How to move my company out of Kentucky

---

Start Your Redomestication Now

The Redomestication Process in a Nutshell

1. Enter your biz name HERE.

Then click "get exact price" and follow the steps.

Takes less than five minutes.

Submit payment securely online then sit back and relax.

24-48 hours

2. We prepare the legal docs.

Our dually-licensed attorney+CPA prepares the legal documents and sends them to you via DocuSign.

You sign. We take it from there.

Same Day

3. We submit the legal filings to the states.

We monitor the status closely, respond to inquiries from their offices, and send you weekly updates.

No extra charge. 100% success rate.

1-3 months

4. Approved! ✅

We send you a checklist of go-forward obligations and simple steps for your tax pro to follow.

120% money-back guarantee if we do not succeed.

Did you know? The average business that moves to a state without state-level income tax saves over $12,500 in taxes per year.

Still have questions? Schedule a free meeting with our attorney and CPA.

Redomestication, also known as redomiciling, refers to the lesser-known legal process of transferring or moving the "home state" of an existing Corporation, partnership, or LLC, from Kentucky to a new state. It means keeping your existing company name, credit, and federal employer identification number (FEIN) without wasting time and money creating a new business entity, applying for foreign registration, or moving assets between companies.
— Prof. Chad D. Cummings, Esq., CPA

Start Your Redomestication Now

How to move your company out of Kentucky: the legally clean, tax-conscious approach

Business owners searching for how to move their company out of Kentucky are rarely asking a purely administrative question. In practice, the objective is to change the entity’s legal “home state” while protecting continuity: the same entity, the same operating history, and the same day-to-day operations. When approached correctly, relocating an entity out of Kentucky can be executed in a manner that is orderly, defensible, and designed to minimize unnecessary friction with banks, counterparties, and government agencies.

From the perspective of an attorney and CPA, the most frequent and costly error is selecting a method that appears simple but creates long-term compliance and tax drag. Owners often default to foreign registration, or they form a new company and attempt to “move” everything over—only to discover that contracts, licenses, payment processors, and lending relationships do not automatically follow. In contrast, redomestication (also referred to as statutory conversion) is designed to accomplish what most owners mean when they ask how to move a company out of Kentucky: a change in domicile while preserving operational continuity.

For a step-by-step overview of how to move a company out of Kentucky through redomestication, the call to action should be approached as a legal project with a clear scope, a documented plan, and an execution timeline that avoids business disruption.

Why leaving Kentucky can be a rational business decision

When clients evaluate how to move a business out of Kentucky, the analysis typically begins with risk and cost. Kentucky’s tax environment, compliance expectations, and legal landscape may not align with the company’s growth trajectory, investor expectations, or operational footprint. Even when Kentucky is a strong state for many businesses, an entity’s needs evolve; a structure that once felt suitable can become an impediment when operations, ownership, or the customer base shifts elsewhere.

Relocation is frequently driven by the desire for a different tax posture, a more predictable legal framework for internal governance, or a business climate that better supports the company’s industry. The important point is not ideology; it is alignment. A company’s domicile should match where it is actually building enterprise value, where decision-makers are located, and where long-term compliance can be managed without diverting resources from revenue-generating activity.

Accordingly, “how do I move my company out of Kentucky” should be treated as a strategy question first and a filing question second. The mechanism matters because the wrong mechanism can preserve Kentucky obligations unnecessarily, or create new problems that did not previously exist.

Redomestication as the preferred answer to “how do I move my company out of Kentucky?”

Redomestication is often the superior solution because it accomplishes a change in domicile without requiring the owner to dismantle and rebuild the company. In practical terms, it is the closest legal analogue to “moving” an entity. The company continues as the same underlying business, but with a new home state—an outcome that aligns with the real-world expectations behind the question of how to move a company out of Kentucky.

This continuity is not merely cosmetic. Redomestication is specifically valuable because it allows the entity to maintain its existing federal employer identification number (FEIN), its contracts, and typically its name. Those three items—FEIN, contracts, and naming continuity—are often the pillars of uninterrupted operations. They affect payroll, banking, merchant accounts, vendor files, insurance underwriting, and customer procurement processes.

