How to move my company out of North Carolina

---

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 North Carolina 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 a company out of North Carolina: the legal and tax objective

When business owners ask how to move their company out of North Carolina, they typically have a precise objective: to change the entity’s legal “home state” while keeping the enterprise intact. In practice, that means preserving the company’s federal employer identification number (FEIN), continuity of contracts, credit history, banking relationships, and day-to-day operations—without triggering a disruptive “start over” scenario.

From an attorney-and-CPA perspective, the most important first principle is this: moving operations is not the same as moving the entity. A company can lease new space, hire in a new state, and serve customers elsewhere, yet remain legally domiciled in North Carolina. If the goal is to exit the North Carolina tax environment and reduce ongoing administrative complexity, then the entity’s domicile must change, not merely its activities.

For owners evaluating how to relocate a North Carolina company through redomestication, statutory conversion is designed to accomplish that domicile change in a manner that preserves continuity and minimizes business interruption. Properly executed, it is the cleanest mechanism to move the “home state” of an existing LLC, corporation, or partnership to a new jurisdiction.

Why many owners want to exit the North Carolina tax environment, legal system, and business climate

Owners exploring how to move a business out of North Carolina often cite a combination of tax and risk-management reasons. A change of domicile can help align the entity’s legal structure with the owners’ long-term strategy, particularly when the company has effectively ceased meaningful operations in North Carolina and expects to operate primarily elsewhere going forward.

In addition, relocating the entity can reduce the friction of maintaining “two-state” compliance. Many businesses inadvertently remain tied to North Carolina’s filings and ongoing obligations after moving operations, because they never changed the entity’s home state. Over time, that mismatch can create avoidable annual report requirements, registered agent costs, and administrative exposure that simply does not advance the business’s objectives.

Accordingly, when the question is how to move my company out of North Carolina in a manner that produces a true exit, the analysis must focus on the method that eliminates unnecessary dual obligations while preserving what matters most: the existing company’s identity, operations, and continuity.

Redomestication (statutory conversion): the most effective answer to moving a company out of North Carolina

Redomestication, also referred to as redomiciling, is a legal process that transfers the company’s domicile from North Carolina to a new state while keeping the same entity in place. This is precisely why redomestication is the best answer for those determining how to move a North Carolina company to another state without disruption. Instead of forming a new entity and migrating assets, the company itself changes its “home state” under a structured statutory procedure.

The practical advantages are significant. Redomestication generally allows the entity to maintain its existing FEIN, which is frequently the linchpin for payroll, banking, merchant services, and tax reporting continuity. It also preserves existing contracts and credit history, reducing the risk of contract re-papering, lender re-underwriting, or vendor onboarding that can delay operations and create unnecessary negotiation leverage for counterparties.

If you are deciding how to move your company out of North Carolina while keeping your contracts and FEIN, the most direct next step is to review the redomestication pathway described here: how to move a company out of North Carolina via redomestication. The goal is a clean change of domicile with maximum continuity and minimum operational interruption.

Why redomestication is superior to foreign registration for owners leaving North Carolina

A common misconception is that registering in a new state as a foreign entity is “moving the company.” It is not. Foreign registration generally allows a North Carolina entity to do business in another state, but it typically does not change the entity’s legal home state. As a result, the company can remain anchored to North Carolina for ongoing compliance and administrative obligations, even if the owners believe they have left the state behind.

For business owners asking how to move their company out of North Carolina and actually stop maintaining dual compliance, foreign registration often proves to be an expensive detour. The company may end up filing annual reports in multiple states, maintaining multiple registered agents, and sustaining a compliance footprint that grows more complicated each year—particularly as the company expands payroll, property, or sales activity outside North Carolina.

By contrast, redomestication is intended to accomplish what foreign registration does not: a change in domicile that can reduce the need to keep a continuing administrative presence in North Carolina after operations have permanently relocated. To evaluate how to move a business out of North Carolina without remaining a North Carolina entity, statutory conversion is the mechanism that addresses the root issue.

