Helpful Year End Filing Tips

Here are some helpful filing tips from the Business Division of the Colorado Secretary of State that should help to make filing during the holiday season easier. Remember, the following services and options are not only available during the holidays, but the whole year!

Delayed Effective Date
Online Filing of Business Documents
Troubleshooting
Online Filing of UCC Financing and EFS Statements


Delayed Effective Dates

Delayed effective dates are designed to allow customers to file articles of incorporation, organization, amendments, and certain other business documents up to ninety (90) days in advance of the effective date of the document. Delayed effective dates may be indicated for documents available for filing online, such as articles of incorporation, as well as paper filed documents. For example, if a customer wishes the effective date of a statement of merger to be December 31, 2005, since the office of the Secretary of State will not be open on that date, they must submit their document prior to December 31, 2005 and specify that the statement of merger become effective on December 31, 2005.


Online Filing of Business Documents

Annual Reports
Annual Reports can be filed online at our Web site up to two months in advance of the date they are due. For example, an annual report due between Oct. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2005 may be filed as early as Aug. 1, 2005. As an additional hint, it is better to file annual reports prior to the last day of the month in order to avoid increased internet filing traffic. Heavy traffic on the Web site may prevent the online filing of some reports. Reports not filed by the due date will be subject to late fees. Please note that online filing will not be available between 5:00 pm on Saturday, December 31, 2005 and 6:00 am on Sunday, January 1, 2006. If you plan to file online Dec 31, be sure to complete the efiling process before 5:00 pm or the transaction will be terminated prior to completion.

To file an Annual Report visit our Web site, http://www.sos.state.co.us/, then select “Business Center”. On the Business Center home page select “File an annual report” or select “Helpful hints for filing an annual report” for more instructions.

Other Business Documents
Additional business documents may be filed from the “File a business document” link in the Business Center. On this page, you may file a document to create a new record, such as articles of incorporation, articles of organization, or a reservation of name.

To file, creating a new record:

  1. Visit the Business Division’s home page, http://www.sos.state.co.us/, then select "Business Center";
  2. On the home page, refer to the BUSINESS INFORMATION column and select “File a business document”;
  3. On the File a Document page, select the name of the document you wish to file;
  4. On the “Name Availability Search” page, enter the exact entity name that you propose to use, including designators if applicable; and
  5. If the proposed name is available, complete the rest of the form and follow the onscreen instructions.

Also, you may file a document affecting an existing business entity, such as articles of reinstatement, cure of delinquency or a statement of trade name. To file these documents or other transactions affecting an existing record online,

  1. Visit the Business Division’s Homepage, http://www.sos.state.co.us/, then select "Business Center";
  2. On the Homepage, in the BUSINESS INFORMATION column, select “File a business document”;
  3. On the File a Document page, select “File a document affecting an existing Secretary of State record”;
  4. Search for the entity;
  5. Confirm the entity;
  6. On the “Documents Available for Filing” page, click on the name of the document to be filed; and
  7. Complete the form and follow the onscreen instructions.

The processing fee may be paid by credit card (Visa, Master Card or American Express), or by using a prepaid account. If filing articles of incorporation, articles of organization, a combined certificate of limited partnership and statement of registration for a LLLP, a statement of registration for a LLP, or a statement of registration for a LLLP, a free certificate of good standing may be obtained online immediately upon confirmation of the filing!


Troubleshooting

Information as to which web browsers and web browser versions our Web site presently supports can be found under the “Filing Tips and Troubleshooting Information” link in the Business Center. For more helpful information about online filing, or specifically filing your annual report online, please read the relevant sections of our FAQs, which can be found on the Business Center home page, under General Information.


Online Filing of UCC Financing and EFS Statements

UCC and EFS records can be filed online at our Web site. If you already have a user account, simply click on the "E-File UCC & EFS Records" link from the Business Center home page, log in, and follow all steps to complete your filing. If you need to create a user account, click on the “Create / manage a user account" link under General Information in the Business Center, next click on “Create a User Account,” and then click the "Create an Account" link located under the state seal. After completing and saving the information entered, click on the "Business Center" link at the top of the page and proceed to the "E-File UCC & EFS Records" link. For more information about user accounts, visit the UCC FAQs, which can be found on the Business Center home page, under General Information. Please note that online filing will not be available between 6:00 pm on Saturday, December 31, 2005 and 6:00 am on Sunday, January 1, 2006. If you plan to file on Dec 31, please make sure you complete the efiling process before 6:00 pm or the transaction will be terminated prior to completion.



Revised December 16, 2005 at 1:34 PM