Owners seeking how to move an existing company out of Kentucky without disrupting operations should recognize that redomestication is designed to avoid the “new entity” problems that arise with dissolutions, asset transfers, and other workarounds that appear inexpensive at first but are expensive to correct.

The operational continuity advantage: contracts, FEIN, and name retention

When evaluating how to move a Kentucky company to another state, continuity is the decisive factor for most operating businesses. Contracts frequently contain assignment clauses, consent requirements, notice provisions, or change-of-control language. A transaction that creates a new entity—such as forming a replacement company and transferring assets—can trigger these clauses and require a time-consuming outreach campaign to customers, landlords, lenders, and vendors.

Redomestication mitigates these risks because it does not require you to recreate the business as a new taxpayer or a new contracting party. Maintaining the FEIN is particularly important because payroll systems, retirement plans, and reporting workflows are often built around that identifier. Similarly, preserving the company name in most cases supports brand continuity, avoids collateral marketing costs, and reduces friction with banks and payment processors.

For many owners, the most persuasive explanation of how to move a company out of Kentucky is simply this: redomestication is engineered to preserve the company’s identity while changing its domicile. That is the business outcome most clients are seeking, even if they do not initially know the term.

Why foreign registration is usually not the right solution

Foreign registration is frequently marketed as the “easy” answer to how to move a company out of Kentucky. However, foreign registration typically results in a company that remains domiciled in Kentucky while being authorized to do business elsewhere. That may be appropriate when Kentucky remains an active base of operations, but it is often misapplied when the company has truly moved and wants to reduce Kentucky compliance and administrative exposure.

In practice, foreign registration can create dual-state obligations: two sets of annual reports, two sets of registered agent requirements, and the potential for continued Kentucky filings and fees. Business owners then discover that they have not actually accomplished what they intended when asking how to move their company out of Kentucky. They merely added another jurisdiction to manage.

In addition, foreign registration is commonly paired with misconceptions about taxes. Owners may assume that “registering elsewhere” automatically ends Kentucky tax exposure. In reality, state tax results depend on nexus and activity, and the legal domicile of the entity remains relevant. A properly structured redomestication, combined with a well-documented cessation of Kentucky operations where appropriate, is generally the cleaner pathway.

Why mergers and dissolutions are often overkill (and sometimes harmful)

Another common response to how to move a business out of Kentucky is a merger into a newly formed entity in the target state. While mergers can accomplish a relocation, they often introduce unnecessary complexity, higher legal fees, and more opportunities for technical mistakes. Mergers also tend to be overused for closely held businesses that do not need a complicated structural transaction to achieve a domicile change.

Dissolution and re-formation is even more problematic. Many business owners are advised—often by non-lawyers or by generalized online content—to dissolve the Kentucky entity and start fresh elsewhere. That recommendation ignores practical realities. Dissolution can disrupt contracts, interrupt licensing, reset business credit narratives, and create avoidable administrative burdens. It can also complicate continuity for payroll, retirement plans, and vendor onboarding.

In short, if the goal is how to move an existing company out of Kentucky while preserving ongoing operations, dissolution is commonly the opposite of what the business needs. Redomestication is typically the more elegant, business-minded solution because it focuses on continuity rather than replacement.

Key legal and procedural considerations when moving a company out of Kentucky

Owners often underestimate the extent to which “how to move my company out of Kentucky” is a governance and documentation exercise. The move should be supported by proper approvals consistent with the company’s internal documents and ownership structure. For example, an LLC should follow the operating agreement’s voting requirements and record written consents or minutes. A corporation should follow bylaws and applicable board and shareholder approval steps. Failure to document authority can create disputes later, particularly if ownership is divided or if outside investors are involved.

There are also practical issues that require sequencing. Banking relationships, registered agent records, vendor profiles, state and local licenses, and insurance policies frequently need updates that should be timed to match the legal effectiveness of the domicile change. Similarly, companies should avoid creating a record that suggests ongoing operations in Kentucky when the business has actually left, because inconsistencies can generate avoidable correspondence and compliance headaches.

