Texas waives the state filing fee for a new business owned entirely by honorably discharged veterans, and charges it no franchise tax for its first five years — a benefit the Legislature made permanent in 2025. It only counts if it's claimed with the formation filing, so that's where we come in: the verification letter, the certification, the filing, and then the launch — website, email, and Google — in accounts that belong to you, for veterans in Houston and across Texas.
Two of these are money — state law, made permanent in 2025. Two are doors. All four are free to claim; none of them claim themselves.
Texas waives the Secretary of State's formation fee for a new business owned entirely by honorably discharged veterans.
A qualifying new veteran-owned business owes no Texas franchise tax for its initial five-year period.
The TVC's Veteran Entrepreneur Program exists to get veteran businesses started — at no charge.
Veteran ownership is also a credential — with the State of Texas and with the federal government.
The state's definition of a new veteran-owned business is strict, and it's better to hear that before you file than after.
The order is the whole trick: the letter and the certification have to exist before the formation goes in.
One per owner, issued free by the Texas Veterans Commission from your discharge paperwork — the DD-214. Every other step depends on this document, so it comes first.
Form 05-904, the Certification of New Veteran-Owned Business — the short form that tells the state the entity qualifies for the fee waiver and the franchise tax exemption.
The Certificate of Formation goes to the Secretary of State with the letter and the certification riding along — that is what triggers the waiver. Filed without them, you pay the standard fee.
EIN, bank account, domain, business email, website, Google — the same sequence as any new business, in accounts you own. The full checklist and its order live on our starting a business page.
The benefits on this page are yours by law, and free to claim. The Veteran Verification Letter is free from the Texas Veterans Commission, the fee waiver and the franchise tax exemption are state law, and the contracting certifications are free applications made directly to the SBA and the Texas Comptroller. What we quote a fixed price for is the work: preparing and filing the formation with the veteran paperwork done in the right order, and then the launch — domain, business email, website, hosting, and the Google accounts — set up in your name, on your card, with us as a collaborator you can remove. We file the public forms; entity choice, ownership structure, and anything with tax consequences is a conversation for your lawyer or CPA, and we'll flag the moment you reach one.
The waiver saves you money on day one; what makes the business real is everything that follows. That work is the same for a veteran as for any founder, and it's already written up:
Letter, certification, formation — assembled in the order the waiver requires, so the benefit attaches instead of slipping past.
Registrar, hosting, mailbox, Google properties — registered to you, billed to you, with us as a collaborator you can remove in two clicks.
Our work is fixed-price and quoted before anything starts. The state's part costs you nothing — that's the point of the waiver.
The TVC's entrepreneur program, the SBA's veteran programs — where a free state or federal resource does the job, you'll hear it from us first.
Real, current, and — since 2025 — permanent. Texas waives the Secretary of State's formation filing fee for a new business owned entirely by honorably discharged veterans, and exempts it from franchise tax for its first five years. The benefit had twice been a temporary program, which is why you'll still find pages saying it expired: House Bill 346, effective September 1, 2025, removed the expiration for good. What stays true either way is that it applies at formation — it has to be claimed with the filing, not after it.
Three tests, and they are strict. The entity must be newly formed in Texas — not an existing business changing hands or re-registering. It must be owned entirely by individuals, and every one of those owners must be an honorably discharged veteran of a branch of the U.S. armed services, each holding a Veteran Verification Letter from the Texas Veterans Commission. One non-veteran co-owner means the entity does not qualify — and whether to structure ownership around that is a question for your lawyer.
Two documents on top of the normal formation: a Veteran Verification Letter from the Texas Veterans Commission for each owner, and the Comptroller's Certification of New Veteran-Owned Business — Form 05-904. Both are submitted together with the Certificate of Formation to the Secretary of State. That is the part we handle: requested, filled in, and filed in the right order, so the waiver actually attaches.
No. The verification letter is free from the Texas Veterans Commission, the fee waiver and the tax exemption are state law, and the certifications — VetCert with the SBA, VetHUB with the Texas Comptroller — are free to apply for with each agency. What we charge for is the work around them: preparing and filing the formation correctly, and building the launch — domain, email, website, Google — in accounts you own. The benefits themselves are already yours.
For the formation-fee waiver, yes — it applies when the entity is formed, not retroactively, and whether an existing entity qualifies for any franchise tax treatment is a question for your CPA. Still open to you, whatever the business's age: the SBA's veteran certification for federal contracting, the Comptroller's VetHUB program for service-disabled veteran owners, and the Texas Veterans Commission's free entrepreneur program.
Different governments, different buyers. VetCert is the SBA's federal certification — what lets a veteran-owned or service-disabled-veteran-owned small business compete for federal set-aside contracts. VetHUB is the Texas Comptroller's certification for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses selling to state agencies. Neither changes your taxes or your formation; both are credentials for winning government work, and each agency publishes its own current eligibility rules.
Yes. The benefits are Texas law, not city programs, and the filing, the accounts, and the website are the same work anywhere in the state — all of it remote-friendly. Houston is home, so veterans here also get us across a table when that helps. Either way, you get a fixed quote before anything starts.
Tell us what you're starting and where the DD-214 is. You'll get the eligibility answer, the claim filed in the right order, and a fixed number — before you've spent anything.
Call 832-598-8234 or email msco@stoneagesoftware.com. Houston, Texas — serving Houston, The Woodlands, Conroe, Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland, and the Greater Houston metro.
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