Delaware taxes

Delaware taxes personal income at rates up to 6.6%. Anyone doing business in Delaware, including a sole proprietor, needs a business licence, from $75 a year, and may owe a gross receipts tax on revenue. Every LLC and partnership formed or registered in Delaware pays $300 a year, and every Delaware corporation pays franchise tax of at least $175, even if it never trades there. C corporations doing business in Delaware also pay 8.7% corporate income tax.

Personal income tax

Delaware residents file Form PIT-RES. Every filing status uses the same rates: 0% on the first $2,000, 2.2% on the next $3,000, 3.9% on the next $5,000, 4.8% on the next $10,000, 5.2% on the next $5,000, 5.55% on the next $35,000, 6.6% on everything above $60,000. Below $60,000 of taxable income you read the tax from Delaware's printed tax table.

Delaware gives a $110 credit against the tax for you, your spouse on a joint return and each dependent, and another $110 for each of you aged 60 or over. Social Security and Railroad Retirement are not taxed at all.

Delaware has no qualifying surviving spouse status. A married couple can file two separate returns on one form, which is generally better than a joint return when both spouses have Delaware income over $9,400.

Return

Form PIT-RES

Rates

0% on the first $2,000, 2.2% on the next $3,000, 3.9% on the next $5,000, 4.8% on the next $10,000, 5.2% on the next $5,000, 5.55% on the next $35,000, 6.6% on everything above $60,000

Standard deduction

$3,250, or $6,500 married filing jointly

Age 65 or over, or blind

$2,500 more for each, up to $5,000 per person, if you take the standard deduction

Personal credit

$110 per person, plus $110 at age 60 or over

Pension exclusion, under 60

$2,000 per person, or $12,500 for a United States military pension

Pension exclusion, 60 or over

$12,500 per person, covering pensions and other retirement income

Not taxed

Social Security and Railroad Retirement

Sole proprietor

A sole proprietor doing business in Delaware needs a business licence. It is generally $75 a year for a first location, and costs more with more locations or certain activities. It is owed whatever the business earned.

Delaware also charges a gross receipts tax on revenue, with nothing deducted. The rate runs from 0.0945% to 1.9914% depending on what the business does, and exclusions generally start at $100,000 a month, so many small businesses owe nothing. The return is still filed. Your profit is taxed on your own Form PIT-RES.

Single-member LLC

Every LLC formed or registered in Delaware pays a flat $300 annual tax for 2025, due June 1, whatever it earned and even if it never traded in Delaware. There is no annual report. Missing it costs $200 plus interest of 1.5% a month. The tax rises to $400 for 2026.

An LLC that actually does business in Delaware also needs the business licence, from $75 a year, and may owe the gross receipts tax. The LLC's profit is taxed on your own Form PIT-RES.

Partnership

Every LLC, limited partnership and general partnership formed or registered in Delaware pays a flat $300 a year, due June 1, whatever it earned and even if it never traded in Delaware. There is no annual report to file with it. Missing it costs $200 plus interest of 1.5% a month.

A partnership with any Delaware-source income or loss also files Form PRT-RTN, the partnership return, by the 15th day of the third month after its tax year ends, so March 15 for a calendar year. With no Delaware-source income or loss, no return is needed.

The profit passes through to the partners, who report it on their own returns. A partner who lives outside Delaware files a Delaware nonresident return or joins a composite return. A partnership that does business in Delaware also needs the business licence and may owe the gross receipts tax.

S corporation

An S corporation with Delaware income files Form SCT-RTN, the S corporation reconciliation and shareholders information return, by the 15th day of the third month after its tax year ends, so March 15 for a calendar year.

A Delaware corporation files and pays its Annual Report and franchise tax by March 1 every year, whatever it earned. The minimum franchise tax is $175 using the authorized shares method, or $400 using the assumed par value capital method. The state charges by whichever method you use, so it is worth checking both.

The profit passes through to the shareholders, who report it on their own returns.

Delaware makes an S corporation pay Delaware tax for each shareholder who lives elsewhere, at the highest personal income tax rate, on that shareholder's share of the income apportioned to Delaware, and prepay it during the year in four estimated installments. The amount is not worked out here, because it needs each owner's residence and share.

C corporation

A C corporation doing business in Delaware pays corporate income tax at 8.7% of the income apportioned to Delaware. A corporation selling into other states counts only its Delaware share, measured by Delaware gross receipts over total gross receipts. Being incorporated in Delaware does not by itself create this tax: a corporation whose only presence there is a registered office, and which does not trade there, files no income tax return.

It files Form CIT-TAX, the corporation income tax return, by the 15th day of the fourth month after its tax year ends, so April 15 for a calendar year. Every Delaware corporation also files and pays its Annual Report and franchise tax by March 1, on top of any income tax. The minimum franchise tax is $175 by the authorized shares method or $400 by the assumed par value capital method.

Corporate income tax

8.7% of Delaware income

Multi-state profit

Delaware gross receipts over total gross receipts

Franchise tax and annual report

Due March 1, minimum $175 by the authorized shares method

Estimate your state tax

Pick your business type and enter this year's numbers to see the state business tax Delaware charges. It assumes all your sales are in Delaware.

An estimate for planning, not tax advice.

Sources

• Delaware 2025 PIT-RES instruction booklet
• Delaware TY25 tax table (TY25_taxtable.pdf)
• corp.delaware.gov LLC/LP/GP Franchise Tax Instructions
• corp.delaware.gov Annual Report and Tax Instructions
• revenuefiles.delaware.gov 2025 Form CIT-TAX Corporate Income Tax Return instructions (revised 01/21/26)
• revenuefiles.delaware.gov 2025 Form SCT-RTN S Corporation Reconciliation instructions (revised 11/03/25)
• revenuefiles.delaware.gov 2025 Form PRT-RTN Partnership Return instructions (revised 05/27/25)
• revenue.delaware.gov 2025 Corporate Income Tax Return Instructions (CIT-TAX), line 13 and Schedules 3A/3B
• revenue.delaware.gov Filing Corporate Income Tax

Last reviewed August 2026.