It comes in a very official looking envelope from Sacramento, a Notice of Annual Meeting Minutes or Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement, or something like that.
It looks like a government notice with your corporation name and state number pre-printed and a deadline for your reply, and it calls for an annual fee of $150. Since it quotes sections of the California corporations code, you're likely to take it seriously. But if you look closely, you'll see that it's not from the government, but from a private company offering to prepare annual minutes, which is something business owners can and should do for themselves.
There is no requirement that a private corporation file annual minutes or any other minutes. The only thing most private corporations have to file, apart from tax returns, is an annual Statement of Information listing its address, directors, officers and an agent for service of process. The filing fee is $25 and you can do it online at www.sos.ca.gov.
All corporations have to keep minutes of their board and shareholder meetings, but all that means is a summary on paper of what went on. For companies with two shareholders who also run the business, a note on a napkin can serve as minutes.
Should anyone use these annual minutes services? I couldn't tell you, but I'm naturally suspicious of anyone who tries to trick me into buying something.
So what's a business owner to do? You want to stay in compliance, but you don't want to be taken advantage of. How do you know when you're being scammed or even just oversold?
One thing to do is check the Web site of the government agency involved. In this case, it's the Secretary of State. Another way is to Google the notice title and see what comes up, plenty, if you search this one.
You also can call the Small Business Success Center at the Carlsbad Chamber. If they don't know the answer, they'll find a chamber member who does. That is one reason we're all in the Chamber, to help each other and stay informed.
This is the first of my monthly columns as chair of the chamber's Board of Directors for 2008. In the coming months, I hope to use this space to inform, but also to challenge my fellow chamber members to use the unique resource that is the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber offers its members opportunities to learn new skills, network with potential customers and partners and build and market their businesses. It offers us all one-on-one help when we need it.
Because many of us work and live in Carlsbad, we are not just a business community, but a community of business people whose highest goal is to maintain and enhance the economic health and the quality of life where we live and work. We do that by working together and helping each other succeed. Best of luck and success in 2008!
It looks like a government notice with your corporation name and state number pre-printed and a deadline for your reply, and it calls for an annual fee of $150. Since it quotes sections of the California corporations code, you're likely to take it seriously. But if you look closely, you'll see that it's not from the government, but from a private company offering to prepare annual minutes, which is something business owners can and should do for themselves.
There is no requirement that a private corporation file annual minutes or any other minutes. The only thing most private corporations have to file, apart from tax returns, is an annual Statement of Information listing its address, directors, officers and an agent for service of process. The filing fee is $25 and you can do it online at www.sos.ca.gov.
All corporations have to keep minutes of their board and shareholder meetings, but all that means is a summary on paper of what went on. For companies with two shareholders who also run the business, a note on a napkin can serve as minutes.
Should anyone use these annual minutes services? I couldn't tell you, but I'm naturally suspicious of anyone who tries to trick me into buying something.
So what's a business owner to do? You want to stay in compliance, but you don't want to be taken advantage of. How do you know when you're being scammed or even just oversold?
One thing to do is check the Web site of the government agency involved. In this case, it's the Secretary of State. Another way is to Google the notice title and see what comes up, plenty, if you search this one.
You also can call the Small Business Success Center at the Carlsbad Chamber. If they don't know the answer, they'll find a chamber member who does. That is one reason we're all in the Chamber, to help each other and stay informed.
This is the first of my monthly columns as chair of the chamber's Board of Directors for 2008. In the coming months, I hope to use this space to inform, but also to challenge my fellow chamber members to use the unique resource that is the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber offers its members opportunities to learn new skills, network with potential customers and partners and build and market their businesses. It offers us all one-on-one help when we need it.
Because many of us work and live in Carlsbad, we are not just a business community, but a community of business people whose highest goal is to maintain and enhance the economic health and the quality of life where we live and work. We do that by working together and helping each other succeed. Best of luck and success in 2008!