- Covers
- Registry, tax and payroll deadlines
- Also
- Minute book and registers kept current
- Reinstatements
- Routine work
- Certificates
- Good standing, certified copies, apostille
Compliance, so the entity is still there when you need it
Annual reports, franchise tax, corporate records, agent renewals and returns, tracked across every state the company touches and filed before they become penalties.
- Given free at handover
- Your written compliance calendar with dates
Nothing about this is difficult. That is exactly why it gets missed.
An annual report takes minutes to file and costs very little. It is missed because it arrives once a year, by post, at an address you may no longer use, in a month when you are busy. The second one is missed for the same reason. By the third, the entity is out of good standing and the state has started a process that ends in dissolution.
By then the company may have contracts, a bank account, a payment processor and customers, all of which assume the entity exists. Unwinding that is disproportionate to the original two hundred dollar filing, which is the whole argument for having somebody watch the calendar.
We generate the calendar at handover for every formation we do, whether or not you buy the ongoing service, because a client who misses a deadline we could see coming is not a good outcome for anyone.
What a typical calendar contains.
| Obligation | Who wants it | When it usually falls |
|---|---|---|
| Annual report or statement of information | The state registry | Annually, often on the formation anniversary or a fixed state date. |
| Franchise tax | Certain states, notably Delaware | Annually, on a fixed date, whether or not the company traded. |
| Registered agent renewal | Your agent | Annually. Lapsing it can put the entity out of good standing. |
| Initial report | Certain states | Due shortly after formation in states such as California. Missed constantly because it arrives before anyone expects paperwork. |
| Federal income tax return | IRS | Annually, on a deadline set by entity type and year end. |
| Form 5472 with pro forma 1120 | IRS, for foreign owned US entities | Annually, whether or not the company traded. |
| Payroll returns | IRS and each state | Quarterly or monthly, depending on size. |
| Sales tax returns | Every state where registered | Monthly, quarterly or annually by state, including zero returns. |
What happens when each one slips.
A penalty first, then loss of good standing. In most states, continued non filing leads to administrative dissolution, at which point the entity technically no longer exists and the liability protection you were paying for becomes arguable.
The state has nowhere to serve documents. Lawsuits and notices can proceed without you ever receiving them, and default judgments entered in your absence are difficult and expensive to reopen.
Reinstatement is usually possible, and involves back filings, back fees and penalties. In the interim, banks may freeze accounts, contracts may be voidable, and your name may become available for someone else to register.
A penalty starting at twenty five thousand dollars per return, per year. It is assessed for failing to file, not for owing tax, so a dormant company with no income is fully exposed.
Common questions
Keeps a calendar of every filing your entity owes across every jurisdiction it touches, prepares and files each one, and tells you before rather than after. It also keeps the minute book or member register current, because those documents matter precisely when somebody challenges them.
In most states, yes, within a window. It requires the missing filings, the outstanding fees and a reinstatement application. The longer it has been, the more there is to catch up, and in some cases the name will have gone. Bring it to us sooner rather than later.
If you have one entity in one state and you diarise the date, probably not, and we will say so. It earns its cost when you are registered in several states, have employees in more than one, or have a foreign ownership structure with federal information returns attached.
Yes. Banks, lenders, marketplaces and overseas registries ask for them regularly. We request them and, where required, arrange certification or apostille, which is what an authority outside the US will usually want before it accepts a US document.
Entity out of good standing?
Tell us the state and the company name. We will tell you what it takes to reinstate.