Florida

Both the corporation act (ch. 607) and LLC act (ch. 605) require a registered office plus a registered agent who is either (1) an individual who resides in Florida, (2) another domestic 'authorized entity' (for LLCs defined as a for-profit corporation, LLC, LLP, or LP), or (3) a foreign entity authorized to transact business in Florida that is an authorized entity - in every case with a business address identical to the registered office.

Consent required: yes.

• Administrative DissolutionRevocation / administrative dissolutionThe state involuntarily ending an entity's authority to do business - for missed annual reports, a lapsed registered agent, or unpaid fees.Read the full entry →. Failure to appoint and maintain a registered agent and registered office is a ground for administrative dissolution of a corporation (and of an LLC under sec. 605.0714(1)(c)); the department gives notice and dissolves if not corrected within 60 days.
• No Court Access. A corporation (or LLC under sec. 605.0113(5)) may not prosecute or maintain an action in a Florida court until it complies with the registered agent requirement and, to the extent ordered by a court, pays a penalty of $5 per day of noncompliance capped at $500; a court may stay the proceeding.
• Civil Penalty. An entity that owns Florida real property or a mortgage on it, or transacts business in Florida, and fails to maintain a registered office and agent is liable to the state for $500 per year (forgiven on compliance), can be ordered by a court to appoint one, faces up to $1,000 per day for violating such an order, and may not defend actions brought by the Department of Legal Affairs or other state agencies until it complies.
• Revocation Foreign. Failure of a foreign corporation to appoint and maintain a registered agent is a ground for revocation of its certificate of authority; the parallel foreign-LLC provisions are in ch. 605.
• ReinstatementReinstatementRestoring an entity the state revoked or administratively dissolved for missed filings - typically back-filing reports, paying accrued fees and penalties, and filing an application.Read the full entry → Fee. Reinstatement after administrative dissolution requires submitting all fees and penalties then owed; the filing fee for a corporation's application for reinstatement is $600 (LLC: $100), and the application must be signed by both the registered agent and an officer/director.

Filing officeFiling officeThe agency that keeps the business register.Read the full entry →

Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) - Fictitious NameDBA / fictitious nameA name a business operates under that is not its legal name - 'doing business as.' Also: assumed name, trade name, fictitious business name.Read the full entry → Registration under s. 865.09, F.S.

State fee

$50.00 registration (optional: $30 certified copy, $10 certificate of statusCertificate of good standingThe state-issued document proving an entity exists and is current on its filings.Read the full entry →; $50 cancellation and/or re-registration, e.g. for ownership changes)

Term

5 years - expires December 31 of the 5th year regardless of filing date

Renewal

$50.00 renewal for another 5-year term, online or by mail; an expired registration CANNOT be reinstated - a lapsed name requires a brand-new registration (and new advertisement certification)

Publication

Required. Advertise the intention to register the fictitious name at least ONCE in a newspaper (as defined in ch. 50, F.S.) in the county of the registrant's principal place of business, before registering. No proof of publication is filed with the state - the registrant certifies on the application (under the signature) that the advertisement ran. No multi-week run, no affidavit filing.

Online filing

Available

The regime

Florida's Fictitious Name Act bars any person from engaging in business under a fictitious name until the name is registered with the Division of Corporations of the Department of State, and the registration must include a certification that the intent to register was advertised at least once in a newspaper in the county of the registrant's principal place of business.

Where it is filed

Fictitious name registrations are filed statewide with the Division of Corporations of the Florida Department of State; there is no county-level filing.

Publication

The registration must include a certification by at least one registrant that the intention to register the fictitious name has been advertised at least once in a newspaper in the county where the principal place of business is or will be located.

Term and renewal

A Florida fictitious name registration runs from the date of registration or reregistration and expires on December 31 of the fifth calendar year, counting the year of registration as the first calendar year. Each renewal is valid for a further 5 years.

Name restrictions

A registered fictitious name may not contain entity designators such as Corporation/Inc., LP/LLLP, LLP, LLC, PA/chartered, or PLLC unless the registrant is actually organized as, or authorized to transact business as, that entity typeEntity typesLLC (limited liability company), corporation (for-profit; 'profit corporation' in some states' vocabulary), nonprofit corporation, LP (limited partnership), LLP (limited liability partnership), LLLP (limited liability limited partnership),Read the full entry →.

Assumed names for registered entities

A foreign corporation whose legal name is unavailable or noncompliant in Florida must adopt a complying alternate name to transact business; a foreign corporation that obtains its certificate of authority under an alternate name is excused from Fictitious Name Act registration for that alternate name.

Penalties

A noncomplying business, and any successor or assignee, cannot maintain any action, suit, or proceeding in Florida courts with respect to the business until the section is complied with.
Noncompliance does not invalidate contracts or bar the business from defending suits, but a party aggrieved by a noncomplying business may be awarded reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
Failure to comply is a noncriminal violation punishable as provided in Fla. Stat. § 775.083.

Official source

dos.fl.gov/sunbiz/start-business/efile/fl-fictitious-name-registration↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

not captured

Administering agency

n/a for franchise taxFranchise taxA recurring tax on the privilege of existing as an entity in a state - not a tax on franchising a business.Read the full entry →; annual supplemental corporate fee collected by Department of State (Sunbiz) with the annual report; corporate income tax (out of scope) is Florida Department of Revenue

Corporation minimum

not recorded separately

How it is computed

NO franchise tax. Florida imposes no franchise tax and no capital/share-based tax on LLCs or corporations at the Department of State - annual cost is the flat annual report fee plus the flat $88.75 'annual supplemental corporate fee' (Fla. Stat. 607.193(1), imposed on ss. 605.0212 / 607.1622 / 620.1210 filers; nonprofits and LLPs exempt). Corpus basis: annual_report wave corp fee datum states 'Flat - no capital-based or franchise-tax component in Florida' (cites Fla. Stat. 607.0122(17),(23), 607.193(1); Sunbiz fee schedule). NOTE: Florida's separate corporate INCOME tax (Fla. Stat. ch. 220, administered by FDOR, C-corps only) is NOT a franchise tax and ch. 220 is NOT in the corpus - not assessed here.