Indiana

Indiana's Uniform Business Organizations Code (IC 23-0.5-4) states no residency requirement: the agent must be an individual, a general partnership, a domestic filing entity, or a registered foreign entity. Any address stated in a registered agent filing must be a street address in Indiana (IC 23-0.5-4-2).

Consent required: yes.

If a represented entity ceases to have a registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the entity may be served by registered or certified mail (or similar commercial delivery) to its principal office; if that fails, by handing a copy to the individual in charge of any regular place of business. Separately, revocation of a foreign registration appoints the Secretary of State as the entity's agent for service (IC 23-0.5-5-11(e)) with a $10 fee (IC 23-0.5-9-56).

• 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 →. A domestic filing entity without a registered agent for 60 consecutive days, or that fails to notify the Secretary of State within 60 days of an agent change, resignation, or office discontinuance, may be administratively dissolved (60-day cure window after notice under IC 23-0.5-6-2).
• Revocation Foreign. A registered foreign entity's registration may be revoked for not having a registered agent or for failing to file a statement of change within 30 days of a change in the agent's name or address; upon revocation the Secretary of State becomes the entity's agent for service (IC 23-0.5-5-11(e)).
• No Court Access. A foreign entity doing business in Indiana may not maintain an action or proceeding in Indiana unless registered - the downstream consequence once registration is revoked for registered agent failure.
• Civil Penalty. A foreign entity transacting business in Indiana without a certificate of authorityCertificate of authorityPermission for an entity formed in one state to do business in another - the 'foreign' registration.Read the full entry → is liable for a civil penalty of up to $10,000, collectible by the attorney general.
• 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 requires paying all back fees, taxes, interest and penalties, a certificate of clearance from the department of state revenue, plus a $20 (electronic) or $30 (paper) application fee under IC 23-0.5-9-42.

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

Indiana Secretary of State, Business Services Division (INBiz portal). Sole proprietorships and general partnerships instead file with the County Recorder in each county where situated - corporations/LLCs/LPs/LLPs do NOT file at the county.

State fee

$20 online via INBiz / $30 by mail or in person per assumed 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 → ($26 paper for nonprofit corporations); a separate certificate + fee per name

Term

Perpetual - no expiration or renewal (remains until amended or cancelled)

Renewal

None required

Publication

Not required. No newspaper publicationPublication requirementA few states require newly formed or registered entities to publish a notice in designated newspapers (New York's LLC publication is the expensive example) - a real cost of formation that fee tables usually omit.Read the full entry → requirement in Indiana

Online filing

Available

The regime

Indiana splits the assumed-name filing by business form within a single statute. Individuals and general partnerships (other than LLPs) doing business under a name other than their real name file a certificate with the county recorder of each county where a place of business or office is situated (IC 23-0.5-3-4(a)); filing entities (corporations, nonprofits, LLCs, LPs, LLPs) doing business under a name other than the name in their organic record file with the Secretary of State (IC 23-0.5-3-4(e)).

Where it is filed

County recorder (each county with a place of business or office) for individuals and general partnerships; Indiana Secretary of State for filing entities.

Publication

IC 23-0.5-3-4 (reviewed in full, subsections (a) through (k)) contains no newspaper-publication requirement; the recorded or filed certificate completes registration.

Name restrictions

A filing entity may not include an entity indicator (such as 'Inc.', 'Corp.', 'LLC', 'LP', or 'LLP') in an assumed business name filing that is inconsistent with its actual 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 →, subject to a 12-month grace period after a conversion, domestication, or merger. Separately, a name or assumed name may not contain language falsely indicating or implying connection with a government agency, and an SOS-registered assumed name must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records under IC 23-0.5-3-1(a).

Assumed names for registered entities

Filing entities register assumed business names with the Secretary of State under IC 23-0.5-3-4(e). Separately, a foreign entity whose true name does not comply with Indiana's name standards must adopt an alternate name to register to do business; an entity that registers under an alternate name need not also comply with the assumed-name statute, and it thereafter does business under the alternate name or a name authorized under IC 23-0.5-3-4.

Penalties

Violating the assumed-name filing requirement is a Class B infraction.

Official source

faqs.in.gov/hc/en-us/articles/115005053207-How-do-I-file-an-Assumed-Business-Name-DBA↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

none (no 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 →; corporate AGI tax 4.9% is a plain income tax; FIT = financial institutions only)

Administering agency

Indiana Department of Revenue (income/FIT taxes); Secretary of State collects only the biennial Business Entity Report fee

Corporation minimum

not recorded separately

How it is computed

NO FRANCHISE/PRIVILEGE/MINIMUM TAX - annual franchise-type liability = $0 for both LLCs and corporations. Context: C corporations (and LLCs electing C-corp status) pay the Corporate Adjusted Gross Income Tax, a flat NET INCOME tax: 4.9% x Indiana-apportioned adjusted gross income (IC 6-3-2-1, rate 4.9% for periods after June 30, 2021; base = federal Form 1120 taxable income with IC 6-3-1-3.5 adjustments; single-factor receipts apportionment IC 6-3-2-2). NO minimum, NO floor, NO cap - $0 income = $0 tax. Form IT-20 due the 15th day of the 5th month after year end (May 15 calendar-year); quarterly estimates required if liability exceeds $2,500. Default-classification LLCs, partnerships, and S corps: NO entity-level tax (S corps exempt per IRC s.1363; elective PTET IC 6-3-2.1 is optional). Only Indiana tax named 'franchise tax' = Financial Institutions Tax, IC 6-5.5, 4.9% after CY 2022, financial institutions only (Form FIT-20; FIT taxpayers exempt from AGI tax). Gross Income Tax + Supplemental Net Income Tax repealed 1-1-2003; Utility Receipts Tax repealed 7-1-2022. No statewide general business license or gross-receipts tax.