A client just emailed us with some official looking paperwork asking her business to file its 2014-Annual Minutes Form for Oregon Corporations, along with a $125 filing fee (the client has a Limited Liability Company, or LLC). Knowing that Oregon law doesn’t require businesses to officially file their annual minutes, we were immediately suspect – and sure enough, the request is a scam.
The request comes from a company called “Annual Business Solutions” and contains a Salem, Oregon mailing address – but the company is not affiliated with the Oregon Secretary of State Corporations Division. And you don’t need to send them any information.
Businesses need to keep annual minutes as part of their regular corporate compliance in order to maintain their limited liability status. But these minutes are internal documents that don’t need to be filed with the Corporation Division. Official correspondence from the State of Oregon will always include:
An image of the Oregon state seal.
The words “Secretary of State Corporation Division.”
The Corporation Division phone number, 503-986-2200.
Be on the lookout for similar letters from Annual Business Solutions or other similarly named organizations asking for your corporate information. If you have questions about your internal corporate compliance requirements, or State of Oregon corporate compliance, feel free to give us a call and we can walk you through it. Good luck out there!