Michigan Foreign Registration · Filing by yourself
Doing Michigan's Form 760 yourself
You can get a Michigan certificate of authority without a service by completing Form 760, attaching a good standing certificate dated within 30 days of receipt, and sending it to the Corporations Division with $50. The Division takes the form by mail and in person. Each step follows, with the places where a day is easily lost.
Gather these first
Collect six items. The LLC's exact name and, if it might be unavailable, a backup. Its home state, organization date and duration. The address of the office its home state requires. A Michigan street location for the registered office, with the name of a resident agent who agrees. The name and address of a person, other than the agent, to receive forwarded process. And a description of the Michigan business. The seventh thing, the good standing certificate, is ordered last.
Routes to the Division
| Route | Payment | Note |
|---|---|---|
| By mail | Check or money order | Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations Division, P.O. Box 30054, Lansing, MI 48909 |
| In person | check, money order, VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover | 2407 N Grand River Ave, Lansing, MI 48906 |
| Online | We confirm the route | Checked when we prepare your filing |
Whichever route you take, make the payment to the State of Michigan and put the LLC name and identification number on it. Mailed documents are delivered to a remote location for receipts processing and then forwarded to the Division.
Step 1: pick the name
Search the Division's business entity search for the name. The statute bars names that suggest a purpose the LLC does not have, names that contain corporation or incorporated, and names the records cannot tell from another entity's. If the name fails, item 2 on the form lets you give an assumed name that is available.
Step 2: fix the agent and the process contact
Item 5 wants the Michigan registered office and the resident agent. Item 6 wants a second person to receive forwarded process, and the form says that person cannot be the agent. Make both calls before you print the form, since neither can be swapped at the last minute without redoing the sheet.
Step 3: complete the seven items
Print the form in black ink on white paper. The Bureau stores documents electronically and rejects any that are illegible or poor in contrast, and it wants one original. Give the Michigan business as specifically as you can, because the form does not accept an all-purpose statement.
Step 4: sign
The signer needs authority under the law of the home state. Print the name and title next to the signature and date it. Nothing on the form calls for a notary.
Step 5: order the certificate and check its date
Ask the formation state for a good standing certificate. The Division counts back 30 days from the day it receives your package, so a certificate issued twenty days before you mail, with ten days in the mail, is already at the limit. Count from the receipt date if you pay for a tier, too.
Step 6: choose a speed
Regular review adds nothing. The paid tiers stack on the $50: $50 for 24 hours and $100 for the same day, if the Division has the request by 1 p.m. Eastern. Two hours and one hour cost $500 and $1,000. Complete form CSCL/CD-272 for the document.
Step 7: send it and keep a copy
Send the form, the certificate and the payment. Copy everything first. The original returns to the name and address you put in the box on the front, or to the registered office if you leave it blank. When the Division files it, the certificate of authority issues.
Frequent stumbles
The most common stumbles are a certificate that is stale by receipt, a process contact who is the same person as the agent, an all-purpose business statement, and a signature without a printed title. Each is easy to check before you seal the envelope and expensive to fix after the form comes back.
Before the envelope is sealed
| Before you send | Done? |
|---|---|
| Name searched, assumed name in reserve | |
| Agent agreed, with a Michigan address | |
| A different person named as process contact | |
| All seven items filled in, print legible | |
| Signer authorized, name and title printed | |
| Certificate no older than 30 days on receipt | |
| Payment payable to the State of Michigan |
How long to allow
If the LLC must be authorized by a fixed date, buy the tier that covers it and add the mailing days to the certificate's age.
Totting up the cost
The filing fee is $50. Add the home certificate, a speed tier if you want one, and an agent's charge if you hire an outside one. After that comes $25 each year for the annual statement. The fee page has the full table.
Filing Form 760 yourself
Pick the name and the people
Agent, process contact and signer.
Complete Form 760
Seven items, one legible original.
Choose a speed
Regular, or $50 and up.
Order the good standing certificate
Under 30 days old at the Division's desk.
Sign and send
$50 to the Corporations Division.
What the form costs afterward
After authorization, the annual statement is $25 each February 15, with a $50 penalty if it is late. A changed fact goes on Form 762 within 30 days for $25. A new agent or registered office is Form 520 for $5, and ending the authority is Form 761 for $10. Each is paid to the State of Michigan.
Expedite requests
Each expedite request is its own form, CSCL/CD-272. For a mailed request, the day the Division receives it counts, because mail passes through a receipts location before it reaches the Division. A fee waiver may be available when veterans hold most of the membership interests.
After the certificate arrives
Put February 15 on a calendar and note that online filing of the annual statement opens October 15. Keep the certificate of authority with the LLC's records, and tell your agent that the filing is done.
When a preparer saves time
Filing yourself suits an LLC with settled facts and a relaxed date. It gets harder when the certificate's 30-day window is tight, when you need a same-day tier, or when several entities are filing together. That is where $199 helps. Self-filing is a sound choice, and we answer questions either way.
Taxes and licenses sit elsewhere
A certificate of authority is not a tax registration. Michigan taxes are handled by the Department of Treasury, unemployment insurance by the Unemployment Insurance Agency, and local licenses by the city or township.
Paying by card
Cards are accepted when the package is delivered in person: VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. By mail the payment is a check or money order. Either way the remittance names the State of Michigan and carries the LLC name and identification number.
Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year
$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Questions from people filing alone
Does the Division accept a card?
When the package is delivered in person. By mail, send a check or money order.
Who signs Form 760?
A person with authority under the home state's law.
How do I get faster review?
Pay an expedite fee, $50 and up, on a separate form.
Our fee and LARA's
Get my Michigan certificate
+ $50 LARA fee
- Form CSCL/CD 760 completed from your answers, in the order the form uses
- Your home-state good standing certificate checked against Michigan's 30-day limit
- A Michigan resident agent and registered office, either ours or the one you name
- The package delivered to the Corporations Division and the certificate returned to you
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
$199
Michigan
Get my Michigan certificateLARA's $50 and any expedite fee are itemized separately at checkout. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Sources
- Michigan LARA filing fees, limited liability companies
- Michigan LARA limited liability company filing information
- Michigan Form CSCL/CD 760, application for certificate of authority (foreign LLC)
- Michigan LARA filing fees, foreign profit and nonprofit corporations
- Michigan Limited Liability Company Act, MCL 450.5002
- MCL 450.4204, name of a limited liability company
- MCL 450.4103, signing documents
- MCL 450.5003, issuing the certificate of authority
- MCL 450.4209, changing the registered office or resident agent
- Michigan LARA, annual reports and annual statements
Doing business in Michigan?
Tell us about the LLC and Form 760 is ours to prepare.