Nevada has long generated huge windfalls of revenue from its casino industry. But the state also hauls in big pots of cash from a decidedly less-flashy industry — one that basically centers around paperwork.
Incorporating business entities is a big business in Nevada, which offers financial and legal protection for executives and layers of secrecy for ownership, companies have said. Business owners don’t have to live here to incorporate in Nevada, nor does their company need to actually be here either.
Overall, Nevada generated about $183 million in revenue from new registrations and other business-entity fees in 2023, according to Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar’s office.
Delaware has long led the pack nationally for drawing out-of-state entities, especially among publicly traded companies. Around 68 percent of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, and some 80 percent of U.S. initial public offerings in 2023 were registered there as well, according to the Delaware Division of Corporations.
But Nevada law allows a “broader exclusion of individual liability” of a company’s officers, directors and stockholders, according to a securities filing by travel site Tripadvisor, which was seeking to move its incorporation here.
The company also said that Delaware law is “more restrictive” than Nevada when it comes to dividend payments.
Under Nevada law, there are also “minimal reporting and corporate disclosure requirements,” and shareholders’ identities are not a matter of public record, according to a securities filing by Applied UV, a disinfectant seller that reincorporated in Nevada in 2023.
According to Aguilar’s office, there were more than 373,000 active business entities registered here as of last summer, with the most popular option being a limited-liability company.
Of course, not every business lasts.
More than 755,500 entities in Nevada had been permanently revoked as of mid-2024, Aguilar’s office reported.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
