Annual Report Season Brings Out the Scams

North Carolina corporations (both C-corps and S-Corps) should have filed their Annual Report by March 15, and LLCs have until April 15. The filing fee for corporations is $18and the filing fee for LLCs is $200, plus $2 for ACH payments or $3 for credit card payments. There are no other fees due to prepare and file the annual reports.

Unfortunately, every year, during Annual Report filing season, misleading mailings are sent to businesses throughout the State.  The mailings come in a variety of forms, with the three most common being solicitations for assistance with:

• Preparing Annual Minutes;

• Filing Annual Reports; and

• Obtaining a Certificate of Existence

These scams are so common that the Secretary of State's webpage now includes a section on Misleading Mailings.  That page includes information on what businesses can do upon receiving such mailings, e.g., contact the Attorney General's office.

There are also many scams based on the Corporate Transparency Act filings (Business Ownership Information Reports). Currently, this law does not apply to US businesses or foreign businesses owned by US citizens. The actual filing is free for entities that are still required to report. Be careful not to pay a huge sum to a company that offers to make this filing for you. They may be seeking your data.