Register Your Idaho Foreign Corporation

In order for your Foreign Registration Statement to be accepted, you’ll need to include your business’s name, and it must be available within the state. Check Idaho’s Business Search to see if your company’s name is available before submitting your form. You may elect to do business under an alternative name if your name isn’t available, which does not have to comply with Idaho’s DBA or assumed business name laws.

Concerned your business name won’t be available for future foreign registrations? Consider applying for a federal trademark for your business name to ensure it’s available in all fifty states.

A registered agent is a person or entity that is authorized to accept legal mail on behalf of your business. All Idaho corporations, including foreign ones, are required to have a registered agent in the state. Your registered agent for a foreign corporation should be an Idaho resident or a registered agent company that is based in Idaho. You’re in luck! Northwest offers reliable Idaho registered agent service.

Once your business is legal in the new state, you’ll want to be ready to connect with customers. Forming your business identity, or the way you present yourself to your potential clients, can help.

Now’s a prime opportunity to start a business website or get a custom business email address.

Your business should have a way to market itself in a new, well, market. Consider getting phone service that has the local area code or a local business address to use on documents where possible.

Your Foreign Registration Statement must be submitted with a copy of a certificate of existence or good standing from your corporation’s home state. Your certificate of existence must be no more than 90 days old at the time you file your application.

To submit your Idaho Foreign Registration Statement, you’ll need to include a certificate of existence from your home state. It costs $100 to file online and $120 to file by mail.

Your form must include the following information:

• Corporation name or alternative name
• Entity type
• State of origin
• Mailing address of principal office
• Certificate of existence
• Registered agent address and name
• Names and addresses of governors, often called directors and officers

Unlike a lot of states, Idaho does not give foreign corporations a certificate of authority authorizing them to do business within the state. Instead, Idaho sends back a stamped Foreign Registration Statement.

Your foreign corporation will now have Idaho taxes and reports to file independent of the ones you file in your home state. To pay your Idaho taxes, you’ll need to register with the Idaho Department of Revenue through the Idaho Business Registration System.

• Income Tax: Corporations have to pay a flat 6.925% Idaho corporate net income tax with a minimum tax fee of $20.
• Annual Report: The Idaho Annual Report is filed every year either online or submitted by mail. You can also file in person at the Department of Business Services in the Secretary of State’s office. The annual report asks for the name of your business, principal address, registered agent name and address, and information about your company’s officers and directors – their names, titles, and mailing addresses.