Rhode Island Corporation Certificate of Authority: Form 150

Rhode Island corporation certificate of authority at a glance

Filing

Form 150, Certificate of Authority

State fee

$310 filing fee ($319 with the charges Rhode Island collects at filing)

Total with us

$518, first year of Rhode Island resident agent service included

Home-state certificate

Required

Rhode Island yearly filing

Yearly report (named below), $50, every year

Filed with

Rhode Island Department of State, Business Services Division

What Form 150 asks for

For Form 150, Rhode Island needs:

• The exact name of your corporation as formed, or an alternate name if that name is taken there
• The state it was formed in and its date of formation
• A Rhode Island resident agent with a street address there; we fill in ours
• A principal office address
• A certificate of good standing from the home state

Corporation into Rhode Island, by home state

The first-year total adds the home state's certificate fee to the $518 checkout total; the certificate is ordered from that state.

When Rhode Island expects a corporation to register

Rhode Island law lists 12 activities that do not, on their own, count as doing business in Rhode Island. An office, staff, or regular sales and contracts there are what typically lead to registration.

If you do business in Rhode Island without registering

When it does register, Rhode Island collects the fees it would have charged for the years it went unregistered. A Rhode Island court can order the corporation to stop doing business there until it registers.

Rhode Island resident agent rule

Rhode Island requires every registered foreign corporation to keep a resident agent there. Rhode Island allows a Rhode Island resident or an entity qualified to do business in the state to serve. The agent needs a Rhode Island street address where the agent can be found during normal business hours to accept service of process. Switching agents later costs $20. Our $199 includes the first year of Rhode Island resident agent service, then $149 a year.

Rhode Island yearly filings

Once registered, your corporation files the Rhode Island Annual Report for a Corporation (Form 630) every year, at $50, due May 1. The Rhode Island filing window opens February 1 and closes May 1. Filing it late adds $25. From year two, keeping the Rhode Island registration costs $199 a year with our resident agent service.

How long Rhode Island takes

We file Form 150 with the Rhode Island Department of State.

Leaving Rhode Island later

If your corporation stops doing business there, it ends the registration by filing a Certificate of Withdrawal. Until that is filed, Rhode Island's yearly filing stays due.