A Tale of Two Incorporations

I filed an incorporation mid-December, and just received the acceptance notice from the State of California today, nearly two months later. I could have gotten it back sooner, but we had some time and wanted to avoid the $500-1000 expedite fees charged by the California Secretary of State.

But that seems to be the new normal here in California: If you want to form a business, it will take two months to do so, unless you pay an expedite fee on top of your regular fees and taxes.

Contrast that with Chile, which announced it is moving to a free, same day online business formation system!

Of course, there are lots of reasons to form a business in California rather than Chile. But the Chileans get it: making it simple and easy for businesses to form in your state has benefits so far beyond whatever fees you might collect. Governments of all sizes spend millions trying to attract businesses to their jurisdictions. Seems to me like the easiest way to attract businesses would be to make it easy for them to be formed!