Iowa Certificate of Authority / Wyoming
A Wyoming LLC and Iowa authority: the money and the order of work
For a Wyoming LLC the first year of Iowa authority comes to $160: $0 for Wyoming's online good standing certificate, $100 for Iowa, and $60 for Wyoming's annual minimum. Iowa's LLC chapter calls the step registration instead of a certificate of authority; the registration statement and the printout that follows do the work.
What each state asks of a Wyoming LLC
| Item | Wyoming | Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| Good standing proof | $0, issued online | No more than 90 days older than Iowa's filing date |
| Entry | Nothing further at home | $100 |
| Recurring | A $60 annual minimum | A biennial report, $30 when filed online |
| Agent | Wyoming address | Iowa business location |
| Who the record names | Set by Wyoming | The entity, its offices and its agent; no members |
Download the certificate last
Wyoming's online certificate is free. Because Iowa counts its 90 days forward to the filing date, the best time to download is once your agent in Iowa has said yes and the draft is done. A certificate pulled in January and sent in May is stale.
Copying the Wyoming facts
The Iowa statement needs the LLC's name as Wyoming's certificate shows it, Wyoming as the jurisdiction, street and mailing addresses for the main office, and the Iowa agent. Read each line against the certificate before you pay.
What an Iowa filing makes public
Iowa treats what appears on its forms as open to the public. The LLC statement names no members but does name the entity, its offices and its agent. A company that picked Wyoming partly for privacy should decide how much address detail it is willing to file.
Other Wyoming entities
A Wyoming corporation sends Form 635_0110A with $100 and lists its directors and officers. A Wyoming nonprofit applies for a certificate of authority at $25. Neither uses the LLC statement, and our guide sorts the three apart.
Adding up the first year
Put together, the free certificate, Iowa's $100 and Wyoming's $60 make $160. Iowa's report adds $30 when it falls due, and a later withdrawal adds $10. By comparison a Delaware LLC's first year is more than three times higher.
Year two and after
With no Iowa fee due in most years, a Wyoming LLC pays Wyoming's minimum and little else. In an odd-numbered year with a report due it also pays Iowa $30, and at the end it pays $10 to withdraw.
Wyoming's yearly rhythm against Iowa's two-year one
Wyoming expects a yearly report and payment, with an annual minimum of $60. Iowa's rhythm is slower: a report every second year in a fixed window. The two do not conflict, but they do not line up either, so a company that remembers its Wyoming date is not thereby reminded of its Iowa one. A shared calendar with both, and a named owner, is the cure.
Tax is a separate question
Nothing on this page covers Iowa tax. A company with Iowa customers may owe tax filings whether or not it needs authority, and a company with authority may owe none. The answer does not change the fee schedule above.
What Iowa adds that Wyoming did not
Three requirements are new for a company used to Wyoming: an agent with a business location in Iowa, a home certificate that cannot be more than ninety days old when Iowa files, and a report on a two-year cycle with a January to April window. None is hard; each needs a place on the calendar.
A Wyoming LLC in Ames
Consider a Wyoming LLC that sells soil-testing equipment to farms near Ames and posts one technician there. The company downloads its certificate on filing day, engages an Ames firm as agent, and submits through Fast Track. Wyoming's minimum carries on. The Iowa report waits for the next odd-numbered year's window. With a technician working weekly, the company cannot call its Iowa activity a one-off.
Agents do not cross state lines
Wyoming's registered agent works from a Wyoming address. Iowa demands one with a business location here, so that arrangement stays in Wyoming, even where one provider sells both.
Papers worth keeping
Keep the filed Iowa statement, the Wyoming certificate you used, the agent's consent and a printout of the Business Entity Summary. A lender or customer asking whether the company may operate in Iowa will want the printed Certificate of Authorization/Registration, and the rest back it up.
Wyoming to Iowa in order
Check Wyoming standing
Make sure the LLC is current before you begin.
Find the Iowa agent
With a business location in Iowa.
Draft the statement
Name, Wyoming, offices, agent.
Pull the certificate
No charge; use it inside 90 days.
Submit
$100 through Fast Track.
Wyoming questions
Does Wyoming truly charge nothing for the certificate?
Its fee page shows $0 when the certificate is issued online.
Will Iowa print my members' names?
No. The statement names the entity, its offices and its agent.
Does authority in Iowa change my Wyoming duties?
No. Each state runs on its own dates and fees.
Our fee and Iowa's
We tell you which Iowa fee applies before you pay. An LLC and a nonprofit pay different amounts. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Get Iowa authority to operate
IA$199
+ the Iowa fee for your entity type, from $25
- The Iowa paper that fits your entity type, drafted from what you tell us
- The certificate of existence from home, ordered so it lands inside Iowa's ninety days
- An Iowa registered agent or office: ours, or your current one
- The filing sent and the state's record returned, with your report year marked
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
Sources
- Iowa Form 635_0106, nonprofit application for certificate of authority
- Iowa Form 635_0010, LLC foreign registration statement
- Iowa Code 489.903, foreign registration statement
- Iowa Code 490.1503, foreign corporation registration statement
- Iowa Code 504.1503, application for a certificate of authority
- Iowa Form 635_0110a, foreign profit corporation registration statement
- Iowa Code 490.122, business corporation fees
- Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division fee schedule
- Iowa Secretary of State, business entity forms and fees
- Iowa Fast Track Filing help, how to file a biennial report
- Iowa Code 489.122, LLC fees
- Iowa Secretary of State, certificate of existence
Not sure which Iowa paper you need?
Name your entity type and home state and we will say what Iowa asks.