ATTENTION FLORIDA BUSINESSES: FILING PORTAL FOR 2022 ANNUAL REPORTS IS NOW OPEN

Florida businesses that are corporations or limited liability companies (LLCs) must file an online update every year with the State of Florida to keep the company’s status active. This update is called an Annual Report and is filed with the Florida Division of Corporations, which is the official corporate registry for the state of Florida.

The Annual Report is a way for you to make any changes to the information on file for your company (like a new mailing address or adding a new officer for the company). It is also a money-maker for the government – the state charges corporations $150 to file their Annual Report and LLCs $138.75. You have to file an Annual Report every year even if there are no changes to your company’s information.

The deadline to file your company’s 2022 Annual Report is May 1st, but the state’s filing portal at Sunbiz.org is open now so businesses can file early.

Make sure to file your report before the deadline – if you miss the May 1st deadline, the state will charge you an additional $400 for your Annual Report. And if you still have not filed it by September, the government will dissolve your company. The only reminder the government will send you is an email to the address they have on file for your company. If your corporation or LLC is dissolved, any officers of the company that have workers’ comp exemptions can lose their exemptions.

Another consequence of the state dissolving your company is that someone else could take over your company name and start doing business under that name. There are many reasons why it is important to make sure your company files its Annual Report every year!

The only reminder the government will send you is an email to the address they have on file for your company. This email will be from FL_DOS_Corporations@dos.state.fl.us and will give you a link to the state’s official corporate registry at Sunbiz.org.

To file your company’s 2022 Annual Report, go to the Division of Corporations Annual Report filing page and make sure the page says “An official State of Florida website” at the top. This is how you know you are on the official government web page. You will need your company’s document number that was assigned by the Division of Corporations when you first registered your business with the state. This number will be in the reminder email from the Division of Corporations, or you can look it up on the state website by searching your company’s name on Sunbiz. The document number will be at the top of the page with your company’s information under “Detail by Entity Name.”

FUBA members with questions about their company’s Annual Report should call the FUBA offices at 800-262-4483 and ask for Karen or Mallory.

BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT SOLICITATIONS FOR YOUR COMPANY’S ANNUAL REPORT

In FUBA’s role as the small business watchdog, we are urging our members to be cautious about notices you may receive by mail or email about your company’s 2022 Annual Report filing with the state Division of Corporations (Sunbiz). 

As we described in the article above, all Florida corporations and LLCs are required by law to file an Annual Report every year with the Division of Corporations. Every January when the Sunbiz.org filing portal opens for that year’s Annual Reports, private companies start sending solicitations by mail and email to small businesses. These solicitations instruct businesses to submit payment to them for help in meeting state filing requirements but usually the services offered by these companies can be done by the business directly for a much smaller fee. These companies will charge a lot of money to file your company’s Annual Report, usually about $100 more than you actually need to pay. And these notices look official and sometimes have a return address in Tallahassee so they look like they are from the government, but they definitely are not. If you pay one of these companies to file your Annual Report, it could be much more expensive than filing it yourself on Sunbiz.org.

The only email you can trust about your Annual Report is the reminder you will receive from the Division of Corporations. It will be from FL_DOS_Corporations@dos.state.fl.us and have a link to the state’s official corporate registry at Sunbiz.org. This email is legitimate, and you can trust this link.

FUBA members concerned about mail or emails they receive can call our offices at 800-262-4483 and ask for Karen.

HOW LONG SHOULD EMPLOYEES EXPOSED TO COVID STAY HOME FROM WORK?

To protect their workplace, businesses can ask employees who test positive for COVID or have symptoms to stay home from work. Here is a summary of the current guidance from the CDC for people exposed to COVID:

If the employee is up-to-date on vaccinations (including a booster shot) and has had close contact with someone with COVID, the employee does not need to stay home unless they develop symptoms. If they develop symptoms, they should get tested immediately and stay home for 5 days if the test is positive.

If the employee is not fully vaccinated and has had close contact with someone who has COVID, they should stay home for at least 5 days and get tested after 5 days even if they do not develop symptoms. If the test is positive, they should stay home for 5 more days.

Employees who test positive for COVID or have symptoms of COVID should stay home for at least 5 days, regardless of their vaccination status.

For more information from the CDC, visit their website here.

PAID LEAVE FOR COVID NOT REQUIRED

With the recent surge of COVID-19 cases, many businesses are asking if they have to give paid time off from work for employees who test positive for COVID and need to stay home. There is no requirement that employers pay employees for missing work due to COVID. When the pandemic first started, there was a requirement of up to 80 hours of paid leave, but that ended at the end of 2020. Employers can let employees use their paid leave (if available), or the leave can be unpaid.