The Importance of Filing Annual Reports
People create limited liability companies or corporations for many different reasons. Some people create a company to hold real estate, some to hold a liquor license, and some to run a business. But there’s more to a company than just creating it. You must also maintain it.
Late last year we had a client call us in a panic because they had failed to maintain their company, resulting in the company being involuntarily dissolved by the Secretary of State. This was particularly troublesome for this client because they had a liquor license attached to the company. By failing to maintain their company, they had placed themselves in violation with multiple state agencies which could have resulted in negative repercussions surrounding their liquor license.
Fortunately, we were able to reinstate the client’s company and get them back in good standing. By not maintaining the company, the client also risked losing the company name to another party. As soon as the company was dissolved by the Secretary of State, the company name became available for anyone to use. Someone could have created a new business and used their name.
This would have been disastrous for this client as they would have been required to make any changes to their liquor license, possibly forced to shut down for a period of time, etc. In Montana, maintaining your company is done through an Annual Report filed with the Secretary of State’s office.
An Annual Report is your chance to confirm your company’s information, i.e. the business address, the members or managers, and the registered agent information. The deadline in Montana for all LLCs and corporations to file their Annual Report is April 15th. Other states have different due dates.
If you do not file an Annual Report each year, the Secretary of State will involuntarily dissolve your company. Silverman Law Office maintains a list of almost 700 companies that it keeps track of – tracking Annual Report due dates, notifying clients when their Annual Reports are due, confirming that they want our office to file their annual report, and updating their information with the Secretary of State.
If you’d like our firm to keep track of your company deadlines and file your annual report each year, please contact our business law attorney at Silverman Law Office.