Register Your New Mexico Foreign Corporation

First step, 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. Here are the basics.

• Corporate name must be different from any business names registered or reserved in New Mexico
• Must 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 P.O. Boxes). Your registered agent needs to be available during regular business hours (9 AM to 5 PM) to receive legal notifications (service of process) and deliver them to your business in a timely manner.

When you hire Northwest as your registered agent service, we’ll handle all your legal and state mail. We can also process a maximum of five regular pieces of business mail every year at no extra charge, meaning we scan and upload them to your account. If you’re expecting a lot of business mail, it can make sense to sign up for unlimited mail forwarding in New Mexico for $20 a month. You can also get a virtual office in New Mexico.

Your business identity is the way your business presents itself to the world, and to customers. If you haven’t started forming your business identity, now’s the time. Everything from your corporate logo, its colors, website, email address, 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, website, phone number, email address, and more.

Read our post about how to protect your business identity.

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 $229, 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

How do I calculate New Mexico’s foreign registration filing fee?

Who knew you’d have to be good at math to register a foreign corporation in New Mexico? Here’s how you calculate your filing fee.

These are estimated values:

6a: Total number of shares the corporation has including the number of shares it has issued
7a: Gross amount of business transacted at or from places of business in New Mexico
7b: Value of all property to be owned and located in New Mexico
7c: Gross amount of business transacted at or from places of business wherever transacted
7d: Value of all property to be owned and located wherever

7a + 7b ÷ 7c + 7d x 6a = total number ÷ 1,000 = your total filing fee

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 foreign 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 $27 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 fifteenth day of the fourth 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).