Florida Foreign Corporation
If you’ve registered your corporation in a state other than Florida but you’d like to expand into Florida with your business, you probably need to file as a foreign corporation. To do so, you’ll need to fill out an application and pay a filing fee. This will be submitted to the Division of Corporations of the Florida Secretary of State.
Steps to Form a Florida Foreign Corporation
Instead of Articles of Incorporation, a foreign corporation in Florida will submit a document called the Application by Foreign Corporation for Authorization to Transact Business in Florida. This document will contain much the same information as the Articles.
- Corporation: You must use your business’s legal name in Florida. Only if it is not available will you choose another name for doing business in the state. ClickAndInc.com can do a business name search to determine availability.
- Incorporation information: You must provide filing information about your business’s registration in your domestic state, including the state, filing date, duration, and FEIN of your corporation.
- Date: Provide the date on which you first began to transact business in Florida, if applicable. Depending on this date, there may be fines for not registering sooner.
- Addresses: Provide the principal office address and the current mailing address for your business.
- Agent: You are required to have a Florida registered agent with a physical address in the state. This can be either a person or a business entity.
- Directors: Names and addresses will be provided.
- Officers: Names and addresses will be provided.
- Signatures: The Registered Agent, a Director or Officer, and a person authorized to execute the document must all sign the Application.
Along with your Application, a Certificate of Good Standing / Existence must be provided.
Any registered entity, domestic or foreign, must submit an Annual Report. Failure to do so will result in penalties.
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