Missouri Foreign Registration / Filing yourself

Filing Form LLC 4 yourself, without help

Registering a foreign LLC in Missouri yourself takes one form, $105 and a home-state certificate that has not aged past 60 days. Below is the order of work, the places people stall and the little there is to do afterward, since an LLC has no annual report. If you would sooner delegate, order below; our fee is $199.

Is Missouri a good state to file in yourself?

Missouri asks for a short list of facts that the statute spells out, and it asks for nothing on a schedule afterward. The risks are specific: a certificate that goes stale, an agent who does not qualify and a name that a Missouri LLC could not register.

The filing, in order

Confirm the duty applies
Compare the LLC's work with the seven excluded activities.
Order the home certificate
Good standing paper whose date will still be inside 60 calendar days when you file.
Find a Missouri agent
A Missouri resident or an authorized company with an office at the registered address.
Download Form LLC 4
From the Secretary of State's website. Read the current instructions on it.
Fill in the eight matters
Names, formation, purpose, agent and office, the fallback statement, the home office and the certificates.
Sign and pay
A manager, member or authorized agent signs, and the fee is $105.
Send it in
Use the route printed on the form.
File the accepted copy
With the certificate of registration.

What the application sets out

The application gives the names, the place and date of formation, the purpose, the agent and office, the fallback clause for the Secretary of State, the home office address and the two home certificates. The Form LLC 4 page takes each matter in turn.

Getting the sixty-day certificate right

Count the sixty days from the date printed on the certificate, and plan to file well inside the window. Delaware's short-form certificate is $50. Wyoming issues one online without charge. Ask for the type that states current standing. If your home state issues separate certificates of existence and of good standing, get both on the same day, because the statute lists both.

Choosing the agent and office

Missouri accepts a local individual or an authorized company as agent, working from the registered address. The Secretary of State cannot be your agent in the ordinary sense; it is only the fallback. Whoever serves, ask how papers get to you. Changing agents later costs $10.

Where people get stuck

Four snags to check. The certificate expires between order and filing. The agent turns out to be an out-of-state company that is not authorized in Missouri. The form's purpose line is left blank or filled with an essay. And a signer without authority at home signs for the LLC. Each is fixed by a short check before the form goes in.

While the certificate is on its way

Order the certificate, then collect the rest: the agent's agreement to serve, the facts for the form and the signer. The sixty days run from the date printed on the certificate, so file inside that window.

After approval

Save the accepted filing, the certificate of registration and the home certificate you used, with the agent's contact details, where the next manager will look. A change of agent or office is the filing you may need later. If the LLC ever stops working in Missouri, cancel on Form LLC 8.

Out-of-pocket cost of filing alone

The state's fee is $105. A Delaware LLC adds $50 for its certificate, for $155 in all, and a Wyoming LLC adds none. The remaining cost is your time. If you file late, the fine is at least $1,000, which makes the cost of delay far larger than the cost of the form.

A checklist before you start

Put these in one folder: the formation record, the home certificate with its date visible, the agent's name and Missouri address with a note that the agent agrees to serve, the home-state office address, a one-line description of the Missouri business, and the name and role of the signer. Add a payment method for the $105 fee. If any item is missing the form stalls, and the certificate's clock keeps running.

Reviewing the form before it is signed

Read it against the formation record, line by line. Check that the name matches character for character, that the formation date is the date on the certificate of formation, that the purpose line describes Missouri activity only, that the agent's address is a physical street address, and that the certificate date is inside sixty days of the day you will actually file. Signing affirms that the facts are true and that the signer has authority, so this review is the one that matters.

What comes back

An accepted filing comes back stamped Filed with the acceptance date, with a copy and the certificate of registration, while the original stays with the state. Banks, landlords and agencies ask for that certificate, so keep it with the company records.

Fees you may meet later

Registration is $105. A change of agent or office is $10 on a statement of change, an amended certificate of registration is $25, and cancelling is $25. The statement of change carries the successor agent's written consent, so settle that consent before the old agent leaves.

Tax is a separate account

Registering with the Secretary of State does not open a tax account. Who is taxed or regulated in Missouri is decided under other statutes, and an LLC can need a Department of Revenue account whether or not it must register.

Sending the filing

The filing goes by the route printed on Form LLC 4, with the fee and the home certificate or certificates. Keep a copy of the whole package and the payment record. When we prepare the filing, we send it by that route and hand the accepted copy back to you.

Already working in Missouri? File now

Say so honestly if the form asks, and file at once. The consequences, a fine of at least $1,000 and a bar on suing, are set by the statute and continue until the LLC registers.

Filing yourself versus handing it over

Filing alone costs the state's fee and your time. Handing it over adds our fee, listed apart at checkout, and returns a finished form, a dated certificate and a verified agent and office.

What recurs after you register

A foreign LLC files no annual report with the Secretary of State, so there is no yearly date to calendar for it. A foreign corporation is different: it files an annual corporate registration report and pays an annual fee. Nothing on the LLC side recurs unless the agent, the office or a stated fact changes.

Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year

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

Do-it-yourself questions

Do I need a lawyer?

No, but a Missouri lawyer can say whether your activities count as business.

Should I file before the certificate arrives?

It has to accompany the filing, so wait until you hold it.

Can I be my own registered agent?

Only if you live in Missouri and the registered office is your business office.

What if the form changes?

Use the current version on the Secretary of State's site and read its instructions.

Pass the filing to us

Our fee and Missouri's

Missouri's fee is $105. We list it apart from our own. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Register in Missouri

$199

+ $105 Missouri fee

Form LLC 4, filled out from what you tell us
The age of your formation-state certificate checked against the 60-day limit
A registered agent and office inside Missouri, provided by us or chosen by you
The registration as filed, handed back to you
Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year

Sources

Ready to register in Missouri?

Order now and we line up the certificate date before filing.