A foreign corporation's Vermont certificate of authority

The application gives the corporation name (or a substitute name that meets the naming section); the state or country of incorporation; its date of incorporation and period of duration; the street address of its principal office; the address of its registered office in Vermont and its registered agent; and the names and usual business addresses of its current directors and officers. The corporation delivers its home paper with it.

A foreign corporation has to hold a certificate before transacting business in Vermont. A corporation that does anyway owes $50 a day, to $10,000 a year, along with the fees due and whatever other penalties apply. The Attorney General may bring suit to collect and to stop the corporation.

A foreign corporation reports within two and one-half months after its fiscal year ends, and the fee is $250. The report lists the corporation's name and governing law, registered office and agent, principal office and board and officers.

The corporation application lists 6 points to the LLC's 4, and the corporation names its directors and officers where an LLC names only an agent and an office. The corporation's home paper is a certificate of good standing and may be only 30 days old; an LLC's may be 90.

A Delaware corporation opens a Burlington branch. It names a Vermont registered office and agent, orders a certificate of good standing dated within 30 days and files the application for $155. Its first annual report adds $250, so $405 reaches Vermont before the home paper is counted.

A corporation that applies and then files five annual reports pays Vermont $1,405, before its home paper.

We take the corporation's details, order the home certificate to fit its 30-day window and file online. Our fee is $199, and the state's is $155.

$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.