ANNUAL REPORT

Annual Report or Biennial Report is an essential business tool which Corporations and Limited Liability Companies are required to file with the Business Corporations Commission or Secretary of State Office to ensure that all up-to-date information is provided for the business as well as to pay its dues. 

WHAT INFORMATION IS LISTED IN THE ANNUAL REPORT?

The completeness of the report varies from one state to another. However, the basic information in the report is typically the same: 

• Name of the entity
• Current address
• Name of at least one officer of the entity and their title

Other items will vary from state to state. An very often the information provided with the annual or biennial report may be obtained through a Certificate of Status, a.k.a Certificate of Good Standing. 

WHAT IS ANNUAL REPORT APOSTILLE CERTIFICATE?

When the annual report is required for business, legal or commercial purposes outside of the United States an apostille certificate must be applied to the document in order to ensure that the Annual Report is accepted overseas. Apostille for annual report may be only issued on a recently issued certified copy. Annual report may not be issued more than six month prior to being apostilled. Most foreign countries do not accept apostille annual report certificates issued more than 180 days prior to their submission overseas. 

WHAT IF APOSTILLE IS NOT ACCEPTED?

In cases when the documents are being prepared for countries which are not part of Apostille Convention, a special authentication process must be followed. This is known as Embassy Attestation. To get documents authenticated, they will have to go through the Office of Secretary of State, Authentications office at US Department of State and lastly stamped by the Consular Section of the target Embassy or Consulate.