For a compliant, professionally managed pathway to how to move your company out of Kentucky using redomestication, the process should be approached with a checklist and a deliberate paper trail, rather than improvised filings that leave loose ends.

Common misconceptions that cause expensive mistakes

First, many owners assume that changing a mailing address, relocating a principal office, or obtaining a new registered agent is the same as moving the company’s domicile. It is not. Those steps may be necessary operational updates, but they do not, by themselves, answer how to move a company out of Kentucky in the legal sense. Domicile is a legal concept tied to the entity’s formation state unless changed through a recognized mechanism.

Second, owners frequently assume that forming a new entity elsewhere is harmless because they can “transfer everything over.” That approach routinely fails in the details. Assets may require assignments, contracts may require consents, and customer relationships may be disrupted. In addition, a “new entity” approach often causes confusion with tax reporting, payroll systems, and vendor compliance platforms.

Third, business owners may believe that online filing platforms are interchangeable with legal representation. Redomestication is not simply data entry. It is a coordinated statutory conversion designed to preserve identity and reduce disruption. A disciplined approach is not optional when the company has employees, meaningful contracts, or material revenue.

Conclusion: a decisive framework for moving an entity out of Kentucky

When the objective is how to move an established company out of Kentucky while preserving momentum, the analysis should prioritize continuity, legal defensibility, and long-term compliance simplicity. Redomestication is generally the best mechanism because it is designed to change the home state of the entity while maintaining the company’s FEIN, its contractual relationships, and—most of the time—its name. Those features are precisely what operating businesses need in order to relocate without operational disruption.

Equally important, redomestication avoids the recurring burdens that often accompany foreign registration and avoids the complexity and risk profile of mergers or dissolution-based strategies. In professional practice, the lowest-cost plan is frequently the one that avoids creating a problem that later must be repaired under time pressure and at significantly higher expense.

Business owners ready to implement how to move their company out of Kentucky through redomestication should proceed with a structured plan, proper approvals, and a clear compliance checklist that supports the company’s next stage of growth.

Start Your Redomestication Now

Domestication vs. Foreign Registration vs. Merger vs. Dissolution: A Comparison

Domestication is, in many circumstances, far preferable to registering an LLC or corporation as a foreign entity, especially where the LLC or corporation has permanently moved its operations and will not be returning to the prior state in the near future.

Some attorneys, unfortunately, confuse their clients by recommending a foreign entity registration in the new state, or worse, a merger, where a redomestication™ would have accomplished the goals of moving their business to a new state efficiently and effectively.

The top seven benefits of moving your company (LLC, corporation, or partnership) to a new state via redomestication™ to transfer your business include:

1. Maintaining your existing federal employer identification number, eliminating the tax headaches of forming a new company or transferring assets between companies (and inadvertently triggering a hefty tax bill from the IRS) when you move your business to a new state;
2. Keeping your existing business credit history and track record, safeguarding your reputation with clients, vendors, and creditors when moving your LLC or corporation to a new state;
3. Continuing your existing business name (in almost every case), protecting your most important assets when moving your company to a new state: your brand, reputation, and time you have already invested in search engine optimization;
4. Maintaining your existing contracts with customers and vendors because moving your business to a new state via redomestication™ does not create a new company: it maintains your existing company, saving you dozens (or even hundreds) of hours re-writing (and re-negotiating) contracts and changing banks;
5. Eliminating the need to continue paying registration fees and taxes in your prior state (assuming you have discontinued your operations there and have permanently relocated to a new state), potentially saving you tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in state taxes every quarter when you move your business to a new state;
6. Avoiding unnecessary IRS scrutiny because moving your LLC or corporation to a new state via redomestication™ is a tax-free transaction under the Internal Revenue Code; and
7. Reducing the amount of time you spend on administrative filings, saving you untold hours annually, by moving your company to a new state.

Before taking the "penny wise and pound foolish" approach of foreign entity registration or spending countless hours and exorbitant legal fees (and possibly taxes) on a merger or merger-gone-wrong to move your company to a new state, ensure you understand your options.

In most circumstances, redomestication™ (and not a foreign entity registration or costly and complicated merger) is the best route to achieve a change in company domicile to a new state.

Start Your Redomestication Now