Idaho Foreign Registration · Do it yourself

Filing the Idaho Foreign Registration Statement on your own

Nothing stops you filing this yourself. Create an SOSBiz account, complete the Foreign Registration Statement online, upload the home-state certificate and pay the $100 base fee. The steps below are in sequence. If you would rather hand it off, $199 is our fee.

The do-it-yourself filing at a glance

Form: Foreign Registration Statement
Idaho cost: $100 online, $120 on paper
You need: The legal name, home state, addresses, an Idaho agent, a governor and a recent certificate
Online system: SOSBiz, the Secretary of State's online filing system
Walk-in office: 450 N. 4th Street, Boise, ID 83702

Before you start

Collect the answers first. You need the entity's legal name, its home jurisdiction, the street address of its principal office, a registered agent with an Idaho street address, and the name and role of at least one governor. Decide who will sign. Have a phone number and an email ready for the contact fields, since the Secretary of State uses them if something is wrong. Without these you will stop partway.

Step 1: order the certificate

Ask the home state's records office for a certificate of existence, which some states call a certificate of good standing. Idaho wants it dated within 90 days of filing, so order it when the rest is nearly ready. Ask for a version that shows the legal name exactly, because item 1 must match it. If the home state sends a PDF, you will upload that file at the filing step.

Step 2: line up the Idaho agent

Choose someone who can be found at a street address in Idaho during business hours. You can take the role yourself if you have an Idaho address, or hire a service, which the Secretary of State says usually charges a fee and must be arranged before filing. Get their yes in writing and note the exact address. A P.O. box or a commercial mailbox will be a problem.

Step 3: create your SOSBiz account

The Secretary of State's help page says you need an account to file anything online. On the SOSBiz login page you choose Create An Account and fill in each section. If the system says the email already exists, you probably have an account, and the Forgot or Change Password link sends a reset to that address. Use an email you will keep, since you will log in again for the annual report.

Step 4: start the filing

Once you are logged in, the Secretary of State's FAQ sends you to the business filings area to register an out-of-state business. You select the Foreign Registration Statement, enter the entity type, name, jurisdiction and addresses as items 1 to 7 of the paper form do, name the agent, and add a governor. Each step is flagged until it is complete. Follow the prompts and use the paper form's item numbers as a checklist.

Step 5: upload and pay

Where a filing needs a supporting document, SOSBiz shows a note and gives an upload field at the File Online step. Upload the certificate there. Then declare, sign and file. The base fee is $100. Add $40 for expedited or $100 for same day, if you need either. Complete the payment, because the Secretary of State may delete a filing whose payment is not completed.

After the registration posts

The next filing is the annual report. Online, you sign in to SOSBiz, open the business record, choose Annual Report, check the details and sign to submit. A report that lacks required information is returned for correction, and agent details that differ from the record count as a statement of change. If something else changes, an amendment is $30 online and a change of agent has no base fee online, so the registration costs nothing more to keep in good order.

If you prefer paper

The paper form is a PDF that must be typed. It goes to the Secretary of State's Boise P.O. box with a check payable to the Idaho Secretary of State for $120. The processing fee is part of that total, and forms submitted on paper without the manual processing fee are rejected. Paper is slower and dearer than the online route, and the forms page itself recommends online.

Step 6: wait and check

The Secretary of State posts a processed-through date you can compare with your filing date. Expedited service is typically within 8 business hours. You can search the business record in SOSBiz to see when the registration appears. If the office needs a correction it will contact the phone or email you gave.

Step 7: after approval

Save the registration. Put the registration month in your calendar, because the annual report falls due then each year, from a year after registration. When you next log in to SOSBiz, your business is on your dashboard and you can open the annual report from there.

Where first-time filers get stuck

A certificate that has aged past 90 days by the time the filing is ready.
An agent address that is a mailbox.
A company name copied from a website rather than the certificate.
No access to the business in SOSBiz because it was filed under someone else's account.
Choosing the wrong entity type in item 3.
Skipping the upload and then waiting for a response.

Where the work goes

The statement has nine items and a signature. The certificate, the agent and the first SOSBiz login are where the work sits, and the wait for the Secretary of State runs by the posted processing time.

Keeping your SOSBiz login useful

The account you create for this filing is the one you will use for the annual report, an amendment or a withdrawal, so register it under an email address that will outlast the person who set it up. If a filing service or attorney files for you, ask that the business be associated with your account afterwards, or you may find later that you cannot see your own record.

Or let us do it

Prefer to hand it over? We prepare and file the statement from your answers for $199, with Idaho's fee as its own line, and you approve it before it goes in.

Filing the statement yourself

Order the home-state certificate
Existence or good standing, dated within 90 days of filing.
Line up an Idaho agent
A physical street address, available in business hours.
Create an SOSBiz account
Required for any online filing.
Complete the statement
Type, name, jurisdiction, addresses, agent and governor.
Upload the certificate and pay
$100 base fee, plus any surcharge.
Sign and file
Then watch the processed-through date.
Diary the report month
The annual report is free and due yearly.

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.

DIY questions

Is a lawyer required to file it myself?

Nothing on the form calls for one. Whether you must register at all is the question to put to a lawyer.

Can I file in person?

Yes. The business office is at 450 N. 4th Street, Boise, ID 83702, open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

What if my business is missing from SOSBiz?

It may have been filed under a third party's account. The help page describes a PIN process to associate it with yours.

Or hand the filing to us

Our fee and Idaho's

Register in Idaho

Idaho

$199

+ $100 Idaho fee

Your Foreign Registration Statement, drafted from the details you give us
A certificate of existence (certificate of good standing) from the home state, requested and dated for the filing
An Idaho registered agent with a street address: ours, or the one you already use
Online filing with the Secretary of State, so no paper surcharge applies
Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year

Our fee and Idaho's fee show as separate lines, and checkout gives the exact total before you pay. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Sources

Opening for business in Idaho?

Tell us what kind of entity you run and its home state. We handle the statement, the certificate and the agent.