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Palm validates the business name, prepares the state-specific documents, submits them, and returns the registration number and confirmation documents when the state accepts the filing. Palm creates the business record at submission, so the entity is available for verification and monitoring before the filing completes.

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How it works

  1. Discover requirements. Ask what a given state needs for the entity type you are forming, and what it costs.
  2. Validate. Check the payload against the state’s rules before you commit to it.
  3. Submit. Palm creates a filing and a business record.
  4. Track. Follow the filing through its lifecycle, driven by webhooks.
  5. Retrieve the result. Collect the registration number and documents on completion.

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Discover requirements

Requirements differ substantially between states, so read them rather than hardcoding a field list.
Bash
The response carries a JSON Schema for the request body in that jurisdiction and entity type, plus the expedited processing tiers the state offers. Some states require fields no other state asks for, and those arrive as additional top-level properties on the formation request. Build your collection flow from this response so you ask a member only for what the target state needs. A field that is mandatory in Delaware may not exist in North Carolina. See Get formation requirements.
Palm does not advise which entity type a business should choose. You send the formation request with the entity type already decided.

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Price the filing

To show a member a cost before they commit, call the fee endpoint. Several states price on inputs you supply, such as authorized shares or par value. Every figure returned before submission is an estimate. Where a state offers expedited processing, the fee response prices each available tier. Pass your chosen tier as expedited_tier on the formation request. See Fees and expedited processing.

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Validate before you submit

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Validation checks a payload against the state’s compliance rules and returns every error in one pass, without creating a filing or a business record. It accepts a partial payload, which makes it usable for inline validation while a member is still filling in your form.

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Submit the formation

Bash
Palm validates the request synchronously and returns specific errors for missing or malformed fields. On success, Palm creates:
  • A filing in queued status.
  • A business record, available through the Business API straight away.
  • A user record for everyone you list as an organizer, incorporator, director, or officer, each bound to the business as an owner.

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The name check

Every formation Palm files runs a name-eligibility check, so Palm rejects a non-compliant name before it reaches the state and returns an error on the request. Run Check name eligibility earlier, the moment a member proposes a name. It returns the same answer with the reasons behind it, a suggested correction where one is unambiguous, and alternatives on request. Naming problems are the leading reason formations get rejected.

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Add-ons

  • Registered agent. Omit the registered_agent block and Palm provides the service. Pass it to name your own agent. See Registered agent.
  • EIN. Pass an ein object and Palm applies to the IRS once the formation completes. See Apply for an EIN.
Both appear under related_items on the filing and progress independently: the EIN as its own filing, the Palm registered agent as a registered agent resource.

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Track the filing

Bash
A filing.* webhook fires at every status transition, so you can drive your UI from events rather than polling. If Palm needs something to finish the filing, it opens a case and sends a case.opened webhook. For what each status asks of you, see the lifecycle.

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Retrieve the result

On completed, the filing carries the state-assigned registration number and formation date, plus the documents the filing produced: articles of organization or incorporation, the state certificate, and receipts. See Retrieve a filing for the full response.
After the formation. Some states attach further obligations to a newly formed entity. New York, for example, requires new LLCs to publish notice of formation. Other states fold a tax or payroll registration into the formation itself. Palm handles both as part of the filing.

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Next steps