Alabama Foreign Registration / Corporation application

The Alabama Foreign Corporation Application for Registration

A corporation formed outside Alabama registers on the Foreign Corporation (Business or Non-Profit) Application for Registration, which costs $150 for a business corporation and $150 for a nonprofit, since one form serves both. The statute calls for a name reservation certificate to be attached, and the form has 11 numbered items. We prepare it for $199 plus the state fee.

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The corporation form in brief

Filed by: A business or nonprofit corporation formed in another state or country
State fee: $150 business, $150 nonprofit
Check box: Business or for-profit corporation, or nonprofit corporation
Attach: The Alabama name reservation certificate
Copies: 2 originals, typed
Payment: Payable to the Alabama Secretary of State; the state page asks for payment dated within 90 days
Annual item: A $10 annual report fee, collected through the Department of Revenue

The items on the corporation form

Item	Entry	Watch for
Type	Check business or for-profit, or nonprofit	Ticking neither box
1. Legal name	The name as recorded in the home jurisdiction	A name that differs from the reservation
2. Alabama name	Only if the legal name is unavailable or lacks a corporate ending	Dropping the ending
3. Resolution	Certification that the board or governing authority adopted the name	Certifying without a resolution
4. Reservation	A copy of the certificate from the Secretary of State	Missing attachment
5. Principal office	Operating street address, not a PO box; a mailing address only if it differs	Using a mailbox store
6. Existence	The signer vouches that the corporation validly exists as the stated type	Signing for a corporation in poor standing at home
7. Jurisdiction	The state or country of incorporation	Using the principal office state
8. Formation date	Month, day and year of incorporation	Estimating
9. Agent	The name of the Alabama registered agent	An agent outside Alabama
10. Registered office	The agent's Alabama street address, and a mailing address if different	A PO box
11. Business start	The day the corporation started, or will start, work in Alabama	No date given

Last comes the signature block with date, typed name and title. The same voluntary ownership survey and card payment slip as on the LLC form close out the pages.

Corporate endings and the Alabama name

The statute lets a foreign corporation add the word corporation or incorporated, or an abbreviation of one, to its name for use in Alabama if its home name does not satisfy Alabama's name rules (Ala. Code 10A-1-7.07(1)). The form says a fictitious name may be used only if the legal name is unavailable here or does not contain the words corporation or incorporated or an abbreviation such as Inc. or Corp. As with LLCs, the governing authority adopts the fictitious name by resolution, and item 3 certifies it. The same reservation form serves corporations, at $25.

Nonprofits use the same form

A foreign nonprofit corporation ticks the nonprofit box and files the same document for $150. The statute's wide definition of transacting business includes not for profit activity (Ala. Code 10A-1-7.01(b)), so a nonprofit with regular programs in Alabama is within the registration rule. The code excepts a corporation or organization formed under federal law from its bar on suing in Alabama courts (Ala. Code 10A-1-7.21(a)).

Professional corporations

A foreign professional corporation uses a different form, the Foreign Professional Corporation Application for Registration. It calls for the name reservation, an Alabama licence, and the name and address of every licensed person. If your corporation provides licensed services, email us before ordering so that we use the right form.

The registered agent and office

Items 9 and 10 work like their counterparts on the LLC form. The agent has to be physically in Alabama at a street address, and a virtual office, forwarding service, mailbox store or answering service cannot be the only way process reaches the corporation (Ala. Code 10A-1-5.31). A commercial agent has to be registered to do business in Alabama.

Sending the form

The package is two typed originals, the reservation certificate, payment and a stamped return envelope, mailed to P.O. Box 5616, Montgomery, Alabama 36103. Online filing is available at the same fee, and the street address for hand delivery is 770 Washington Avenue, Suite 580, Montgomery, Alabama 36104 . As elsewhere in Alabama, the state does not accept the form by email, and a dishonored check costs $30 and removes the filing from the index.

Corporation taxes after registering

A registered corporation is a business privilege taxpayer. The Department of Revenue's Form CPT goes to C corporations and LLCs taxed as corporations, and its rule is that the return is due three and a half months after the start of the taxable year, April 15 for a calendar-year C corporation. Corporations also pay the $10 Secretary of State annual report fee through the Department. The yearly tax page gives the rest.

Filing the corporation application

Reserve the name
Request the reservation, $25, exactly as the corporation is registered at home.
Type the form
Tick business or nonprofit and complete the eleven items.
Sign
A person authorized to sign adds name, title, date and signature.
Pay
$150, with the reservation certificate.
Mail two originals
Include a stamped return envelope.

Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year

$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Corporation form questions

Is it called a certificate of authority in Alabama?

No. The form and the statute both call it an application for registration.

Do I need a certificate of good standing from my home state?

Not on this form. The signer certifies in item 6 that the corporation validly exists.

Does a nonprofit pay less?

No. The nonprofit fee is $150, the same as the business fee.

What if my corporation name lacks Inc. or Corp.?

The corporation may add the word corporation or incorporated, or an abbreviation of it, for use in Alabama, or adopt a fictitious name by resolution.

Can the registered agent be an officer?

Only if that person lives in Alabama and works from the street address listed as the office.

We file this form for you

Our charge and the state fee, itemized

Register in Alabama

+ $150 state fee

The Alabama name reservation, requested first so its certificate can travel with the filing
The Foreign LLC Application for Registration or the Foreign Corporation Application for Registration, completed and signed for you
An Alabama registered agent and office: ours, or the one you keep
Submission to the Secretary of State and the filed registration sent back to you
Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year

$199

Alabama

Start my Alabama registration

Checkout lists our charge and the Alabama fee on separate lines before you pay. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Where these facts come from

Doing business in Alabama from another state?

Order online and we reserve the name, prepare the application and file it in Montgomery.

Start my Alabama registration

The Alabama Foreign Corporation Application for Registration

The corporation form in brief

The items on the corporation form

Corporate endings and the Alabama name

Nonprofits use the same form

Professional corporations

The registered agent and office

Sending the form

Corporation taxes after registering

Filing the corporation application

Reserve the name

Type the form

Sign

Pay

Mail two originals

Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year

Corporation form questions

Our charge and the state fee, itemized

Register in Alabama

Where these facts come from

Doing business in Alabama from another state?