How to relocate my company from Rhode Island

---

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 Rhode Island 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 relocate a company from Rhode Island without disrupting operations

When business owners ask how to relocate their company from Rhode Island, the most consequential issue is not merely where the entity will be registered next; it is whether the relocation will preserve legal continuity, prevent avoidable tax friction, and protect commercial relationships. A relocation executed through the wrong mechanism can inadvertently trigger contract consent requirements, banking interruptions, licensing delays, or administrative dead ends that are entirely preventable with proper planning.

For most established entities, the most efficient answer to how to relocate a company from Rhode Island is redomestication (also called statutory conversion), because it transfers the company’s state of domicile while allowing the entity to remain the same company for operational purposes. In practical terms, this is how a business can move away from Rhode Island’s tax and compliance environment while maintaining its existing identity and minimizing disruption. To evaluate eligibility and begin the process, review how to relocate your company from Rhode Island through redomestication.

Why exiting the Rhode Island tax and compliance environment can be a rational business decision

From an attorney-and-CPA perspective, the decision of how to relocate a business from Rhode Island often begins with a sober assessment of friction: recurring filings, state-level taxes, and administrative complexity that may no longer match the company’s geographic footprint. If owners, employees, customers, and key assets have moved, continuing to treat Rhode Island as the company’s “home state” can become an unnecessary cost center and compliance risk.

Relocating a company away from Rhode Island can also reduce exposure to Rhode Island-based administrative entanglements—such as ongoing annual reporting obligations and other state-specific compliance requirements that persist even when the business has effectively left. A key advantage of redomestication is that it is designed to change the home state of the entity itself, which helps eliminate the recurring burden of maintaining dual state identities where the facts justify a clean departure.

Redomestication is the most direct legal method for relocating an existing entity from Rhode Island

Many owners researching how to relocate their company from Rhode Island mistakenly assume they must “start over” by forming a new entity in the destination state, then moving assets and contracts into that new entity. In practice, that approach can be expensive, slow, and risk-laden. It commonly leads to avoidable legal work: assignment agreements, third-party consents, bank account changes, vendor onboarding, and policy re-issuance—all of which can interrupt revenue-generating operations.

Redomestication is different. As described on the firm’s redomestication page, it is the legal process that allows an existing corporation, LLC, or partnership to change its domicile while typically maintaining its FEIN, preserving contracts, retaining credit history, and, in most cases, keeping the same name. Accordingly, for companies that have truly outgrown Rhode Island as their home state, the redomestication approach to relocating a company from Rhode Island is frequently the most commercially sensible solution.

The core benefits: preserve the FEIN, contracts, and operational continuity

The strongest legal and practical reason business owners choose redomestication when determining how to relocate a company from Rhode Island is continuity. A statutory conversion is structured to keep the business intact, rather than creating a replacement entity. This is not a technical distinction; it is the difference between a controlled administrative change and a full operational re-papering of the company’s life.

In particular, relocating from Rhode Island via redomestication is designed to help a business maintain (i) its existing federal employer identification number, (ii) its contracts, and (iii) its commercial track record. Preserving these items can protect critical relationships and reduce the risk of inadvertent defaults, forced renegotiations, or third-party delays. If your goal is to relocate without “breaking” the company, guidance on relocating a company from Rhode Island by redomestication provides a disciplined path forward.

Why foreign registration is usually the wrong answer to relocating from Rhode Island

Foreign entity registration is often presented as a shortcut for how to relocate a company from Rhode Island. However, foreign registration typically results in the company being registered in the new state while still remaining domiciled in Rhode Island. That structure frequently leaves owners paying for, filing for, and administratively maintaining compliance in two places, even though the business may only truly operate in one.

In other words, foreign registration commonly preserves Rhode Island’s ongoing hold over the entity’s lifecycle events, annual requirements, and—depending on facts and nexus—potential tax exposure. As a matter of planning, it is essential to understand that “doing business in the new state” is not the same thing as changing the company’s home state. For owners who have permanently left Rhode Island, the better analysis of how to relocate the company from Rhode Island typically focuses on changing domicile through redomestication, not merely adding a second registration.

Why a merger or dissolution is often unnecessarily expensive and can create avoidable risk

Another misconception about how to relocate a company from Rhode Island is the belief that a merger is the “standard” or “required” technique. While mergers can achieve certain structural goals, they often introduce avoidable complexity when the objective is simply to move the home state of an existing entity. Mergers can require more extensive documentation, additional entity maintenance during the transition, and heightened risk of procedural defects that may take months (and significant fees) to remediate.

Dissolution, likewise, is frequently proposed by well-meaning advisors who are not focused on continuity. Dissolving a Rhode Island entity and starting anew can create friction with contracts, banking, payment processors, and licensing arrangements. It can also force the business to rebuild operational infrastructure that it has already built correctly once. For owners focused on maintaining the same entity while exiting Rhode Island, redomestication is generally the more elegant answer to how to relocate the company from Rhode Island with minimal disruption.

Procedural and legal considerations owners must address when relocating from Rhode Island

A sound plan for how to relocate a company from Rhode Island should be built around the company’s current legal footprint: outstanding contracts, lender covenants, regulatory licenses, intellectual property registrations, and internal governance documents. For example, some agreements contain change-of-domicile or change-of-organization provisions that must be reviewed before filings occur. Similarly, operating agreements, shareholder agreements, and board or member consents should be aligned with the redomestication steps to avoid later disputes about authority and approval.

In addition, owners should plan for post-move housekeeping: updating registered agent information, confirming name availability, coordinating the destination state’s reporting cadence, and ensuring that business records reflect the new domicile. These steps are not merely formalities; they are what protect enforceability, preserve limited liability, and support clean banking and vendor onboarding. For businesses that want a defensible method of relocating from Rhode Island, a structured plan for how to relocate your company from Rhode Island is the appropriate starting point.

Common errors that undermine an otherwise straightforward relocation

In my experience, the most expensive mistakes occur when owners treat the question of how to relocate a company from Rhode Island as a do-it-yourself filing exercise. A frequent error is forming a new entity in the destination state and then attempting to “transfer” operations informally, without properly addressing contract assignments, banking authorizations, or the mechanics of maintaining the company’s identity. Another common error is using foreign registration as a substitute for relocation, only to learn later that Rhode Island compliance obligations did not disappear.

Equally problematic is dissolving the Rhode Island entity prematurely, which can create preventable legal and tax complications and may undermine continuity with customers and vendors. The controlled approach is to use a recognized statutory mechanism that is designed to preserve the entity’s existence while changing its domicile. When the goal is to exit Rhode Island without disrupting operations, redomestication is typically the most reliable answer to how to relocate a company from Rhode Island correctly.

Conclusion: the most prudent way to relocate a company from Rhode Island is to preserve continuity

Business relocation is not merely a mailing address change; it is a legal and compliance event that can either preserve or fracture the company’s continuity. Owners who are serious about how to relocate their company from Rhode Island should insist on a method that protects the company’s identity, contracts, and federal tax profile. Redomestication is specifically designed to do that, while reducing the administrative drag and recurring obligations that often accompany continued Rhode Island domicile.

If your objective is to move the home state of an existing LLC, corporation, or partnership and to do so in a manner that minimizes operational disruption, relocating your company from Rhode Island through redomestication is the appropriate next step. This approach prioritizes business continuity, preserves key identifiers such as the FEIN, and provides a cleaner exit from the Rhode Island legal and tax environment than foreign registration, merger, or dissolution.

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