A Nevada corporation is a corporation incorporated under Chapter 78 of Nevada Revised Statutes of the U.S. state of Nevada.
Nevada, like the state of Delaware (see Delaware corporation), is well known as a corporate haven. Many major corporations are incorporated in Nevada, particularly corporations whose headquarters are located in California and other Western states.
Organizers of a business generally have a choice on where to incorporate the business. In the United States, corporations are generally organized pursuant to state law, rather than federal law. Moreover, a business need not establish or maintain a physical presence in a state in order to incorporate under the state's general corporation law. If the corporation transacts business in a state other than the state of incorporation, it is considered by the other state to be a foreign corporation. See NRS Chapter 80. For example, a business may be headquartered in San Jose, California but incorporated in Nevada. The corporation is a Nevada corporation and the State of California will consider it to be a foreign corporation. See California Corporations Code Section 171.
In the United States, states generally, but not invariably, follow the internal affairs doctrine. "The internal affairs doctrine is a conflict of laws principle which recognizes that only one State should have the authority to regulate a corporation's internal affairs ... because otherwise a corporation could be faced with conflicting demands." Edgar v. MITE Corp. 457 U.S. 624, 645 [73 L.Ed.2d 269, 285, 102 S.Ct. 2629](1988). Under the internal affairs doctrine, courts will generally apply the law of the state of incorporation to the "internal affairs" of the corporation.
States can derive revenues through the incorporation of businesses. These revenues include direct payments to the state in the form of filing and other fees. The state can also receive revenues indirectly through businesses (law firms, resident agents, accounts and other service providers) to corporations. The Nevada legislature has tried to make Nevada an attractive alternative to Delaware as a state for incorporation. In many instances, it has tried to "out Delaware" Delaware
