The Ohio Secretary of State is an official elected in the state of Ohio, whose responsibility is to oversee elections in the state, register business entities, and grant authority to these entities to do business within the state; the secretary also grants registering secured transactions and access to a public document. The post of secretary has a term length of four years and two terms limit.
The business division’s state mission is to serve Ohio’s entrepreneurs, and it is the secretary of state’s client service center used for an appointment system. So as an entrepreneur setting up an entity in Ohio, you will need the services of the business division. The official website offers business services such as:
- Business filing
- Business Search
- Certificate of Good Standing/Business reports
- Forms and fees
- Service of process
- Information on starting, maintaining, and dissolving a business
- Business identity theft
- Uniform commercial code
- Revised LLC ACT – Effective 2022
- Ohio business resource connection
- Contact for business services
Business filing
In the business filing, the website supports filing online. You can create a profile or log in if you are already registered, and under the profile, features like business filing, recent filings, my cart, certified copy, certificates of good standing, UCC filings, resources and log out are available for you on the website.
Business Search
As an entrepreneur, you are allowed to search through the database to know if your chosen business name has been registered by another entity, so that you can modify yours.
Certificate of Good Standing/Business reports
Before obtaining a certificate of good standing, you are required to read through the terms of use before choosing yes or no accepting that you have read and understood the terms of use. You can also check for your business validation number.
Business reports can be downloaded on the website and there is a list of canceled or dissolved corporations available on the website.
Forms and fees
Forms of all kinds are submitted online at www.OhioBusinessCentral.gov. All documents are scanned and sent into the database after being processed. Forms can also be sent to the mail address of the secretary of state’s business division. You are to make checks and money orders payable to the “Ohio Secretary of State”.
All forms have fees charged to them ranging from domestic business entities, foreign business entities, cooperatives, name registrations, foreign nationally/federally chartered banks, trademarks & service marks, trust; mergers, consolidations & conversions; additional forms, credit card authorization, and shares fee information.
Service of process
Ohio law permits multiple methods of service, and to serve one of these entities through their office, depending on your company structure and the service needed, you are required to provide some documentation when mailing for service.
Information on starting, maintaining, and dissolving a business
To start a business, the information required includes the following:
- Register with the Ohio secretary of state
- Obtain a federal employer identification number
- Open a bank account
- Register with the Ohio department of taxation at Tax.Ohio.gov
- Report newly hired and re-hired employees to the Ohio New Hire Reporting Center
- Determine what is required of your business by the Ohio Bureau of workers’ compensation
- Identify requirements of the Ohio department of job and family services
- Obtain the proper licenses and permits
- File an annual report of unclaimed funds
- Discover growth opportunities for your new business
Nonprofit organizations
There are steps to get consideration for Nonprofit organizations such
- Apply for tax exemption
- If the entity is a charitable organization, register with the Ohio Attorney General’s office
- Apply for a nonprofit postal permit.
The website also provides a feature to check frequently asked questions, business publications, a guide to name availability, prepayment account, a glossary of business entities, Ohio business resource connection, filing forms & fee schedules, and how to dissolve a business.
Business identity theft
Business ID theft occurs when a business’s identity is used to transact business and establish lines of credit with banks and/or vendors.
The Ohio secretary of state’s office is helping you protect your business entity from identity theft by providing a free easy-to-use business filing notification system, allowing businesses to track any change or update to business filing to the secretary of state’s office. The business or individual only needs to submit an e-mail address and business charter, registration, or license number for each filing. This can be found on the division’s website.
Uniform commercial code
The uniform commercial code section has filed online or searched UCC records and administrative rules.
Other services offered include the Revised LLC ACT – effective 2022, Ohio business resource connection and contact support to those seeking business services.
