Valim’s CPAs are startup accountants for your taxes, from founding to exit.

At Valim, your company’s federal and state returns start at $495 a year. The fee rises with the company’s size, its shareholders, the states it files in, a funding round and any cleanup of its books. For most companies, the instant quote gives you the fee before any work starts, and a CPA prices larger or more complex ones. We can also clean up your books during your tax filing, and offer bookkeeping services for startups alongside the return.

Usually not. Delaware’s notice uses the authorized shares method, which comes to $85,165 for 10,000,000 authorized shares. The law charges the lower of that and the assumed par value capital method. For a startup with millions of shares and modest assets, that method gives far less. With 8,000,000 shares issued at a tiny par value, it is $400 on up to $800,000 of assets.

Yes, a startup C corporation files Form 1120 every year, with or without revenue, until it stops business, dissolves and holds no assets. With no tax due, a late return carries no federal late-filing penalty, because that penalty is a percentage of the unpaid tax. A company at least 25% owned by one foreign person also files Form 5472 for its dealings with that owner and other related parties.

Yes, within limits. In the year it begins business, a startup can deduct up to $5,000 of start-up costs. It can also deduct a separate $5,000 of organizational costs, such as the legal fees to form the company. Each $5,000 shrinks by every dollar that category passes $50,000. The rest is deducted evenly over 180 months, from the month the business begins.

Choose a C corporation if you plan to raise from venture funds. A venture round usually ends an S election, since preferred stock is a second class and partnership or LLC funds cannot hold S shares. An LLC taxed as a partnership passes its business income through to investors, so even tax-exempt and foreign investors owe tax on it. Only stock of a domestic C corporation can be qualified small business stock (QSBS), so LLC units and S corporation shares never qualify.

No, not if the company was formed in the US. Under FinCEN’s rules, any company created by a filing with a US state is exempt from beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting, whoever owns it. FinCEN made that exemption final on August 14, 2026. Only a company formed under foreign law and registered to do business in a state still files, unless an exemption applies. It files within 30 days after being notified that its registration is effective, and does not report US owners.

Pick by the work you need: the books, the tax returns, or both. Three kinds of firm sell outsourced accounting for startups: bookkeeping-led platforms, startup-focused accounting firms and traditional CPA firms. Whichever you pick, ask who prepares and signs the company’s tax return. Valim is a CPA firm. Its licensed CPAs sign every return, prepared from the books your bookkeeper keeps.