How to File a North Carolina LLC Amendment
When you need to change your North Carolina LLC’s Articles of Organization, you must file an Amendment of Articles of Organization with the North Carolina Secretary of State. Filing an amendment can be done by mail, in person, or online, and costs $50. Our guide has everything you need to know about North Carolina Amendment of Articles of Organization, so read on for more.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- Amending North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization
- North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization Form Information
- File North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization Form
Amending North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization
A North Carolina LLC is formed by filing Articles of Organization, which registers information about your company with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Business Registration Division. Over the course of your LLC’s existence, you may need to update the information recorded about your business on state records. Most changes can be made by filing Form L-17, Amendment of Articles of Organization.
When should I file a North Carolina LLC Amendment of Articles of Organization?
A North Carolina LLC is required to file an Amendment of Articles of Organization when its name changes, but amendment filings can also be used to update any other information on the Articles of Organization—or to remove any optional information previously provided in the Articles. North Carolina Articles of Organization include the option for “additional provisions” for things like the LLC’s purpose or duration, as well as optional sections for listing company officials and a business email address, all of which can be updated or removed with an amendment.
Yes, you can submit Articles of Restatement (Form L-16) with rewritten articles (basically redoing your entire original Articles of Organization) instead of filing an amendment. The fee for LLC Articles of Restatement is ordinarily $10—but only if the restated Articles doesn’t include any new amendments. If the restated Articles does include new amendments, the fee is $50, just the same as an Amendment of Articles of Organization.
No, if an error made it into your LLC’s Articles of Organization, you shouldn’t file an Amendment of Articles of Organization. You’ll want to file Articles of Correction instead. Articles of Correction allow you to indicate what errors or defects need to be corrected, and normally make those corrections retroactively effective to when the Articles of Organization was filed. However, if your changes negatively effect on someone relying on the uncorrected version, the effective date is the date corrections are filed.
Articles of Correction can be filed by mail or in person for $10.
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North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization Form Information
No matter what you’re changing by amending your Articles of Organization, you’ll need to include the following information on your Amendment of Articles of Organization form:
- Business name: Provide your LLC’s exact name.
- Amendments adopted: List the text of the amendments to be adopted (you can attach additional pages if you need extra space).
- Member or organizer approval: You will need to indicate whether the amended Articles of Organization were adopted by either a unanimous vote of LLC members or a majority vote of the LLC organizers (if initia_l LLC members have not been identified yet).
- Effective date: Choose when your amendments will go into effect. By default, this happens when the North Carolina Secretary of State files the amendment form, but you can also choose a date up to 90 days after the date the form is filed.
- Signature: The dated signature of a company official.
You can use an amendment to update—but not remove—any of the following information on your LLC’s Articles of Organization:
- LLC name
- Member or organizer names and addresses
- Registered agent name and addresses
- Principal office information (addresses and telephone number, as well as whether the LLC even has a principal office)
While you can change your registered agent’s name and office address or the principal office address of your business with an amendment, you can also change all that information with a Designation and/or Statement of Change of Registered Office, Registered Agent Name or Principal Office form for $10, or just the registered agent information with a Statement of Change of Registered Office and/or Registered Agent form for $5. Either method is less expensive than the $50 fee for filing a Amendment of Articles of Organization, so unless you have other parts of your Articles of Organization that you want to amend at the same time, using those forms to change that specific information is a better choice.
File a North Carolina LLC Articles of Organization Form
You may file a Amendment of Articles of Organization form in person, by mail, or online through the Secretary of State’s Online Business Services PDF upload.
Mail filings:
Secretary of State
Business Registration Division
PO Box 29622
Raleigh, NC 27626-0622
In-person filings:
Business Registration Division
2 South Salisbury Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
It costs $50 to file your North Carolina Amendment of Articles of Organization. You can pay an additional $100 for expedited service within 24 hours, or same-day processing for $200. Mail or in-person filings need a cover sheet indicating you want expedited processing.
Standard processing for North Carolina business registration filings normally takes approximately 3-5 business days after the Secretary of State receives the form, but mailed document processing can be slower during peak filing seasons—taking as long as 8 weeks. Expedited paper documents are processed within 24 hours, or by the end of the day if you pay an additional $200 (and the document is received before noon).
Documents filed online are processed more quickly, usually closer to the normal 3-5 day standard.
