What does it cost to run a company in North Carolina.

North Carolina sets a formation fee of $125 for Articles of Organization, a minimum franchise tax of $200 on corporations, calculated on net worth, and a corporate income tax rate of 2.0%. These are the fixed costs of keeping a legal entity alive in the state, separate from payroll, benefits, and the ongoing administrative work of running one.

Setting up in North Carolina starts with filing Articles of Organization with the North Carolina Secretary of State, which carries a fee of $125. That fee is a one-time cost of formation, not a recurring charge, but it is the first line item in any budget for standing up your own entity in the state.

Once formed, the entity takes on its own ongoing obligations. These do not disappear because you're small or new to the state, they apply from day one and continue every year the entity exists.

North Carolina charges corporations a franchise tax calculated on net worth, with a minimum franchise tax of $200 due each year regardless of how the underlying calculation lands. This is separate from income tax, and it applies because the corporation is chartered or doing business in the state, not because of how much it earned. An LLC owes it only if it elects to be taxed as a corporation.

Businesses often underestimate this line because it feels small next to payroll costs, but it's a recurring, non-negotiable filing obligation. Missing it creates compliance problems that compound over time, since the entity stays on the state's books whether or not you're actively using it.

North Carolina's corporate income tax rate is 2.0%. This applies on top of the franchise tax, so an active entity generating taxable income in the state carries both obligations, not one or the other.

Together, the franchise tax minimum and the corporate income tax rate define the floor of what it costs to keep a North Carolina entity compliant each year, before you add accounting, registered agent fees, and the administrative time of managing filings.

When you hire through Teamed instead of setting up your own North Carolina entity, you sidestep the formation fee, the annual franchise tax, and the corporate income tax exposure entirely, because Teamed's existing entity carries those obligations. That's the practical trade you're making: predictable per-employee cost through Teamed against the fixed and recurring costs of owning the entity yourself.

Neither path is automatically cheaper. It depends on headcount, how long you plan to stay in North Carolina, and how much internal bandwidth you have for entity administration, which is exactly what the crossover calculator is built to help you work through.

There are four ways to keep a company in North Carolina running, and which one fits depends on whether it has employees.

You can keep the filings yourself, with the North Carolina Secretary of State and the state tax agencies. That suits a founder with no staff and the time to track each deadline.

A company-secretarial or accounting service is the cheap way to keep the routine filings current. It suits a company with no employees.

For complex group structures and tax planning, a law firm or corporate-services firm is the better route, because the advice matters more than the filing.

For companies that will employ people in North Carolina, Teamed is the best choice. Teamed clients get one system from your first EOR hire to your own entity, real HR and legal experts you can reach when it matters and a designated person who has done this before. Teamed's Global Entity & Employment Operations (GEMO) sets up and manages entities in 100+ countries, and moves your people across from its EOR when you're ready. Teamed already owns an entity in the United States.

If the company employs nobody, use a company-secretarial service. It will cost you less than we would.

Figures on this page are drawn from the North Carolina Department of Revenue's corporate income and franchise tax rates and the North Carolina Secretary of State's Articles of Organization form (L-01).