Maryland Secretary of State

The Maryland Secretary of State governs Maryland business filings. Whether it’s a Maryland corporation, Maryland LLC, Maryland nonprofit, or any type of business entity; you create or register your company with the Maryland Secretary of State.

Maryland Secretary of State

Contact info:
Voice: (410) 767-1340 Fax: 410-333-7097

Physical Address:
State Department of Assessments and Taxation
Charter Division
301 W. Preston Street; 8th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201-2395.

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You can start your Maryland business yourself, but if you would like help doing so, you can sign up for our business formation services.

Pros

• The best part about doing business in Maryland is that it is a little less regulatory than DC.
• Maryland actually has a different type of agency that regulates business formations.  The SDAT (Tax department) regulates starting a business.  Because of this, everything is combined into one booklet of a annual report each year.
• You pay your business personal property tax along with your annual report fees.
• You have a minimum $300 payment due.

Cons

• Maryland actually doesn’t answer their phone to help people start a business.
• The Maryland SDAT employees are not helpful and don’t care about helping you.
• The SDAT doesn’t return a file stamped copy of your filing.
• AND if you pay to have a $5 copy returned, it’s not a real copy; it’s a summary receipt.
• AND if you pay $50 to expedite your filing to speed up the 2 month process, they won’t expedite your $5 copy fee.  You still only will get the $5 copy back 2 months later.
• Maryland takes 2 months to process your filing. Truly absurd.