Register Your Wisconsin Foreign Corporation
To register a foreign corporation in Wisconsin, you must file an Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation with the Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services. You can submit this document by mail or in person. The Certificate of Authority for a foreign Wisconsin corporation has a base filing fee of $120.
The guide below goes over the steps to registering your out of state corporation in Wisconsin. Don’t have the time to do it yourself? Hire us to do all the work for you.
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GET STARTEDHow to Register as a Foreign Corporation in Wisconsin
By submitting the Wisconsin Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation you are going through the foreign qualification process. This is what tells the Wisconsin Secretary of State that you want to do business in the state and allows you to legally do so.
Foreign qualification keeps your business active in your corporation’s original incorporation state and registers it in another state. In Wisconsin, you won’t have to submit new Articles or copies of your corporation’s original ones, and you won’t need to get a new EIN.
Here are the steps you need to take to conduct business as a foreign corporation in Wisconsin.
1. Name Your Wisconsin Corporation
In order to use your corporation’s legal name in Wisconsin, it needs to be available and distinguishable from other registered corporations in the state. You can do a free name search on the Secretary of State’s website to make sure your desired business name is available. Don’t worry if your name is taken, you can file for a Wisconsin fictitious name or DBA and use that name on the forms. You’ll attach your Wisconsin Adoption of Fictitious Name form to your application.
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.
2. Designate a Registered Agent
A registered agent is a person or entity that is authorized to accept service of process on behalf of your business. You can hire or designate an individual or business as your registered agent as long as they reside in Wisconsin. Even if you have a registered agent in your corporation’s formation state, you’ll need one in Wisconsin, too, in order to register as a foreign corporation. Northwest offers reliable Wisconsin registered agent service at only $125.
3. Start Your Business Identity
Once your business is legal in the new state, you’ll want to be ready to make sales. Forming your business identity, or the way you present yourself to your potential clients, can prepare customers for your upcoming products and services.
Maybe you’ve never started getting your business out there. Now’s a great chance to start a business website or get a custom business email address.
Maybe you already have a digital presence, but now you want to make it easier for out-of-state people to find you, and start building awareness and a trustworthy reputation in your new territory. Consider getting a phone service that has the local area code or a local business address to use on documents where possible. Either way, make sure your business has a way to market itself in the new state, especially if you are not opening a brick-and-mortar.
4. Get Certificate of Status
Before you submit your Wisconsin Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation, you’ll need to get a certificate of status or good standing from your corporation’s formation state. The certificate of status verifies that your corporation is in good standing and can legally register to transact business in another state. Your certificate of existence must be no more than 60 days old at the time you file your application.
5. Submit Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation
To register your corporation as a foreign entity in Wisconsin, you’ll need to submit a certificate of status and the Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation. You’ll need to include following information:
- Corporation name or DBA
- Date of formation
- Street address of principal office
- Registered agent address and name
- Names and addresses of officers and directors
- Corporation’s share values
The Wisconsin Application for Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation has a base filing fee of $100 that gets added to the total of capital and shares the corporation owns.
Your filing fee will start at $100. From there, you will need to do a bit of math.
Depending on your anticipated capital for the coming year, you’ll need to pay a bit extra to register. Additionally, if you’ve already started conducting business, there is a supplemental questionnaire you’ll fill out that gives you a fee to add to your total.
So in other words: You need to add $100 to whatever number you get on 15C and whatever fee you get on page 8.
By mail or in person.
Mail:
State of Wisconsin
Department of Financial Institutions
P O Box 93348
Milwaukee WI, 53293-0348
In person, express, or priority mail:
State of Wisconsin
Department of Financial Institutions
Division of Corporate and Consumer Services
4822 Madison Yards Way
4th Fl., North Tower, Madison WI, 53705
Wisconsin allows you to file by mail or in person. Processing times depend on the method of filing you choose.
- Mail: Wisconsin will take about 5 business days to process mailed or faxed applications. Mailed filings will take a bit longer due to factoring in added time for mailing.
- In Person: In person processing still takes Wisconsin 5 business days for processing.
- Expedited Processing: In a hurry? Expedited in person service costs an additional $25, but you’ll have your certificate in hand that day.
6. Receive Copy of Your Foreign Certificate of Authority
Upon processing your application, Wisconsin Secretary of State will send you a Certificate of Authority by mail. You’ll want to keep this document with your corporation’s records.
7. File Wisconsin Reports and Taxes
Your foreign corporation will now have Wisconsin taxes and reports to file independent of the ones you file in your home state.
- Income Tax: Foreign corporations only have to pay the Wisconsin corporate income tax if they don’t have to pay the franchise tax, own property in Wisconsin, or work in interstate commerce. Wisconsin’s corporate income tax rate is 7.9%.
- Annual Report: Wisconsin annual reports are due March 31st of every year. Notice of your corporation annual report due date will be mailed to you on a postcard and can be filed online or by mail. Filing your annual report online will be at a reduced fee.
- Franchise Tax: Wisconsin levies a franchise tax against all domestic and foreign corporations. This franchise tax is for the privilege of doing business in the state. Wisconsin’s franchise tax rate for foreign corporations is 7.9%.
Northwest Can Register Your Wisconsin Foreign Corporation
If doing things on your own sounds overwhelming, boring, or generally like not a good use of your time, we’re ready to help. Our foreign qualification package is $225 + Wisconsin fees. This includes:
- Registering your business as a Wisconsin Foreign Corporation. We’ll file your paperwork and let you know when it’s approved.
- Serving as your business’ Wisconsin Registered Agent. We can be your RA in as many states as you want to expand into.
- Launching your business identity. We’ll get you a digital presence, including a business email address, phone service, and mail forwarding. Plus, we’ll put together a custom website with a domain, web hosting, and security in place. These will all be free for 90 days. After that, most services are $9/month.
- Sending reminders for your Wisconsin annual report. We can even file this for you. We’ll send you a reminder about the report 90 days before they’re due, and you can either have us file for you or opt out of the service.
Wisconsin Foreign Corporation FAQs
To update your certificate of authority in Wisconsin, you’ll need to submit the Amended Certificate of Authority Foreign Business Corporation ($40). Your amendment form must be accompanied by a certificate of status dated within 60 days of submitting the application.
In most cases, if your business owns or leases property, has Wisconsin employees, or provides retail services in Wisconsin, it would be considered to be doing business there, and would need to register as a Wisconsin foreign corporation.
For more information, check out our resource on what it means to do business in another state.
No.
An officer of the foreign Wisconsin corporation must sign the form.
County filing or publication is not necessary, unless specifically required by the county in which your registered agent resides.
Yes! Northwest can do more than just register your foreign corporation, too. We can be your registered agent in the state and provide you with a secure business website, email, phone number, and more.