If you own and operate an LLC or corporation, you are required to file an annual report in most states. Annual reports are an important part of a formal business entity’s ongoing compliance requirements, as these filings keep your state updated regarding changes to your business structure or ownership group.
The information you typically need to fill out an annual report includes the names and addresses of your company’s owners, the official business name of your entity, the managerial structure of the business, and more.
There is a small handful of states that do not require any sort of regular reports, and a few others that only require reports every other year. In Pennsylvania, you only need to file a report once per decade! Still, for the vast majority of states, annual reports are a crucial part of the LLC or corporation’s yearly maintenance process.
If you would rather receive some assistance with your annual reports, you’re in luck! The same companies that offer reliable business incorporation services also typically provide annual report services. Some of these companies provide fully managed services, in which they will track your due dates, provide you with reminders, and fill out and file the forms. Others simply offer to complete and submit the annual report form, leaving you to keep track of the deadline.
There are even a few companies that will provide a year of annual report filing service for free when you purchase incorporation service from them. In this guide, we’ll discuss the best options for basic and managed annual report services, as well as the top companies that bundle annual report and incorporation services. Let’s get started!
Before we start breaking things down further, we’d like to list our top three picks for annual report filing services: MyCompanyWorks, Northwest Registered Agent, and ZenBusiness. Interestingly, these three companies all excel in different areas for annual reports.
Would you rather save some money by keeping track of your own due dates and only purchasing the annual report preparation and filing process itself? If so, these two companies are both good options. Let’s briefly discuss what makes each one such a strong contender for basic annual report filing services.
At just $49 (plus any applicable state fees), MyCompanyWorks has the most affordable basic annual report package we’re aware of. While many of its competitors charge $100 or more for a similar service, MyCompanyWorks offers annual reports for less than half of that price point.
Of course, it’s not all about pricing! Cost is always a highly important consideration, but it’s far from the only criterion we use when analyzing annual report service providers. MyCompanyWorks also receives strong feedback from its customers, with more than 3,700 reviews available online and nearly all of them being positive.
The other big selling point for MyCompanyWorks is its responsive customer support department. While many competitors make you wait a matter of days to hear back from them, MyCompanyWorks responds to most phone calls and emails within just 20 minutes!
With a rate of $55 (plus your state fee), LegalZoom comes very close to matching MyCompanyWorks’ pricing model for basic annual report filings. This is a bit of a surprise because LegalZoom’s pricing is typically higher than most competitors for many other services.
LegalZoom’s claim to fame is that they’re one of the most experienced companies in this market today, as they have helped millions of business customers to date. They also use extensive advertising campaigns to grow their brand across the country, giving them name recognition no competitor can match.
We’re also impressed by LegalZoom’s 100% satisfaction guarantee, which promises to refund your service fees in full if you’re unhappy for any reason. LegalZoom gives you 60 days to decide, making this one of the strongest refund policies in the industry.
Do you feel like you already have enough on your plate without having to keep track of annual report filing deadlines? If so, you should look into a managed annual report filing service. With this option, you don’t just receive the prep and filing of your annual report itself, but you also get a company that will track your due dates on your behalf, entirely removing annual reports from your company’s to-do list.
Northwest is one of our favorite companies for many business services, including managed annual reports. Northwest has a big advantage over many competitors when it comes to customer support. Instead of the generic “call center” approach used by most competitors, Northwest has highly trained employees answering every phone call.
We also appreciate how Northwest is so dedicated to privacy and online security. Northwest runs its own web servers and writes its own code, ensuring that no third parties ever have access to your private information.
Northwest doesn’t have nearly as many customer reviews as some competitors in this guide, but it’s impossible to deny the high quality of this feedback. With around 400 reviews available online, you would need to do some serious digging to unearth more than a couple of negative reviews for Northwest Registered Agent.
MyCompanyWorks undercuts Northwest Registered Agent’s price point by one whole dollar, coming in at $99 for managed annual reports. We already discussed MyCompanyWorks in depth earlier, so we’ll just briefly touch on the specifics of this particular offering.
With MyCompanyWorks Premium, you’ll receive the preparation and filing of your annual reports, along with compliance alerts and business entity monitoring, automatic minutes and resolutions, and more. Throw in this company’s strong customer feedback reputation and highly responsive customer support, and you’re looking at a well-rounded managed annual report service.
With a solid $99 price point, MyCorporation is another good option for managed annual reports. MyCorporation also has a solid deal on the combination of incorporation and annual report services (more on this in a bit).
MyCorporation has lots of experience, as they’ve helped form more than one million businesses over the years. In addition, MyCorporation receives strong feedback from its customers, with hundreds of positive reviews scattered across the web.
While MyCorporation doesn’t excel in any specific way that would earn a spot above Northwest Registered Agent or MyCompanyWorks, they have plenty of their own advantages that make them a strong contender for your dollar.
Do you still need to form your business entity? Would you like to receive your incorporation in a convenient bundle with a year of managed annual report service? You’re in luck! As it turns out, two of the most popular companies in this industry — ZenBusiness and MyCorporation — offer packages that combine these services. Let’s take a look at what each company provides in addition to your incorporation and annual report services.
With ZenBusiness, you can get incorporation or LLC service with our Worry-Free Compliance ongoing state assistance package — including managed annual report service and up to two amendments per year — for a total of $199. You’ll also receive a custom LLC operating agreement or corporate bylaws.
It’s a truly comprehensive incorporation package that includes everything you need to form and maintain your business entity.
ZenBusiness is a company that truly excels when it comes to customer feedback, as nearly all of its 10,000+ reviews are extremely positive in nature.
Another aspect of ZenBusiness that we value is our dedication to giving back to the communities we serve. ZenBusiness partners with Kiva.org to help lift underprivileged entrepreneurs out of poverty through financial lending. Additionally, we provide loans to help boost women- and minority-owned businesses.
MyCorporation’s pricing for the combination of incorporation and managed annual report services starts at $158, plus the state’s fee. Like ZenBusiness, this bundle provides the prep and filing of your business formation paperwork and one year of annual report service, complete with due-date tracking.
However, MyCorporation’s package includes fewer valuable features. The only other feature you’ll receive with this package is online document storage.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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