June 2013—The Indiana Secretary of State recently announced a new biennial report procedure for Hoosier business owners. By the beginning of 2014, the Secretary of State’s Office will no longer utilize paper mailings to remind business owners to file their biennial business entity reports. Instead, business owners will be notified via email.
These changes, while saving the Secretary of State a large amount of money, could potentially be dangerous to business owners. If biennial reports go unpaid, the Secretary of State administratively dissolves the business, which can disrupt business operations and growth. Furthermore, once a business is considered to be administratively dissolved, the entity must seek approval through the Indiana Department of Revenue before reinstating with the Indiana Secretary of State. This mess causes headaches and uncertainty for business owners and will likely cost the business attorney’s fees, accounting fees, and filing fees in order to reactivate the business.
The easiest way to ensure that your business knows when, where, and how to file its biennial business reports is to have an attorney serve as the entity’s registered agent. The Secretary of State will then be able to send an email reminder to your attorney when the entity’s biennial reports are due.
Later this year, the Indiana Secretary of State plans to finish developing an online application for Hoosier business owners to provide an updated email address for future notifications. If you have any questions about registered agents, filing biennial business entity reports, or entity reinstatements, contact an Indiana business attorney.
