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Inkle alternatives: six ways to dissolve a company
Last updated October 7, 2026
Starcycle provides operational support for shutdowns. We're not a substitute for legal, tax or financial advice.
Home / Alternatives
Last updated October 7, 2026
Starcycle provides operational support for shutdowns. We're not a substitute for legal, tax or financial advice.
A company can dissolve in six ways: with Starcycle (starting at $399, typically 8 to 10 weeks), by filing with the state, through an attorney, a CPA, a full-service wind-down, or an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC) or bankruptcy if it cannot pay its debts. Starcycle vs Inkle compares two of them.
The list puts us first and orders the other approaches by how much work they hand off, and each links to its own section.
1
Our service
Best for: a founder who wants a plan, the state filings and the key dates handled by one team
a shutdown-only service that is turnkey and hands-off, with little for you to do.
2
Best for: a solvent company with one state registration, a clean cap table and time to do the paperwork
you file the dissolution and the IRS forms directly.
3
Best for: a company with disputes, investor questions or a decision that needs legal judgment
a lawyer handles the legal steps and advises on your specific case.
4
Best for: a company whose main open item is the final tax filings
an accountant prepares the final returns and tax clearances.
5
Best for: a company with investors, employees or several states that wants one coordinator
a provider that coordinates the whole wind-down, with its own staff and partners.
6
Best for: a company that cannot pay its debts in full
a court-supervised or creditor-focused process run by an attorney.
The table shows what each approach covers and typically costs, with a source and check date on every row, and the attorney and CPA figures come from another company's guide.
| Approach | What it covers | Typical cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starcycle | Action plan, coverage of all 50 states with key-date tracking and good-standing checks, payroll tax account closure, help tracking contracts and subscriptions, document management, dissolution filing and EIN cancellation. Final returns arranged through partner CPAs, or yours. Typically 8 to 10 weeks. Self-serve and white-glove tiers. | Starting at $399. That is the service fee, state fees are extra, and $399 is the floor. | Our services page, 2026-10-06 |
| DIY with the state | You file the state dissolution, Form 966 with the IRS and any withdrawals from other states. | State filing fee, for example $224 in Delaware for a stock corporation. Taxes and registered agent fees are extra. | Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule, 2026-10-06 |
| Attorney | Legal steps and advice on your specific case, including investor and creditor questions. | $500 to $3,000+, in Inkle's published guide | Inkle cost guide, 2026-10-06 |
| CPA | Final tax returns and tax clearances. | $500 to $2,000, in Inkle's published guide | Inkle cost guide, 2026-10-06 |
| Full-service wind-down | Coordination of filings, tax steps and sometimes investor and asset steps, depending on the provider. | Varies by provider. Ask for a written quote that lists what is included. | Provider quotes, 2026-10-06 |
| ABC or bankruptcy | A formal process for a company that cannot pay its debts, run by an attorney. | Set by the attorney and the process chosen. | U.S. Courts bankruptcy overview, 2026-10-06 |
We do one job, closing U.S. companies, and we work with LLCs and corporations across two tiers. The self-serve tier fits a single-member LLC or a straightforward corporation with one state registration, no investors and no active contracts. The white-glove tier covers a Delaware C-corp or multi-state entity with investors, a cap table, or active contracts, subscriptions and leases, and it comes with a dedicated team member.
The experience is turnkey and hands-off: we do the heavy lifting, and there is little for you to do. Both tiers start from a tailored action plan, and from there we cover all 50 states with key-date tracking and good-standing checks, help you track contracts and subscriptions and their key dates so everything is shut down, keep your documents in one place, and prepare state filings including dissolution articles, IRS Form 966 and EIN cancellation. We also close payroll tax accounts and take care of sales tax account closure through a partner. You take the cancellation action on each contract. A typical shutdown takes 8 to 10 weeks.
Pricing starts at $399. That is the service fee and state fees are extra, paid at the state's own rate, so $399 is the floor. We arrange final federal and state returns through partner CPAs, or work with your own CPA. We have partner CPAs and lawyers for pretty much every situation, and we offer a complimentary asset recovery review, through a network of partners. We support the board and stockholder documents a dissolution needs, and your counsel or CPA handles investor distributions. We serve U.S. entities only, and where a step needs a lawyer or accountant, we can also make intros to lawyers and accountants.
