How do you set up a company in North Carolina.

Forming a North Carolina LLC means filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State, then registering for state withholding and unemployment insurance before you run payroll. Corporate income tax and franchise tax apply to an LLC only if it elects to be taxed as a corporation. Teamed skips that path and puts your first North Carolina hire on payroll under our own registered entity instead.

If you register an LLC in North Carolina, you file Articles of Organization (form L-01) with the Secretary of State, and that filing carries a registration fee of $125. That gets you a legal entity, not a working payroll system.

After formation, you still need a registered agent, a business bank account, workers' compensation coverage, and state and federal tax IDs before you can legally pay a single employee. Most of the real work happens after the state approves your paperwork, not before.

North Carolina charges corporate income tax at a flat rate of 2.0%, one of the lower corporate rates in the country. On top of that, corporations pay a state franchise tax calculated on net worth rather than income, with a minimum franchise tax of $200 due even in a year with thin margins. An LLC owes neither unless it elects corporate tax treatment; it files a $200 annual report instead.

Neither tax disappears once you're operating, and both require you to file and pay on an ongoing schedule as long as the entity exists. Teamed's entity in North Carolina absorbs this compliance layer, so it never becomes your filing calendar.

The Secretary of State filing itself is only the first domino. Tax registration, a registered agent, workers' comp, and a compliant payroll setup all queue up behind it, and each has its own paperwork and its own wait.

Companies that plan to hire one or two people in North Carolina rarely see a return on that timeline before their hiring plans change. An employer of record removes the queue entirely and lets you make an offer this week instead of next quarter.

A company formed in another state or another country does not need a second company to hire in North Carolina. It registers with the North Carolina Secretary of State as a foreign company before it starts doing business there, a step usually called foreign qualification.

North Carolina law sets the test for what counts as doing business in the state, and putting employees to work there on a regular basis will usually meet it. States give the filing different names, among them a certificate of authority and an application for registration.

In North Carolina, the filing is an Application for Certificate of Authority. The North Carolina Secretary of State charges a corporation $250 to file it, according to its published fees. It does not cover the cost of a registered agent, or of a certificate of good standing from your home state if one is needed. An LLC formed elsewhere goes through a similar filing, and its fee can be different.

Foreign qualification does not make you an employer in the state. That is a separate registration with the state tax and unemployment insurance agencies, due by the state's own deadline, which usually falls at or soon after your first payroll there.

There are four routes to a company in North Carolina, and which one fits depends on whether it will have employees.

You can file the formation documents yourself with the North Carolina Secretary of State. That suits a founder with no staff and the time to work through the forms.

A formation agent is the quick, cheap way to get the company registered. It suits a company that will not employ anyone.

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 gives you a designated person who has done this before and one system from your first contractor to your tenth entity. 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 nobody will work for the company yet, go to the registry or a formation agent. It will cost you less than we would.

Figures on this page come 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 filing requirements.