MONTGOMERY – On Monday, Secretary
of State John Merrill released details on the participation for electronic
business filings.
If
a county is participating, the new pre-filing service will not apply, however if
a county is not participating in the electronic filing processing program
(Online Business Filings) authorized by Act No. 2015-479, the Secretary of
State allows pre-filing of the required information online to improve the
efficiency of business filings and to encourage the growth of business in
Alabama. The Secretary of State is responsible for providing the online system,
maintaining the system and working with customers on their service issues,
which may arise regarding the online system.
“Until
counties begin their participation of online filing, the Secretary of State’s
Office is pleased to provide pre-filing of domestic LLCs,” said Secretary
Merrill. “Once all documents have been submitted to the Secretary of State’s
Office, the new pre-filing option will enable the filer to view the filing on
our website much faster than the traditional paper method. Over the next three months
our Office is working to provide the pre-filing option to all domestic
entities.”
Required
filing information:
· The filer may go to
the Secretary of State’s website and choose the type of entity they would like
to file (currently only LLCs will be accepted in this new, online method). Then
the filer will use the provided Secretary of State screens to complete and
generate forms. Thereafter, information will be stored in the Secretary of
State’s database to speed up the filing process when the filing is forwarded
from the county probate office to the Secretary of State.
Required
Transmission of Filing Document Information:
· There will be no change
in the transmission of documents between the county and the state. The filer
will print the document from the Secretary of State’s website and file it with
the appropriate county, which is the usual practice under 10A of the Alabama
Code. The county probate office will record the filing and forward the filing
document and the fees to the Secretary of State per the Alabama Code. When the
filing is received from the county, the Secretary of State will post the state
filing fees and scan the document into the state’s system. Data will populate
from the stored pre-file data.
Required
Transmission of Funds Information:
· There will be no change
in the manner of transmission of funds between the county and the state.
The
total fee for a user pre-filing is $4, however other fees may apply.
For
more information, please call the Office of the Secretary of State at
334-242-7200.
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