Filing yourself means dealing directly with the Secretary of State or Division of Corporations, the IRS and your state tax agency, and beyond the fees and forms the state publishes, the main cost is your time, which suits a solvent company with one state registration.
The order of the work matters, because several states require tax steps before they accept the dissolution. Delaware, for example, requires that all taxes through the dissolution date are paid and annual franchise tax reports filed before the certificate files. Texas requires a certificate of account status from the Comptroller, and a web printout is not accepted, according to the Texas Secretary of State's Form 651 instructions.
Federally, a corporation files Form 966 with the IRS within 30 days after the resolution or plan to dissolve is adopted. The IRS closes the EIN by letter after final returns are filed and taxes are paid, so that step comes last.
The limits of this route are that you track every deadline yourself and each state where the company registered needs its own withdrawal, and questions about how any of this applies to your company belong with a lawyer or CPA.
An attorney advises on your specific facts, such as disputes, contracts, investor rights and creditor claims, and can also draft the board and stockholder resolutions and decide if your company fits a standard dissolution or needs a different process.
Inkle's published guide puts attorney fees at $500 to $3,000+, which is another company's range and not a quote for your company, and many attorneys price by the matter or by the hour, so ask for the scope in writing.
A CPA prepares final federal and state returns and helps with tax clearances, and if you already use an accountant or an accounting platform for your taxes, the same people already hold your records. We can arrange a partner CPA for the returns or work with yours.
Inkle's published guide lists CPA and final tax filings at $500 to $2,000, also another company's range, and the state filings, contract tracking and key-date tracking stay with you or with another provider.
A full-service wind-down is coordinated by a provider with its own staff and partner professionals. Some providers cover state filings and tax forms only, while others add investor distributions, payroll account closures or asset recovery, so the useful comparison is scope, and each provider's own materials state it.
Prices are often quoted per company, so get a written list of what the quote includes and which of these are billed separately: final tax return preparation, payroll tax closures, withdrawals from other states and registered agent resignations. Companies with investors, employees or registrations in several states often choose this route, because the number of parties makes coordination the hard part.
When a company cannot pay its debts in full, an attorney decides which formal process fits. An assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC) hands the company's assets to an assignee who sells them and pays creditors. Bankruptcy runs through a federal court, and the U.S. Courts overview explains the chapters.
We serve companies that can pay their debts and don't handle bankruptcy work. Costs depend on the process and the attorney, and we have no sourced figure, so if you are unsure the company can pay its creditors in full, talk to an attorney before choosing any other approach on this page.
We describe situations by facts, and your own lawyer or CPA decides what applies to you.
A dissolution has a legal, a tax and an administrative track, and providers divide them differently.
We compared approaches rather than brands. State fees come from each state's filing agency and the IRS, and attorney and CPA ranges come from one company's published cost guide and carry that attribution. We left out review scores, customer counts and any claim we could not trace to a page, so confirm state fees on the day you file.
Terms used on this page:
The cheapest direct cost for a simple, solvent Delaware C-corp is the $224 state certificate plus the taxes the state requires first, and beyond that you are buying time, tracking and judgment: paperwork and key dates suit a service or your own calendar, debts, investors and disputes suit a lawyer, and final returns suit a CPA.
Pick the approach by the open items on your list and ask for a written scope from whoever you hire. If you want the plan, the filings and the key dates in one place, Get started with us first.
Filing yourself costs the state fee, which is $224 for a stock corporation's Certificate of Dissolution on the Division of Corporations fee schedule, and Delaware requires franchise taxes and annual reports to be current before it files. A CPA's return preparation costs extra.
State agencies do not require one to file, so you can submit the paperwork yourself, though a lawyer helps when there are disputes, creditor claims or investor questions.
We arrange final federal and state returns through partner CPAs, or work with your own CPA. For other providers, ask in writing whether returns are included.
Some platforms offer it as a service, so ask what the price covers and who files the final returns, then compare the answer with the checklist above.
An attorney decides between options such as an assignment for the benefit of creditors or bankruptcy. We don't handle bankruptcy work.
Inkle alternatives
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