hires across without missing a payroll.
Questions
Arizona entity setup questions
How much does it cost to register a company in Arizona?
The Arizona Corporation Commission charges a $50 formation fee to file your entity's registration documents. That covers the filing itself, not the additional cost of a registered agent, EIN, or payroll tax registrations you'll also need.
What is Arizona's corporate income tax rate?
Arizona taxes corporate income at a flat 4.9%, set under Arizona Revised Statutes 43-1111. The rate doesn't change with income level, so every dollar of taxable income is taxed the same.
Does Arizona have a franchise tax?
Yes, Arizona applies a minimum franchise tax of $50, and it's calculated as a flat amount rather than tied to revenue or company size. Treat it as a fixed annual cost of keeping your entity registered.
Do I need an Arizona entity to hire someone there?
Not necessarily. An employer of record can legally employ staff in Arizona on your behalf without you forming an entity first, which is often faster if you're hiring one or two people or still validating the market.
When should I switch from an EOR to my own Arizona entity?
It depends on headcount, salaries, and how long you plan to keep operating in Arizona, not a fixed number of employees. Use the crossover calculator or talk to a member of the team to work out the point where forming your own entity, and later moving to GEMO, makes more sense.
Where these figures come from
Sources
Figures on this page are drawn from the Arizona Revised Statutes 43-1111 and the Arizona Corporation Commission fee schedule.
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