Once you start your Corporation or Limited Liability Company, there are some very important issues to consider in order to stay in good standing with the Commission. When a Corporation falls out of good standing, it can be marked delinquent and subsequently administratively dissolved or revoked if you do not rectify the problem within the time period listed on the delinquency notice. Staying in good standing is easy. Here are six simple steps that will help to keep your company in good standing:

1. Publish your Articles of Incorporation. Within 60 days of approval, your articles must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of the Corporation’s known place of business in Arizona for three consecutive publications. To obtain a list of acceptable newspapers for publishing, click here.  The corporation may be subject to dissolution if it fails to publish.

2. File your Annual Reports! Corporations are required to file an annual report once a year. You may download your annual report on our website, or even better – many profit and non profit corporations may now  e-file annual reports. THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO FILE YOUR ANNUAL REPORT:

3. If you move, tell us! Maintain deliverable addresses for your Corporation on our records! If you move the known place of business address for your Corporation, or if your StatutoryAgent’s address changes, you must submit a Statement of Change of Known place of Business or Statutory Agent. Click here to download the form or you can make the changes on your annual report (if it is due). Please note that we DO NOT allow the Postal Service to forward mail, so once you move you will no longer receive critical documents such as annual reports. Therefore, it is extremely important that you notify us of any address changes. 

4. Maintain a Statutory Agent at all times! If your statutory agent has resigned, you must appoint a new agent immediately. The form, Statement of Change of Known place of Business or Statutory Agent, can be downloaded by clicking here or you can also appoint a new agent on your annual report. There is no fee associated with this form unless you wish to have the document expedited.

5. Make sure that your corporate life has not expired! When you originally incorporated, you may have chosen a specified period of time that your Corporation would exist. If you intend to operate your Corporation beyond that original life span, you must file an amendment with the Corporate Filings Section to extend the life period of your corporation. You may obtain the amendment form by clicking here. The fee to file an amendment is $25.00. Expedited service is available for an additional $35.00. 

6. Make good on any Non-sufficient funds (NSF) checks! If any payment that you have submitted to the Arizona Corporation Commission has not cleared, for whatever reason, you must submit the payment amount plus a $10.00 fee, which is imposed on all NSF checks. The payment you submit cannot be a personal check or business check. The payment must be a cashier’s check, money order, or cash (accepted only at our counter). 

If your corporation has been dissolved or your authority revoked for any of the above reasons, you have six years from the delinquency date to correct the deficiency. This may be accomplished by filing the necessary documents, paying all fees that are due, and including the proper reinstatement fee. For profit corporations, the reinstatement fee is $100.00 and for non-profit corporations it is $25.00. Please note: Your Corporation’s name will only be held for six months after the date of delinquency. Another corporation can use your name after six months. If that happens and you decide to reinstate, you will also be required to file an amendment to change the corporate name.