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IncNow Joins Hall of Shame

Logo for IncNow, the subject of this blog post

Almost two years ago, I wrote about how Delaware corporations with no-par-value stock can find themselves obligated to pay extraordinarily high franchise taxes (In Delaware, No-Par-Value Can Cost a Bundle). Yesterday, a reader of this blog pointed out that IncNow, an online incorporation service, virtually lures naive customers into this tax trap.

Here is what the reader reported to me:

  • IncNow’s default assumption is that no-par stock will be issued.
  • IncNow does not invite the user to specify a par value (in contrast to LegalZoom, for example, which does).
  • IncNow’s representative said that the reader “could assign a par value to shares, under special requests at the bottom of the checkout form” [emphasis added].

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