How to incorporate your company
Learn what you need to get started with Atlas.
What Atlas does for you 
Stripe Atlas incorporates your company in Delaware, gets your company tax ID (EIN) from the IRS, issues founders equity, and files your 83(b) election. After incorporating you can open a business bank account, charge customers using Stripe payments, and access discounts on tools for founders.
Atlas costs 500 USD, which covers incorporation (plus state fees), and your first year of registered agent services. After that, we charge 100 USD annually to maintain your registered agent. We’ll refund your fee if we’re unable to support your business. Read more about Stripe Atlas’ restricted business categories.
Atlas provides legal information and self-serve tools that assist you in providing this information, filling out template documents, and filing these with the appropriate government offices. Atlas isn’t a law firm and doesn’t provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. Atlas can’t guarantee that your business will be approved to use Stripe payments. Using Atlas isn’t a substitute for individual advice from qualified legal, tax, or accounting professionals. Double-check that the documents we populate are aligned with your company’s unique circumstances, because you will need to work with a lawyer to make any changes after your incorporation documents are executed.
When to consider talking to a lawyer before using Atlas
Atlas is appropriate for most founders, but not all. If you have unique considerations such as any of the following, consider talking to a lawyer before using Atlas. This list is not exhaustive.
- You’re contributing significant intellectual property (IP) or other assets to your company. Atlas forms C corporations with an industry standard fair market value (FMV) of 100 USD, which might not be accurate if you have substantially valuable IP.
- You have prior inventions you want to exclude from being assigned to your company. Atlas assigns all prior inventions relevant to your company to the newly incorporated company.
- You want to include non-compete or non-solicit clauses in your formation documents. Atlas omits non-compete and non-solicit clauses because they’re state specific, change on a regular basis, and can be hard to enforce. If you use Atlas, you can work with a lawyer to include them after incorporation.
- You or your co-founders reside in India. If you or any of your co-founders live in India, Atlas is not suitable for you. Consider consulting a lawyer about ODI laws in your country before proceeding.
- You’re rolling over qualified small business stock (QSBS) gains from a previous company to your new one. Atlas automatically purchases shares on all founders’ behalf using IP and doesn’t support purchasing stock with cash.
- You don’t want to file an 83(b) election. Atlas automatically files 83(b) elections for all founders, a step that startup lawyers recommend, and one expected by investors.
Note
Create an account to start your company with Stripe Atlas. To get started, you’ll need to provide information about your company, founders, ownership structure, and officers.
What you need to submit your application
Review the following table and submit the required information.
| What we need from you | |
|---|---|
| Company structure | Select the entity type that aligns with your company goals. Stripe Atlas supports forming Delaware C corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and C corporation subsidiaries. |
Company name | Enter a legal name for your company. The Atlas application checks if a name is available in the State of Delaware, but you can also check if a name is available on Delaware’s website. If you’re creating the new company as a subsidiary of an existing company, you also need to provide the following information about the existing parent company:
|
| Company description | Provide a few sentences to describe your company. It’s okay if this changes. We only use this to verify that you aren’t operating in a restricted business category. |
| Company website | You can use your company website if you already have one. If not, provide your social profile like LinkedIn, X, and so on. We use this to verify that you’re a real person. |
| Company address | If you don’t have an official company address yet, you can use your home address or get a virtual address through one of our partners. We include this address in your EIN application to the IRS and in incorporation documents. The IRS will send a physical copy of your EIN confirmation letter to this address. You’ll also receive a digital copy of your EIN confirmation letter from Atlas. |
| Company US phone number | If you don’t have a company phone number, you can use a personal number or get a virtual phone number through one of our partners. We include this only in your EIN application to the IRS. This number won’t be publicly listed anywhere. |
Founders | We need the following information about you and any co-founders:
|
| Ownership | Tell us how much each founder will own and set up an equity pool for your future team if you’re creating a C corporation. |
Roles and officers | Choose your company’s role and officers:
|
How we use your information
Stripe uses your information to generate the legal documents necessary to form your company in Delaware, get an EIN from the IRS, and file your 83(b) election. If you apply to Stripe payments or other Stripe products, your information goes through additional review. The Stripe Atlas Agreement and the Stripe Privacy Policy have further detail about the information we collect and how we use that information.
After you sign your documents
After you sign and submit your application, we’ll review it within 1 business day to ensure we have all necessary information. We’ll notify you if we need more time or additional details about your company to complete your review. You can track the status of your company in the Atlas Dashboard.
Company formation
Once we have all the information we need about your company, we’ll file your incorporation paperwork with Delaware.
Getting your company tax ID from the IRS
An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is an ID issued by the IRS. An EIN is required to open a bank account, run payroll, and file US taxes.
Atlas automatically gets your EIN by filing Form SS-4 with the IRS. You also complete Form 8821, which allows Atlas to call the IRS on your behalf to get your company’s EIN as fast as possible.
If the founder filling out the Atlas application has a US Social Security Number (SSN), a US address, and a US phone number, Atlas will automatically get their company’s EIN in 1–2 business days after incorporation. If the founder doesn’t have an SSN, Atlas will get their company’s EIN in 15–25 business days after incorporation.
We make a few assumptions when we submit your company’s EIN application to the IRS. We assume your company doesn’t:
- Have or expect to have any employees who will receive a Form W-2 in the next 12 months.
- Own a highway motor vehicle with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
- Need to file Form 720 (Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return).
- Involve gambling or wagering.
- Sell or manufacture alcohol, tobacco, or firearms.
If any of these assumptions are incorrect prior to incorporation, please work with a tax expert to file applicable employment taxes and/or excise taxes for your company. Many companies hire employees after incorporation; our partners can help you do this compliantly.
Note
To get a company tax ID (EIN) using Stripe Atlas, begin by creating an account.
Registered agent service
To maintain good standing, Delaware requires that companies have a registered agent to receive official notices. The initial 500 USD setup fee includes one year of registered agent services, which automatically renews each year for 100 USD. Your registered agent might contact you directly to share legal notices and official communications from Delaware. Your registered agent address isn’t a general purpose mail-forwarding address for your company and shouldn’t be listed as a company address. You can separately use a virtual address service to receive general mail, for customer contact, and to apply to open a bank account.