The Benefits of Hiring a Third Party for Annual Report Filings

If you’re a business owner in the U.S., you’ll most likely have an annual report filing due in either the last quarter of the year, or early in the first quarter of next year. With due dates approaching soon, business owners are gearing up to complete the filing. Many, however, are taking the path of hiring a third party to file their annual report instead of handling the task themselves. Either option can work depending on your situation, but there are some notable benefits to hiring an individual or service to file your annual report for you.

Why Annual Reports Are Filed

Annual reports, sometimes referred to as compliance filings, are a necessary part of business maintenance. In some states, annual reports are called a business privilege tax, biennial report, or business entity report. These reports are submitted to the business authority in your state (typically the Secretary of State) to update the state on any changes to your business and express your intent to continue operating.

When exactly are annual reports due?

The due date for your annual report, which can have a different name based on your state, depends largely on the state you registered in and the type of entity you have. Most states require a report every year or every other year, and the timelines fall into 3 main camps:

• Set dates – Many states have a set date on which reports are due, like Michigan, which requires LLCs to file a report by February 15th, and corporations to file by May 15th.
• Date ranges – Some states, like Connecticut, provide a date range to file your report. In Connecticut, LLCs have between January 1st and March 31st to file their annual reports.
• Anniversary due dates – A large portion of states use the anniversary of a business’s original formation to determine an annual report’s due date. Louisiana, for example, requires corporations and LLCs to turn in an annual report by their anniversary date.

Northwest has a comprehensive guide to annual report due dates on our website, as well as detailed guides for filing your own annual report in each state. Our annual report filing service has helped thousands of business owners worldwide file accurately and on time. If you decide to offload the filing of your annual report, make sure you hire an expert like Northwest.

Why Pay for Annual Report Filing services

While any business owner is fully capable of filing their own annual reports, Northwest has helped many who were eager to get assistance with the task. They had plenty of reasons for doing so, but a few key benefits came up frequently in those conversations.

Privacy

Many states have developed a reputation for being private or allowing the formation of anonymous entities. This is true, to an extent. While the information on your original formation documents might not be publicized, your annual report may not enjoy the same privilege.

For example, Wyoming will publicize the organizer of an LLC (the individual who submits your Articles of Organization), as well as the name of the individual who files your annual report. Hiring a service to form your company may help protect your identity on your original formation documents, but this benefit goes out the window if you file your own annual report.

Accuracy

Hiring a third party to file your report means you’re letting an expert handle the crucial paperwork that keeps your business in good standing with the state. In states like Delaware, an amended report to correct a mistake will run some companies an extra $50 for each amended report filed. A reliable compliance filing service can ensure your report is filed accurately the first time and notify you if the process for this report has changed.

Efficiency

Certain states, like Florida, require tracking down file numbers on your original formation documents to complete your annual report. Some, like Idaho, require you to create an account on their individual portals to file your report. For businesses registered in multiple states, the time and effort to handle this can stack up to be quite the chore.

Since a third party will be more experienced with state filings, and likely already have established accounts on the necessary websites, they’re more equipped to file your reports and retrieve the necessary documents themselves, or give you step-by-step instructions if they don’t have the access. The time business owners save hiring a third party to handle these steps is more time that can be focused on the business during critical holiday and start-of-year hours.

Getting Your Compliance In Check

Regardless of whether you file your own annual report, or hire a company like Northwest to handle it, the important thing is to make sure it gets done. Maintaining compliance is crucial and Northwest is here to make the task as easy as possible.