Secure business filing

Q1. What is business identity theft?

A1. Business identity theft is also known as corporate or commercial identity theft. Criminals assume a business’s identity and good credit history by manipulating business records and credit agency data, then use that identity to get lines of credit with banks or retailers. With these lines of credit, the identity thieves will purchase items that are easily resold. For more information, visit  Protect Your Business.

To help protect your business against identity theft, you can set up Secure Business Filing.

Q2. What is Secure Business Filing?

A2. Secure Business Filing provides optional password protection for your business record. By creating a Secure Business Filing account, you can control who is able to make changes to your business records.

Q3. How does Secure Business Filing work?

A3. Secure Business Filing is email and password protected. Once you have Secure Business Filing, documents can't be filed without the correct email address and associated password.

Each business record will have its own Secure Business Filing account. For example, if you have two businesses, you need to set up a separate account for each business.

Also, if you have a business and a trade name or trademark associated with your business, you need to set up an account for the business and an account for the trade name or trademark.

Q4. How will Secure Business Filing protect me?

A4. Putting Secure Business Filing in place prevents anyone who doesn't have an account for your entity from filing a form online.

When you set up a Secure Business Filing account, you will receive notice to your email address when a form has been filed on your record.

Q5. Can I have more than one email address and password associated with my business?

A5. Yes. After you set up Secure Business Filing, you can log in to your account and add accounts to give access to other authorized users.

Secure Business Filing works best when you include more email addresses of trusted parties, so that you are not locked out of your account. Other trusted parties to consider are:

• Your registered agent
• Your accountant
• Your lawyer
• You can also add yourself under another email address

Q6. Can I remove access to Secure Business Filing from authorized users?

A6. Yes. Anyone that has access and is logged in to Secure Business Filing for your entity can add or delete user accounts.

Q7. Can I make changes to my Secure Business Filing account information?

A7. Yes. Once logged in to your Secure Business Filing account, you can make any changes needed.

Q8. How do I sign up?

A8. Watch our video demonstration:

How to set up secure business filing

For a new business record:

1. When you finish filing a form to create a new business record, you will see a confirmation page. Click on "set up Secure Business Filing".
2. Enter the required account information and click on "Submit".
3. You will see a confirmation page indicating that your Secure Business Filing account was created.
4. You will receive an email confirmation with further instructions to the email address you listed.
5. Secure Business Filing works best when you include more email addresses of trusted parties, so that you are not locked out of your account.

For an existing business record (2-step process):

1. Requesting a PIN

• Search for your record. Type in either the business name or the ID number and click on "Search". If you type in the name, you will see a list of search results. Find the record that you are looking for and click on the ID number on the left. If you typed in an ID number, you will be taken directly to your record’s Summary screen.
• On the Summary screen, verify that you found the correct record and that the principal office mailing address is correct.
• Click on "Set up Secure Business Filing for this Record".
• First, you will have to "Request a PIN". A PIN (personal identification number) will be mailed to the principal office mailing address that is on record for your business.

2. Creating Secure Business Filing

• When you receive your PIN, return to the "Set up Secure Business Filing for this Record" page (as indicated in step 1 above) to continue setting up your account.
• Enter your PIN and then click on "Continue".
• Enter the required account information and click on "Submit".
• You will see a confirmation page indicating that your Secure Business Filing account was created.
• You will receive an email confirmation with further instructions to the email address you listed.
• Secure Business Filing works best when you include more email addresses of trusted parties, so that you are not locked out of your account.

Q9. How long does it take to receive a PIN?

A9. Because our PIN letters go through the State’s mail system before USPS, it may take a week or longer to be delivered.

Q10. Why do I have to wait for a PIN to come in the mail?

A10. We send this to a physical address instead of electronically because it adds an additional layer of verification.

Q11. What do I do if I forget my password for Secure Business Filing?

A11. If you forgot your password, select “Forgot password” to receive a temporary password email. It can take a few minutes to receive and may be in your spam folder. The temporary password expires after 4 hours.

Q12. What do I do if I forget my email, or I no longer have access to the email used for Secure Business Filing?

A12. The email address used to login to Secure Business Filing may be different from the email address you receive notifications. When Secure Business Filing accounts are set up, those email addresses automatically receive notifications. Other people can sign up for notifications without being on the SBF account.

If you setup Secure Business Filing with more than one account, check with the other users in your account. Once signed in, they can see if you are using the wrong email address or can update the account.

Contact our office at business@coloradosos.gov if no one in your account can login, or you are the only one on the account and you no longer have access to the email address or forgot the email address.

Q13. Do I need a separate SBF account for each business I have?

A13. If you have multiple businesses, you need to set up a separate account for each business.

If you have a business and a trade name or trademark associated with your business, you need to set up an account for the business and an account for each trade name or trademark.