How to move my company out of Washington

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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.

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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 Washington 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

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How to move a company out of Washington: why the correct mechanism matters

When business owners ask, in substance, how to move their company out of Washington, they are rarely asking about a change of mailing address. They are asking how to change the company’s legal “home state” without breaking contracts, interrupting operations, confusing banks and customers, or triggering a cascade of tax and compliance problems. In my experience as both an attorney and a CPA, the most expensive relocations are the ones executed with the wrong legal mechanism, not the wrong destination state.

Properly executed redomestication (statutory conversion) is designed for this precise objective: moving an existing LLC, corporation, or partnership from Washington to a new state while preserving business continuity. For owners evaluating how to move a company out of Washington efficiently, the practical answer is to use a process that transfers domicile—not assets—so the business can keep operating under the same identity.

For a clear roadmap and filing workflow, review how to move your company out of Washington through redomestication and compare it against the common alternatives that routinely create unnecessary cost and risk.

Leaving Washington’s tax environment: the strategic rationale for relocation

Owners exploring how to move their company out of Washington frequently begin with taxes, and for good reason. Washington’s tax environment can impose recurring costs that compound as revenue grows, particularly when the company’s operational footprint has shifted elsewhere. The decision to leave is often less about a single tax line-item and more about the cumulative burden of ongoing filings, classifications, and administrative friction.

However, the tax benefit is only realized when the entity’s legal domicile and operational facts align. A partial move—where the business continues to maintain Washington registrations or inadvertently preserves Washington nexus—can undermine the intended outcome. Redomestication is often the cleanest legal step because it re-centers the company in its new home state while supporting a coherent compliance posture.

To evaluate the procedural path that best supports an exit from Washington’s tax environment, business owners should begin with the process for moving a company out of Washington without forming a new entity, then coordinate the go-forward compliance checklist with their tax professional.

Why redomestication is the preferred answer to moving a company out of Washington

Among the available options, redomestication (also called redomiciling) is frequently the superior solution for owners deciding how to move a company out of Washington while maintaining continuity. Unlike a dissolution-and-reformation approach, redomestication is not intended to “start over.” Instead, it transfers the entity’s legal home state so the same entity continues uninterrupted in the new jurisdiction.

This distinction matters in the real world. Contracts often contain anti-assignment clauses. Leases may restrict transfers. Vendor agreements can require consent. Banking and merchant processors may demand documentation when a business “changes.” With redomestication, the company generally continues as the same legal person, reducing the risk that third parties treat the move as a disruptive event.

For owners who want a practical, continuity-focused plan, how to move your company out of Washington via statutory conversion is the approach most aligned with preserving operational stability while achieving a true change of domicile.

Preserving your FEIN: continuity where owners least expect problems

Many owners underestimate how central the FEIN is to a functioning business. Payroll systems, banking relationships, 1099 reporting, vendor onboarding, credit files, and tax account history are typically built around that identifier. When clients ask how to move their company out of Washington, they often do not realize that forming a new entity in a new state can force a new FEIN, with downstream consequences that persist for years.

Redomestication is attractive precisely because it is structured to maintain continuity, including keeping the existing FEIN. That continuity can reduce administrative rework, avoid confusion in third-party systems, and help preserve the business’s compliance narrative. In other words, the company is not recreated; it is relocated.

Maintaining contracts and operations: the “non-event” is the goal

The best relocation is the one your customers do not notice. Owners who are serious about how to move a company out of Washington should prioritize a structure that minimizes disruption to contract performance, invoicing, customer portals, and ongoing service obligations. Redomestication is designed to reduce the need for contract rewrites and mass notifications that can cause counterparties to seek leverage or renegotiate pricing.

By contrast, mergers and asset transfers often require assignments, consents, and detailed schedules. Even a well-planned merger can invite avoidable questions from landlords, lenders, and agencies. Redomestication generally provides a cleaner continuity story: the business remains the same company, now domiciled elsewhere.

Common misconceptions about how to move a company out of Washington

One of the most persistent misconceptions is that foreign registration is the same as relocating. It is not. Foreign registration is permission for an out-of-state entity to do business in a new state while remaining domiciled in Washington. That may be appropriate for companies that truly operate in multiple states, but it is often counterproductive when the goal is an exit. If the question is how to move a company out of Washington permanently, foreign registration commonly preserves dual obligations rather than eliminating them.

Another misconception is that dissolution is “cleaner” or “simpler.” Dissolution may appear decisive, but it can create complications with contracts, licensing, employee onboarding, banking, and historical tax records. Worse, dissolution can be difficult or expensive to unwind if it was done prematurely, and it may create the very continuity problems owners were trying to avoid.

For business owners seeking clarity on how to move their company out of Washington without unnecessary disruption, a redomestication-based relocation strategy is typically the most direct, legally coherent option.

Procedural and legal considerations that determine whether the move succeeds

Business relocation is not merely a filing exercise; it is a sequencing exercise. When advising clients on how to move a company out of Washington, I focus on the order of operations: entity approvals, document preparation, state filings, and the timing of follow-on steps such as updating governing documents and operational accounts. A rushed or improvised timeline can lead to rejected filings, name conflicts, or mismatches between the company’s legal posture and its commercial reality.

Additionally, owners should anticipate that third parties will request evidence of the change. Banks may want certified filings. Licensing agencies may require updates. Insurance carriers often need revised entity details. The goal is to produce a clean, document-supported narrative: the company moved its domicile via a recognized statutory process, and the business can show the paperwork to support that position.

When owners want a predictable, professionally managed workflow for how to move their company out of Washington, the most efficient starting point is to follow the redomestication process for relocating out of Washington and then implement the post-approval checklist in an orderly manner.

Why professional guidance is not optional for a serious Washington exit

Business owners are understandably cost-sensitive, but the cheapest approach is often the most expensive after corrective filings, delayed financing, or contract disputes. A disciplined plan for how to move a company out of Washington requires attention to entity type, governance, and the relationship between operational facts and legal domicile. Small drafting errors can have outsized impact when they are embedded in filed documents or relied upon by banks and counterparties.

Equally important, relocation decisions should be evaluated through both a legal and financial lens. As a CPA and attorney, I view the move as a single integrated project: the legal mechanism must support the intended compliance result, and the compliance result must be sustainable in ongoing operations. Redomestication is compelling because it is built to preserve continuity while achieving the domicile change business owners actually want.

Owners who are ready to act should begin with how to move your company out of Washington by redomesticating it, then proceed with a document-driven plan that avoids disruption and preserves the enterprise you have already built.

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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.

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