May the good things of life be yours in abundance this Thanksgiving and always.
We thank you very much for the privilege of serving you.
Have a Warm and Happy Thanksgiving
State Updates
California– The Secretary of State has some new forms and has made changes to some existing ones in an effort to help reduce rejected filings. New forms include Articles of Incorporation of a Cannabis Cooperative Association; a redomestication form for California insurance corporations to change domicile from California to another jurisdiction.
Minnesota– Effective January 1, 2018, Limited Liability Companies organized before August 1, 2015 must adhere to the Minnesota Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (Chapter 322C), which is a law that was passed in 2015.
Oregon– Effective January 1, 2018, House Bill 2191 provides the Secretary of State’s office and the Department of Justice with new means to deter the abuse of shell corporations in Oregon by requiring additional information filing documents associated with articles, including amendments, restated articles, conversions, and merger filings. The additional information required includes 1) principal/physical place of business and may not be a commercial mail receiving agency, mail forwarding or virtual office 2) An individual’s name with direct knowledge of the business activities of the entity 3) a signer acknowledgement.
Washington– The Secretary of state implemented a new filing system and has change the procedures for issuing the filing date for corporate filings. Under the new system, the filing date will be the date that the filing is processed and not the date it was submitted.
Also effective January 1, 2018, the business Corporation and LLC Annual Report filings were transferred to the Secretary of State’s office from the Business Licensing Service (BLS) office. However, licenses can still be obtained through the BLS office, but there will be an $11 handling fee in addition to a credit card processing fee. Licenses obtained through the Secretary of State’s office will not have the added fees.
Holiday Greetings
To our clients, family and friends we wish you a very wonderful holiday season and all the best for 2018!
Dos and Dont’s for Annual Renewals and Other Documents
Contributed by Deanna Kelly, Office Manager
We do our very best to get renewal notices and documents sent out in a timely fashion to give our clients ample time to process them. We also work very hard to remind them about their renewals because we don’t want them to have to pay late fees- which can be costly!
We appreciate it that the majority of our clients will return documents well in advance, which allows time for any possible corrections. THANK YOU! It’s a whole lot less stress for everyone mentally and financially!
To further ensure that your filing will be processed by the state, please review these tips below.
DO: Make sure the document is legible before sending
Don’t send documents that are blurry or too light
Why: The state scans them in their system and if they cannot read it clearly, it will be rejected.
DO: Sign/complete with dark blue or black ink
Don’t use colored ink such as pink, purple, red or pencil
Why: We have to make copies of what you send. If the signature is too light when copied and scanned by the state, they will reject it.
DO: Send a clean copy
Don’t send copies that have lines all over them or highlighted areas
Why: Lines may make the names illegible and highlighted areas will turn dark when scanned. All information must be legible to avoid rejection.
DO: Send an actual copy
Don’t send pictures taken by your phone
Why: When pictures of documents are emailed to us they are very dark when printed or scanned. The scanned document must be legible or the state will reject it.
DO: Make any necessary changes in the Officer/Manager changes. The forms are pre-printed by the state based on the previously filed information. Changes must be distinctive. Draw a line through the name of the Officer/Manager and write or type the changed information next to it.
HOWEVER, DON’T CROSS OFF PRE-PRINTED TITLES. For example: Don’t cross out the title of “Secretary” and write in “Vice President”.
WHY: The state will not update the information if they cannot clearly see that a change has been made. If you cross off the title as mentioned above, they will reject it because their required information has been modified and they do not allow that.
State Updates
Arkansas
Because of a scheduled outage, beginning Friday, Jan. 13th at approximately 5 pm, the Sec. of State’s office will be unable to send email, receive email, and process online transactions. They anticipate that online services will be operational before Monday, Jan. 16th.
California
The California Secretary of State’s Office has a new and improved business entity search tool that allows you to see certain filed documents.
They have also made some changes to corporation dissolution forms and added filing tips to help prevent rejected filings.
Kentucky
Sec. of State Alison Lundergan Grimes is continuing her commitment to helping Veterans start and grow business with her “Boots to Business” initiative. She hopes to pass legislation that would waive the initial registration fee for veteran-owned businesses and also waive the annual report filing fee for the first four years of business operation.
Nevada
Legacy Corpnet site (nvsos.gov) will be retired as of Jan. 20, 2017. To access entity information, obtain forms and to file online you will need to go to https://www.nvsilverflume.gov .
All Secretary of State offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 16th for Martin Luther King Day.