By Janice Vanderbilt

Did you forget to renew your business registration?

Consider this unfortunate scenario:

When your business began, it was registered with the State of Michigan, probably a while ago. However, maybe the annual registration renewal was not submitted.

After several years of non-renewal, along came your competitor who called to see if you would like to buy your business name back at a considerable cost. What a surprise! This created problems for your business, because it could no longer do business under its original name in the State of Michigan. Your competitor registered its company with your name and now they have a legal right to use your name while doing business in Michigan.

Michigan Business Registration Renewal

Michigan businesses are required to renew their registration with the State of Michigan annually. Your renewal papers are mailed only once a year right around December or January. Unfortunately after the initial mailing there are no other reminders to renew your business registration.

Filling out the paperwork is not a long process, but it is necessary if your business wants to continue operating under the same name in the future. Registration renewal fees are $20 and up and can be completed easily with our expertise. Michigan does offer a new online payment feature for those who like online payments.

Registration renewals are vital to your company! If not completed for three consecutive years, your business name can be taken by another business just like in the story above. This can occur with no warning from the State or from the requesting business. If a business realizes it has not renewed for three or more years, it can bring that renewal current, assuming no other business has registered that name  But there are fees that need to be paid in order to do so.

The process of renewal is not difficult, but it is important and a little bit of time needs to be spent to complete this important function. If you don’t feel comfortable filling out the paperwork, Vanderbilt CPA Group is happy to help you complete the process.