Iowa

For corporations, the agent must be an Iowa-resident individual whose business office is identical with the registered office, or a domestic or foreign corporation or eligible entity with an identical business office (foreign entities must be registered in Iowa). The LLC Act is looser: the agent need only 'have a place of business in this state' (Iowa Code § 489.115(2)).

Consent required: yes.

If a corporation has no registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is by registered or certified mail addressed to the secretary at the corporation's principal office; if service still cannot be perfected (or the foreign registration was withdrawn or terminated), the Secretary of State becomes the corporation's agent for service, with a $5 fee (Iowa Code § 490.122(2)). The LLC Act (Iowa Code § 489.119(2)-(3)) uses mail to the principal office and then hand delivery to the individual in charge of a regular place of business, with no SOS-as-agent step.

• 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 corporation without a registered agent or registered office for 60 days or more, or that fails to notify the Secretary of State of an agent change, resignation, or office discontinuance within 60 days, may be administratively dissolved (60-day cure window after notice under Iowa Code § 490.1421).
• Administrative Dissolution. The LLC Act carries the same grounds: an LLC without a registered agent (or whose agent has no Iowa place of business) for 60 days or more, or that fails to give 60-day notice of agent changes, may be administratively dissolved.
• Revocation Foreign. A registered foreign corporation's registration may be administratively terminated for being without a registered agent or registered office for 60 days or more, or for failing to give 60-day notice of agent changes; the LLC parallel is Iowa Code § 489.911(1)(c)-(d).
• No Court Access. A foreign corporation doing business in Iowa cannot maintain a proceeding in any Iowa court until registered - the downstream consequence once registration is terminated for registered agent failure. The LLC parallel is Iowa Code § 489.902(2).
• 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 may be sought at any time after administrative dissolution for a $5 application fee (corporation and LLC alike); a name change is required if more than 5 years have passed and the old name is no longer available.

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

Iowa Secretary of State (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 → resolution for entities, filed via Fast Track Filing); county recorder only for sole proprietors/co-partnerships (Iowa Code ch. 547 trade names)

State fee

$5 fictitious name filing (form 635_9999; applicable to ch. 488, 489, 490, 499, 501A, 504 entities - LPs, LLCs, corporations, cooperatives, nonprofits)

Term

Perpetual - no expiration stated; effective until changed/cancelled

Renewal

None required. Iowa Code 490.401(5): a corporation using a fictitious name simply delivers a certified board resolution adopting the name to the SOS for filing; no renewal provision

Publication

Not required. None

Online filing

Available

The regime

Iowa requires any person conducting business under a trade name or assumed name that is not the true surname of each person with an interest in the business to first record a verified statement with the county recorder of the county where the business is to be conducted (Iowa Code § 547.1). Registered entities of the listed types (LPs, LLCs, corporations, professional corporations, cooperatives, nonprofits) are exempt from the county filing; instead, the entity statutes require a corporation or LLC that uses a fictitious name to deliver a certified resolution adopting the name to the Secretary of State (e.g., Iowa Code §§ 490.401(5), 489.112(8)).

Where it is filed

County recorder of the county in which the business is to be conducted (for persons subject to chapter 547); Secretary of State for the entity-side fictitious-name resolution filings under the entity chapters.

Publication

Chapter 547 (§§ 547.1 to 547.6, reviewed in full) contains no newspaper-publication requirementPublication 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 →; recording the verified statement with the county recorder completes the filing.

Assumed names for registered entities

Iowa's entity chapters state that they do not control the use of fictitious names but require a corporation (or LLC, under the parallel § 489.112(8)) that uses a fictitious name in Iowa to deliver a certified copyCertified copyA copy of a filed document that the state certifies as true and complete, with an official seal or certification page.Read the full entry → of the adopting resolution to the Secretary of State. Separately, a foreign corporation whose true name does not comply with Iowa's corporate-name standards must adopt an alternate name in its registration statement before registering to do business.

Penalties

Violating the chapter is a simple misdemeanor.
Each day of violation is a separate and distinct offense.
When ownership changes, the original owners remain liable for all obligations until the certificate of change is recorded.

Official source

sos.iowa.gov/business/formsandfees.html↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

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 → (financial institutions only - Iowa Code ch. 422, subchapter V); no general-entity franchise tax exists

Administering agency

Iowa Department of Revenue (franchise tax on financial institutions and corporate income tax); Iowa Secretary of State collects the biennial report fee

Corporation minimum

not recorded separately

How it is computed

NONE for general corporations or LLCs - Iowa imposes no annual franchise/privilege/excise/margin/gross-receipts tax and no statewide business license on ordinary business entities; the only recurring state entity charge is the biennial report fee (corp $60 even years; LLC $30 online/$45 paper odd years). Iowa's tax NAMED 'franchise tax' reaches FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ONLY (banks, S&Ls, trust companies, production credit associations): Iowa Code 422.60(1)(a) imposes it 'on financial institutions for the privilege of doing business in this state as financial institutions,' measured by Iowa net income at 422.63(2) rates: 4.1% TY beginning 2025, 3.8% TY beginning 2026, 3.5% TY beginning 2027+ (was 5% pre-2023); no statutory minimum, no cap; return due last day of 4th month after year end or 45 days after the federal due date, whichever is later; franchise-taxed institutions are exempt from the 422.33 corporate income tax (422.34). General corporations instead pay ordinary corporate income tax (422.33: 5.5% on first $100k, 7.1% above, TY2024-2026); LLCs are pass-through by default with no entity-level minimum.