Every corporation and limited liability company (LLC) in Florida is required to file an annual report with the Florida Department of State. Annual reports are due to the state by May 1st of each year. For 2013, this requirement applies to businesses formed in 2012 or earlier; new businesses that were formed in 2013 do not have to file their first Annual Report until 2014.
If your business is organized as either a corporation or LLC and you did not file your Annual Report this year, your business entity was dissolved by the state in September and your company is no longer in “active status.”
If your business entity is dissolved and the company’s officers hold exemptions from workers’ compensation insurance, the state can revoke the exemption(s). If your company remains dissolved for over a year, the state will no longer protect your corporate name, and it will become available for other businesses to use.
If your company was dissolved because you did not file the Annual Report for 2013, you can restore your company’s active status with the state by filing a Reinstatement Application and paying the appropriate reinstatement fees. The Reinstatement Application is only available online from the Division of Corporations’ website at www.sunbiz.org. Click on the box that says “File a Reinstatement Here!” Or, you can click on the box that says “Get Online Reinstatement Filing Instructions” if you want to see the instructions for filling out the form.
The form is very similar to the annual report form. Once it is filed, the reinstatement will be retroactive to the date your company was dissolved, as if the dissolution never happened.
For corporations (except nonprofits), the fee to be reinstated is $750 if the Reinstatement Application is filed on or before December 31st. If the reinstatement is submitted on or after January 1, 2014, the fee goes up to $900.
For LLC’s, the amount is $238.75 if the Reinstatement Application is filed on or before December 31st. Starting January 1st, the fee goes up to $377.50.
If you can’t remember whether you filed your company’s Annual Report for 2013, you can check your company’s status by visiting the Division of Corporations’ website at www.sunbiz.org. Click on “Search Our Records” on the left-hand side of the screen, then click on “Inquire by Name.” Enter the name of your company, and the system will find your information.
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