Register Your New Mexico Foreign Corporation

First up, you have to make sure your corporate name is available for use in New Mexico. Use our free business name search to do your due diligence. New Mexico has some rules for naming a corporation (NM Stat § 53-11-7), but here are the basics. Your corporation’s name must:

• be different from any business names registered or reserved in New Mexico
• include an indicator like “Corporation, Corp.,” “Incorporated,” or “Inc.”

Want to make sure your corporate name is available in all fifty states? Here’s how to secure a federal trademark.

The next step in registering your foreign corporation in New Mexico is to appoint a registered agent. Your New Mexico registered agent must be a person or business with a physical address in New Mexico (no PO Boxes). Your registered agent needs to be available during regular business hours (9am to 5pm) to receive legal notifications and deliver them to your business in a timely manner.

Read up on how hiring Northwest as your registered agent can help protect your privacy.

If you haven’t yet started forming your business identity, now’s the time. Your business identity is the way your business presents itself to potential clients. Everything from your corporate logo, its colors, and even your area code are part of your business identity. And while you’re on your own with coming up with a cool logo and colors, Northwest can help you with a domain (free for the first year), website, phone number, an email address, and more.

New Mexico requires a certificate of good standing to be included with your Application for Certificate of Authority. The process for getting a certificate of good standing varies from state to state, but in most cases you can request one online through your Secretary of State’s office and receive it immediately.

Note: New Mexico will not accept any certificates that are older than 30 days.

To officially foreign qualify your corporation in New Mexico, you’ll need to fill out and submit a Foreign Profit Corporation Application for Certificate of Authority to New Mexico’s Secretary of State. The filing fee is at least $200, but can cost as much as $1000 depending on how many shares of stock your corporation has, and the value of property it owns in and out of the state.

Here’s the information you’ll need to list on your application:

• Name of corporation in its domestic (home) state
• State where corporation was originally registered
• Date of incorporation
• Email address and phone number of contact person
• Duration of corporation (most check perpetual unless you have an end date in mind)
• Business purpose (real estate, mining, etc.)
• Registered agent name and address
• Business address in New Mexico (if not applicable, check “none”)
• Names, titles, and complete addresses of the initial board of directors
• Number of shares which the corporation has the authority to issue and the number of shares that have been issued, itemized by class and series
• Signature of person organizing application

Note: In order to calculate your filing fee, you’ll also need to provide an estimate value for current fiscal year of:

• gross sales in New Mexico
• value of property in New Mexico
• gross sales in and outside of the state
• total value of property in and outside of the state

New Mexico asks for an email address while filing your application. A scan of your approved Certificate of Authority will be emailed to the address listed. If no email is given, a copy of your documents will be mailed to the address listed on the contact form.

Now that your corporation is all set to do business in New Mexico, it’s time to pay attention to required state filings and taxes. Here are the main ones you’ll need to file:

New Mexico Initial Report: Within 30 days of registering your New Mexico corporation, you’re required to file an Initial Report with the Secretary of State. This is similar to what you will be filing for your Biennial Report, requiring your contact information and list of your director and officers. This report comes with a $25 filing fee and can be filed online.

New Mexico Biennial Report: The New Mexico Biennial Report is a form you file every other year in order to confirm or update the information you provided in your Initial Report. It’s due on the 15th day of the 4th month following the end of your fiscal year, every two years. The report costs $25 to file. Miss the deadline and pay a $200 penalty.

State Income Tax: New Mexico has a graduated corporate income tax, with rates ranging from 4.8% (income under $500k) to 5.9% (income over $500k).