JURISDICTIONS

Delaware

General Information

Location	Situated at northeast coast of the United States, at the south of New York within approximately 1 hour flying distance
Main Cities	Dover is the capital; Wilmington is the biggest city
Population	About 875,000
Language	English – US
Legal System	English Common Law
Political System	Delaware was the first state to ratify the US constitution on 7th December 1787.
Currency	US Dollar
Economy	As a modern and well-developed western economy, the Delaware Division of Corporations provides prompt, friendly and professional services. A global outreach and expansion is one of their overall strategies
Time Zone	GMT -4
Major Banks	Wide range of international and local banks is situated at Delaware.
Principal Corporate Legislation	Corporation: General Corporation Law LLC: Limited Liability Company Act
Number of entities incorporated in 2008	About 122,700 (Corporation and LLC)
Total number of entities on register	Approximately 842,800(Corporation and LLC)

Introduction

Over the last seven years, Delaware has been very successful in promoting its corporation services by introducing some user-friendly facilities, like expedited service, online filings and searches. Incorporation revenue accounted for 22% of the State’s general funds in fiscal year 2007.

The popularity of Delaware can be evidenced by the fact that Delaware is the corporate home to 63% of the Fortune 500 companies and half of all US firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.

Delaware officials stay on the top of trends in the international business world and are better able to understand and respond to rapidly changing corporate needs. They also intend to continuously expand Delaware’s global market share by official visitations to other countries, e.g., China, India, UK, etc. and also participating in many international conferences in respect of economic affairs, corporate governance, etc.

Chief Justice Myron Steele stated, “We (Delaware) are at heart a customer-service organisation”. Delaware aims at being a customer-service organisation and ever-focused on serving customers.

Current Features & Benefits

A well-developed political, legal and economic society
Back up provided by comprehensive and mature professionals, financial institutes and legal services providers
Privacy – no disclosure of beneficial owners
No income tax is assessed on corporations’ offshore income
Non-resident shareholders pay no Delaware state tax on shares
Annual franchise tax is low
Wide variety of types of entities fit for different purposes, e.g., “C” Corporation, LLC, “S” Corporation, Close Corporation, etc
Simple company structure – like “C” Corporation, one person can act as the director, shareholder and officer
User-friendly – timely registration, expedited service, online filing and search, etc
Simple administration – corporate books and records are not required to be located in Delaware

General Information	Delaware-Corporation	Delaware-LLC
Stability of Jurisdiction	Good	Good
Legal System	Common Law	Common Law
Type of Company	Corporation	LLC
Company Information
Bearer Share	No	N/A
Standard Authorised Capital / Shares	1,500 No Par Value	N/A
Chinese Name Permitted	No	No
Official Bilingual M&A	No	No
Local Requirements
Minimum Number of Shareholders	1	N/A
Minimum Number of Directors	1 (b)	N/A
Company Secretary	Yes (b)	N/A
President & Treasurer	Yes (b)	Optional
Beneficial Owners	No	No
Public Filings
Shareholders	Yes	N/A
Directors	Yes	N/A
Company Secretary	Yes	N/A
Other
Registered Agent / Resident Agent	Yes	Yes
Registered Office	Yes	Yes
Annual Return / Accounts Filing	Yes / No	Yes / No
Corporate Tax	No (a)	No (a)
Change of Domicile Permitted	Yes	Yes
Shelf Companies Available	No	No

Notes:
(a)	Only on onshore profits, NO tax on offshore profits
(b)	Must be natural persons; corporate entity not permissible