Why a merger or dissolution is often the wrong method to move a company out of North Carolina

Another frequent error is assuming that a merger is the “professional” way to leave North Carolina. In reality, mergers are often used to accomplish goals that redomestication can achieve with materially less complexity. A merger can require additional entities, more extensive documentation, and a broader universe of third-party consents, particularly where contracts contain anti-assignment provisions or change-of-control triggers.

Dissolution can be even more damaging when used as a substitute for relocation. Dissolving an operating company to start a new one elsewhere may jeopardize continuity with vendors, customers, lenders, and regulators. It can also create tax and operational complications that owners did not anticipate, including the need to re-paper essential relationships and re-establish business identity in the marketplace. For those researching how to move my company out of North Carolina without shutting it down, dissolution is not a relocation strategy; it is a termination event.

The better framework is continuity: preserve what is working, and change only the company’s legal home state. This is why owners seeking how to move a North Carolina company to a new state efficiently should prioritize redomestication as the default option unless a specific fact pattern requires a more complex transaction.

Key continuity benefits: FEIN, contracts, name, and operational stability

When evaluating how to move a company out of North Carolina, owners should focus on the consequences of breaking continuity. A “new entity” approach can force new banking resolutions, new payroll accounts, new vendor profiles, and updated licensing or platform accounts. Even when the business is fundamentally the same, counterparties and systems often treat a new legal entity as a new risk.

Redomestication is designed to avoid these disruptions. By maintaining the same entity, the company can typically keep its FEIN, which reduces payroll and tax reporting chaos. It also supports continuity of contracts because the entity itself continues; the domicile changes, but the party to the contract generally remains the same. Likewise, in most cases, the company can keep its name, which matters for brand equity and the practical reality that customers, vendors, and lenders often rely on continuity of identity.

For owners who want a predictable path for how to relocate their company out of North Carolina while preserving the company’s identity, the most prudent course is to implement a structured statutory conversion and then follow a post-approval compliance checklist. A clear, attorney-led plan reduces the risk of avoidable delays, rejected filings, or inconsistent records across agencies and counterparties.

Procedural considerations and compliance traps when leaving North Carolina

Relocating an entity is not simply a matter of filing one form. Owners exploring how to move my company out of North Carolina correctly should expect a sequence of coordinated steps across at least two states. The process must align the entity’s governing documents, state filings, and internal authorizations so that the conversion is legally effective and administratively coherent.

In practice, the most common compliance traps arise from incomplete planning. For example, businesses may assume that foreign qualification “solves” the relocation, only to learn later that North Carolina still treats the company as domestically organized there. Others attempt to self-manage filings without appreciating that small inconsistencies—entity name formatting, effective dates, authorized signatory capacity, or mismatched entity types—can lead to rejection or extended back-and-forth with state offices.

Professional guidance is especially valuable because the objective is not merely approval; it is a clean transition with continuity. If your priority is how to move a business out of North Carolina with minimal disruption and maximum legal certainty, you should use a service built specifically for redomestication: how to move a company out of North Carolina through redomestication.

Conclusion: the best method for moving a company out of North Carolina is the one that preserves continuity

The question is not merely how to move a company out of North Carolina; it is how to do so without sacrificing the very assets that make the business valuable—its contracts, credit history, operational systems, and FEIN. A proper domicile change should reduce complexity, not multiply it, and should support future growth rather than forcing the company to reintroduce itself to every bank, vendor, and customer as if it were newly formed.

For that reason, redomestication is typically superior to foreign registration, merger, or dissolution when the business has permanently relocated and seeks a true change of home state. It is the legal mechanism designed to move the entity itself, not merely to authorize out-of-state activity, and it is structured to preserve continuity while minimizing operational disruption.

To proceed with a reliable, purpose-built solution, review how to move your company out of North Carolina using redomestication and initiate the process through the same resource. A controlled statutory conversion is the most direct route to exiting North Carolina while keeping the company intact.

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