How to Form a Company in South Dakota

Introduction

If you’re looking to start a business in South Dakota, you may be wondering what the process involves. Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to form a company in SD! The steps below will tell you everything that you need to do:

Create a formal name that you can put on your articles of incorporation. The name must be different than any other registered corporation in South Dakota.

You’ll be required to create a formal name that you can put on your articles of incorporation. The name must be different than any other registered corporation in South Dakota, and it must also not be the same as any other registered corporation or business name in the United States. It’s also important that the name not be too similar to another company’s name, as this may cause confusion among consumers and could lead to legal issues for both parties after registration is complete.

Write a statement of your company’s purpose and what business it will do. This document is called the Articles of Incorporation and must include the company’s name, incorporator, registered agents and officers, directors, stock structure and any other information needed.

The articles of incorporation must include the company’s name, incorporator(s), registered agents and officers, directors, stock structure and any other information needed by the Secretary of State.

The state recommends writing your own articles of incorporation or using one that has been drafted for you—it doesn’t matter which method you choose as long as it contains all the required documents and information.

Once written, you can file these documents with the Secretary of State either in person or by mail.

Find a registered agent to accept correspondence on behalf of the corporation. It can be an individual person or a service.

It can be a person or a service.

• Be an individual resident of South Dakota.
• Be available during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. This means that you should have an office with a business address in South Dakota where you can accept mail and other deliveries.
• Have a physical address in South Dakota for the registered agent—not just for the company’s mailing address—so that all correspondence from outside entities is delivered to the proper individual or service that will handle it on behalf of the corporation (for example, if your company has an employee named “Sam” who lives in Texas but works out of his house in Sioux Falls, he cannot act as your registered agent; rather, someone who lives here and has their own office would be more appropriate).

File your articles of incorporation with the Division of Secretary of State (SOS). You can do this by mailing in a completed form or doing it online through the SOS website. The cost is $50 as of 2010, but there is an additional $30 fee for filing online.

• For filing by mail, you will need to sign the articles of incorporation and send them to:

Secretary of State, Division of Corporate & Professional Services, P.O. Box 3814, Pierre SD 57501-3814

• If you file online, you will need to create a username and password on the SOS website. Then all that’s left is clicking “Submit”. You can also pay your fees online if doing so fits your schedule better than mailing in payment would have.

Purchase stock from the corporation and distribute it according to the articles of incorporation. If there is no stock structure, each member will have one share in the company.

Next, you must decide how much stock you want to purchase and what it should be valued at. The price of the stock will be determined by the value of the company’s assets and its future earnings potential. If there is no stock structure, each member will have one share in the company.

The next step is to distribute your shares according to the articles of incorporation (unless you are operating as a sole proprietorship).

Prepare for annual reporting requirements after the first year of filing Articles of Incorporation with South Dakota SOS. You must send an annual report every year at a cost of $25 as of 2010. Failure to do so may mean you lose your business status as an active corporation in South Dakota and your registration will be revoked.

• Prepare for annual reporting requirements after the first year of filing Articles of Incorporation with South Dakota SOS. You must send an annual report every year at a cost of $25 as of 2010. Failure to do so may mean you lose your business status as an active corporation in South Dakota and your registration will be revoked.
• File your annual report online or by mail on or before May 15th each year, which is the filing deadline if you have not already filed it.

Use this guide to learn how to start a company in South Dakota

As you’re starting to research your company and the steps it will take to get started, you’ll probably come across a variety of resources that claim to be able to help you start a company in South Dakota. But which ones are reliable? And what about all those other guides? Why should you listen to us over anyone else?

Well, we’re going to cut straight through all that noise and tell it straight: we’ve got the best guide for guiding you through starting your business in South Dakota. We want this guidebook on your desk as soon as possible so that when people ask how they can start their own business, you won’t have any trouble answering them!

Conclusion

I hope this guide has given you some insight into the process of forming a company in South Dakota. This is something that I know can be daunting, but it’s important to remember that as long as you follow all the steps outlined above and keep up with annual reporting requirements then everything should go smoothly! Good luck in your new venture!