How to transfer my company out of Maine

---

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 Maine 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 transfer a company out of Maine: why the correct legal mechanism matters

When business owners ask, in substance, how to transfer a company out of Maine, they are rarely seeking a purely ministerial filing. In most cases, they are attempting to change the entity’s legal “home state” while preserving ongoing operations, banking relationships, payroll processes, and contractual expectations. The decisive question is not whether you can “operate” elsewhere, but whether you can relocate the entity itself in a manner that is clean, defensible, and cost-effective.

For that reason, the most reliable answer to how to transfer a company out of Maine is frequently redomestication (also referred to as statutory conversion), as described on the redomestication solution for transferring a company out of Maine. Properly executed, redomestication is designed to move the entity’s domicile to a new state while preserving critical continuity items that owners mistakenly believe must be replaced.

Owners should be skeptical of “quick fixes” that appear simple but create long-term friction. The most expensive corporate moves are not the ones that cost more up front; they are the ones that quietly trigger duplicated compliance obligations, broken contract provisions, avoidable tax exposure, and operational disruption that surfaces months later—often during an audit, financing event, or sale.

How to transfer my company out of Maine without starting over: the continuity advantages of redomestication

A properly planned approach to how to transfer a company out of Maine should prioritize continuity. Redomestication is specifically valuable because it allows the business to remain the same legal entity—rather than forcing the owner to create a new entity and “move” the business into it. In practical terms, that distinction affects everything from vendor onboarding to insurance underwriting to loan covenants.

The most important business continuity benefit is that redomestication typically allows the company to retain its existing federal employer identification number (FEIN). That continuity has concrete downstream effects: payroll providers, benefit plans, 1099 processes, and banking systems are frequently tied to the FEIN. From a risk-management standpoint, maintaining the FEIN also helps reduce unnecessary operational changes that can invite errors, delays, and questions from counterparties.

Equally important, a well-executed redomestication generally preserves existing contracts and, in most cases, the company’s name. Owners seeking guidance on how to transfer a company out of Maine often underestimate how many agreements contain “anti-assignment” clauses, consent requirements, or change-of-control triggers. Redomestication avoids many of those problems by keeping the contracting party intact, rather than forcing a new party to replace the old one.

How to transfer a business out of Maine to reduce ongoing compliance drag

Many owners pursuing how to transfer a company out of Maine are reacting to practical burdens: repeated state filings, annual fees, registered agent costs, and the persistent administrative overhead of a jurisdiction that no longer matches where the business is truly operated. Redomestication is compelling because it is designed to align the entity’s legal domicile with reality, thereby reducing ongoing “two-state” complexity when the company has permanently relocated.

By contrast, foreign entity registration is frequently misunderstood as a relocation strategy. In reality, foreign registration commonly means the entity remains a Maine entity while also registering to do business elsewhere. That dual status can translate into duplicative compliance and a long-term administrative treadmill: annual report obligations, agent requirements, and the risk of missing a filing in one state and incurring penalties or loss of good standing.

Owners evaluating how to transfer a company out of Maine should also consider how compliance burdens impact valuation. Buyers, lenders, and investors routinely request certificates of good standing and clean governance records. Redomestication provides a more straightforward narrative: the entity moved its home state, maintained continuity, and eliminated unnecessary legacy obligations tied to a prior domicile.

How to transfer my company out of Maine and exit an unfavorable tax environment

From the perspective of an attorney and CPA, questions about how to transfer a company out of Maine frequently have a tax component. Owners are often attempting to reduce exposure to state-level tax complexity, administrative friction, and ongoing reporting obligations that persist when the entity remains domiciled in a state where it no longer meaningfully operates. Redomestication, when consistent with the company’s operational facts, can be an effective structural step in re-aligning the company’s tax posture with its real business footprint.

It is essential, however, to avoid simplistic assumptions. A common misconception is that registering in a new state, by itself, “turns off” Maine tax responsibilities. Tax obligations are highly fact-dependent, and they can be driven by nexus considerations such as where employees work, where services are performed, where property is located, and where sales are sourced. Accordingly, a disciplined approach to how to transfer a company out of Maine should pair the legal move with a careful review of operational facts and go-forward compliance.

For a structured, process-driven option, many owners begin with how to transfer a company out of Maine through redomestication. This approach focuses on changing the company’s domicile in a manner designed to preserve continuity while simplifying the compliance picture once the business has, in fact, left Maine as an operating jurisdiction.

How to transfer a company out of Maine without breaking contracts, banking, and licensing relationships

Owners frequently overlook the “private law” consequences of corporate relocation. When evaluating how to transfer a company out of Maine, the real-world problem is often not the state filing itself; it is what those filings do to existing relationships. A new entity formation or merger can require counterparties to re-paper agreements, re-approve vendors, update insurance certificates, re-underwrite credit, and re-verify ownership information.

Redomestication is superior in many operational scenarios because it is designed to avoid creating a new company. That matters because many contracts define assignment broadly, including assignments “by operation of law.” If a transaction is structured as an asset transfer into a new entity, the business may inadvertently trigger a consent requirement or default provision. The costs of obtaining consents—particularly with sophisticated counterparties—can quickly exceed the cost of handling the move correctly from the start.

Similarly, banking and merchant processing relationships are often sensitive to entity identity and tax identification. A careful, continuity-preserving answer to how to transfer a company out of Maine should minimize unnecessary change events that lead to account freezes, interrupted payment processing, or avoidable know-your-customer re-verification cycles.

How to transfer my company out of Maine: common misconceptions that create expensive mistakes

Misconception #1 is that dissolution is a harmless administrative step. Owners searching how to transfer a company out of Maine sometimes believe they must dissolve in Maine and then “start fresh” elsewhere. Dissolution can create cascading issues: it may trigger the need to notify creditors, unwind registrations, terminate contracts, and possibly create tax and reporting consequences that are unnecessary when the goal is simply to move the domicile of the existing entity.

Misconception #2 is that a merger is the “professional” way to relocate. Mergers can be appropriate in certain contexts, but they are often overused for what is essentially a domicile change. Mergers typically involve more complex documentation, higher legal fees, and a greater risk of unintended consequences if the target entity’s governance records are not pristine. In contrast, redomestication is purpose-built for a change in home state while preserving the existing entity.

Misconception #3 is that foreign registration equals relocation. Foreign registration can be the correct tool when a company is truly operating in multiple states. However, for a business that has permanently relocated, foreign registration can lock the owner into years of dual filings and dual fees. A disciplined plan for how to transfer a company out of Maine should be evaluated against the company’s intended future operations, not merely the fastest filing available.

How to transfer a company out of Maine: a legally defensible roadmap for decision-makers

A defensible plan for how to transfer a company out of Maine begins with clarity: (1) where the business will actually operate going forward, (2) whether Maine operations have genuinely ceased, and (3) what continuity elements must be preserved (FEIN, contracts, name, credit history, licensing, financing, and payroll systems). From there, the legal structure should be selected to achieve the business objective with the least collateral damage.

Redomestication is frequently the superior solution because it directly targets the underlying objective—changing the company’s domicile—while protecting continuity. It is also a mechanism that can be implemented without forcing customers, vendors, and lenders to treat the business as a new entity. That continuity is not merely convenient; it is often a core element of risk reduction and operational stability.

To proceed with a structured process, the most direct next step is to use a redomestication filing option for transferring a company out of Maine. In my experience, owners who treat domicile changes as a strategic legal and accounting project—rather than a simple form submission—are the owners who avoid the hidden costs that otherwise follow an ill-planned move.

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