At the end of the year, there are several critical business responsibilities you should ensure are completed. Taking care of these items will help you begin the new year the right way. This checklist ensures you stay ahead of end-of-year business responsibilities.
1. Business licenses
Check that you’ve obtained all appropriate business licenses and keep note of their renewal dates. If you’ve expanded or changed your business in the past year, you might need new licenses or may no longer need one that you have. If you have home-based workers, you may need to obtain a home occupation permit.
2. Beneficial ownership information reporting
If you have a small LLC or corporation, your company may be one of the more than 32 million companies that will be filing a beneficial ownership information report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in 2024. If so, you need to become familiar with this new federal reporting requirement, required by Corporate Transparency Act, and start gathering the information you’ll need to report.
3. Foreign qualifications
If you are planning on doing business outside of the state you formed in, you need to register. This is called "foreign qualification." If you’re operating in a state without having foreign qualified, you could carry fines and penalties into the new year. If you have employees who will be working for you while located in states other than the formation state, this can also possibly trigger the need to foreign qualify.
4. Annual reports
If you fail to file a required annual report, you’re likely to fall out of good standing and face fines and penalties. If you think you’ve missed one, the time to take care of it is now.
5. Dissolutions and withdrawals
If you are ceasing operations completely you should properly dissolve your company. If you are not ceasing all business but are no longer doing business in a state or states in which you were foreign qualified you should properly withdraw from them. This will keep the business in good standing and prevent you from having to file annual reports and pay taxes in your formation state and states of foreign qualification in 2024. It can also protect you from business identity thieves who prey on inactive and delinquent entities.
6. Amendments
If changes have been made this past year to the information set forth in your Articles of Incorporation (Corporation) or Articles of Organization (LLC), you’re required to file an amendment with the state of formation. These changes, for example, could include a company name change, or a change from member-management to manager-management, or vice versa. If you are foreign qualified you may also have to file an amendment to your Certificate of Authority if the information in that document (such as the company’s name) has changed.
Stay ahead of your business responsibilities with BizFilings—not only for year-end services but for the support you need throughout the life of your business.
