How to get an Iowa certificate of authority yourself, by mail or online

Write one page listing the legal name, the state or country of formation, the formation date, the duration if the entity has one, the main office address, the Iowa agent or registered office, and for corporations the directors and officers. A nonprofit adds whether it has members. The sheet answers every question on every route.

Ask the home-state records office for the certificate. Iowa will not accept one older than 90 days on the date it files, so order it when the form is ready to go. For a mailed filing, add the days in the post to your calculation. Compare the name on the certificate with the name on your sheet before you rely on it.

Put the signed form, payment payable to the state, and the home certificate in one envelope. The corporation form's notes call for one copy of the document, and say a copy of a signature is acceptable. Address it to Business Services Division, First Floor, Lucas Building, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319. Use a tracked service, so you know the day it arrived.

Copy, do not retype from memory. On the corporation form that means ten items; on the LLC statement, four statements; on the nonprofit application, seven. Where the form asks who signs, use an officer or an authorized person, and keep a copy of the signed page. The corporation form's notes say a copy of a signature is acceptable and verification is not required.

Iowa also sells a pre-filing review called preclearance. The same-day tier costs $250 if your request arrives by 10:00 AM, the two-day tier is twice the filing fee and the three-day tier equals it. The review earns no filing date and its fee is not credited to the filing.

A statement of correction fixes a record that has already been filed. It names the record, spells out the defect and supplies the correction, effective as of the original, although anyone who relied on the uncorrected text keeps an exception. The fee is $5, so check the draft against the home certificate before it goes in.

If Iowa rejects the filing, it writes by mail about the errors. If it accepts, the entity appears in the state's records, and its Business Entity Summary page offers a downloadable Certificate of Authorization/Registration. Put the report year on your calendar the same day.

Monday: write the fact sheet and confirm whether the corporation has members. Tuesday: ask the Iowa volunteer or agent company to confirm in writing. Wednesday: download the application from the forms page. Thursday: order the home certificate. Friday: when it arrives, complete the application, sign it and mail it with the $25 check.

Ask us before you send if you are unsure whether the entity's form is the current revision, or whether the home certificate you plan to send meets the statute's wording.