Register Your District of Columbia Foreign Corporation

Before you can register your DC foreign corporation, you must choose a corporate business name. You can conduct a free business name search to see if your current corporate name is available in DC. If it is not, you will need to file a Trade Name Registration Application to register a fictitious name that your business will operate under in DC. This costs $55.

A District of Columbia Registered Agent is a person or company that is physically located in DC to accept legal mail on behalf of a registered company. Since your registered agent must be present in the state of registration, you can’t be your own registered agent in more than one state. However, we can be your registered agent in as many states as you’d like because we have nationwide services with local offices.

Once your business is legal in the new state, you’ll want to be ready to make sales. Forming your business identity, or the way you present yourself to your potential clients, can prepare customers for your upcoming products and services.

Maybe you’ve never started getting your business out there. Now’s a great chance to start a business website or get a custom business email address.

Maybe you already have a digital presence, but now you want to make it easier for out-of-state people to find you, and start building awareness and a trustworthy reputation in your new territory. Consider getting a phone service that has the local area code or a local business address to use on documents where possible. Either way, make sure your business has a way to market itself in the new state, especially if you are not opening a brick-and-mortar.

You will need to get a certificate of existence or good standing from your home state in order to register as a foreign corporation. It needs to be dated within 90 days of you registering your business as a DC foreign corporation.

In order to register as a DC foreign corporation, you need to file the Foreign Registration Statement Form FN-1 with the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. This costs $220 to file.

You can get three day processing for an additional $50 or same-day processing for an extra $100.

You will need to include:

• Corporate name as it is in the home state
• Entity type
• Trade name if registered with DC
• State of original incorporation
• Date of organization
• Date the company will begin transacting business in DC
• Principal addresses
• Name and address of registered agent
• Business’s purpose
• Names, residence addresses, and business addresses of each person whose interest in the company exceeds 10%
• Names, residence addresses, and business addresses of each person whose interest does not exceed 10% but does:
  • Controls the financial or operational decisions
  • Has the ability to direct the day-to-day operations
• Name and signature of an authorized person

A Certificate of Qualification will be sent by mail alerting you that your corporation is cleared to do business in the state as a foreign entity.

Your foreign corporation will now have taxes and reports to file independent of the ones you file in your home state.

• DC Income Tax. All foreign corporations in DC are on the hook for corporate income tax. The tax rate is 8.25% of all taxable income. If your income is less than 1 million, you have a minimum payment of $250. Anything over 1 million is a $1,000 minimum payment.
• Initial Report. Your DC foreign corporation initial report counts as your first ever DC biennial report. It costs $300. It is due by April 1^st the year after you register. Even if you register your company on April 14^th, you will still have to file your initial report one date later on April 15^th. After that, your report will be due every two years.
• Biennial Report. All foreign corporations will need to file a DC biennial report. It is due by April 1^st every two years. It costs $300. This is the same report as your initial report.