Citation withheld: this record does not yet carry a review status; and its provenance is an internal operational database, which is never published as an authority.
The values are corroborated across independent internal records. What is missing is the link to the agency's own published schedule, which is what promotion to verified requires.
Cost position
Ranked 12 of 51 on first-year state
filing cost, at $99.00 against a national median
of $175.00.
Recurring annual cost $0.
See the full ranking.
Where Ohio sits among its neighbours in the first-year cost ranking (USD)Show all 51 jurisdictionsThe full ranking with Ohio highlighted (USD)
Registered-agent statutes, quoted verbatim
The one section on this page that clears the publication gate in full. 3 citations, verified, quoted from the official code with every elision marked.
Ohio Rev. Code § 1701.07
◎Verified
General Corporation Law (Ohio Rev. Code ch. 1701) · applies to
corporations
Ohio Revised Limited Liability Company Act (Ohio Rev. Code ch. 1706) · applies to
LLCs
Legal agents of limited liability companies.(A) Each limited liability company and foreign limited liability company that has an effective registration as a foreign limited liability company under section 1706.511 of the Revised Code shall maintain continuously in this state an agent for service of process on the company. The agent shall be one of the following: (1) A natural person who is a resident of this state; (2) A domestic or foreign corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited partnership association, professional association, business trust, or unincorporated nonprofit association that has a business address in this state. [...]
General Corporation Law (Ohio Rev. Code ch. 1701) · applies to
corporations and LLCs
Statutory agent - cancellation and reinstatement of articles.As used in division (C)(1) of this section, "usual place of business" means a place in this state that is customarily open during normal business hours and where an individual is generally present who is authorized to perform the services of a registered agent, including accepting service of processService of processFormal delivery of lawsuits and legal notices.Read the full entry → and other notifications for the person serving as a statutory agent. "Usual place of business" does not include a post office box, regardless of whether that post office box has an associated street address.
If the agent cannot be found, no longer has the recorded address, or the corporation has failed to maintain an agent, the serving party files an affidavit with the SoS and serves the SoS as the corporation's agent by delivering quadruplicate copies and a $5 fee; the SoS forwards a copy by certified mail and service is deemed made. Same mechanism for LLCs (R.C. 1706.09(H)(2), four copies, $5) and for licensed foreign corporations (R.C. 1703.19, $5).
Revocation Foreign. A licensed foreign corporation that fails to designate a replacement agent after its designated agent dies, resigns, or leaves Ohio gets certified-mail notice; unless cured within 30 days, the SoS cancels its license to transact business. The former name is reserved for only one year.
No Court Access. A foreign corporation whose license expired or was canceled (including for failure to designate an agent) cannot maintain any action in an Ohio court until reinstated; to sue on a cause of action arising while unlicensed it must first pay a $250 forfeiture and file reinstatement papers (with a 15% forfeiture on the reinstatement fee).
Reinstatement Fee. A corporation or LLC whose articles (or foreign LLC registration, or foreign corporation license) were canceled may be reinstated only within TWO YEARS of cancellation, by filing an application, the required agent appointment, and the filing fee specified in R.C. 111.16(Q) (amount codified outside this corpus). Reinstated rights are subject to R.C. 1701.922 / 1706.46.
Dollar amounts named in the registered-agent statutes
What
Amount
Status
Fee for substituted service of process on the Secretary of State (corporations, LLCs, and licensed foreign corporations; taxable as costs)
$5
○Pending review
Forfeiture for a foreign corporation transacting business while unlicensed or after cancellation without reinstatement
$250 to $10,000
○Pending review
Forfeiture an unlicensed foreign corporation must pay before maintaining an action on a cause that arose while unlicensed
$250
○Pending review
11 statutory citations and their supporting verbatim quotations sit behind this section in the record and are withheld from public display until the review pass lands, because a citation presented as authority is a verification claimed. Statutory references appearing inside the summaries above are part of the recorded text rather than an authority claim, and they are not rendered as citations, linked, or emitted in this page's structured data. How the gate works.
Governance rules
Ohio corporate and LLC governance rules
Rule
Entity
Applies
Detail
Status
Organizational Meeting Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Annual Meeting Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Written Consent In Lieu Allowed
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Bylaws Required
Corporation
yes
○Pending review
Operating Agreement Required
LLC
no
○Pending review
Annual Meeting Required
LLC
no
○Pending review
Written Consent In Lieu Allowed
LLC
yes
○Pending review
7 statutory citations and their supporting verbatim quotations sit behind this section in the record and are withheld from public display until the review pass lands, because a citation presented as authority is a verification claimed. Statutory references appearing inside the summaries above are part of the recorded text rather than an authority claim, and they are not rendered as citations, linked, or emitted in this page's structured data. How the gate works.
$39 (ORC 111.16(S): trade name or fictitious name registration or report)
Term
5 years from date of filing (ORC 1329.04)
Renewal
Renewable for successive 5-year terms within the 6 months before expiration; renewal fee $25 (ORC 111.16); SOS sends renewal notice in the final 6 months. Partnerships must also re-file when a listed partner leaves
Ohio runs a two-track statewide system through the secretary of state. Any person may register a trade name (a name to which the user asserts a right to exclusive use). A person doing business under a fictitious name who has not registered it, does not wish to, or cannot because the name is unavailable, must instead report the fictitious name to the secretary of state within 30 days after first use.
Where it is filed
The Ohio secretary of state receives both trade name applications and fictitious name reports, on forms it prescribes, and keeps a public record of all registered trade names and reported fictitious names.
Term and renewal
Registration of a trade name or report of a fictitious name is effective for five years from the date of registration or report, renewable for successive five-year terms on application filed within six months before expiration. A general partnership must renew whenever any partner named on its registration or report ceases to be a partner. The secretary of state mails or emails renewal notices during the final six months.
Name restrictions
The secretary of state shall not file a trade name application that indicates or implies a connection with a government agency when none exists, or that implies the applicant is incorporated when it is not, or a trade name not distinguishable on the secretary of state's records from previously registered trade names, corporate names (domestic or authorized foreign, profit or nonprofit), registered LLC, LLP, or LP names, or filed trademarks or service marks, unless the holder's written consent is filed.
Assumed names for registered entities
A foreign for-profit corporation licensing in Ohio states in its application 'the name of the corporation and, if its corporate name is not available, the trade name under which it will do business in this state' (R.C. 1703.04(B)(1)). If the application is unacceptable solely because the corporate name is not distinguishable from another entity or registered trade name, the corporation may be licensed under an assumed business name by filing an officer-signed statement that it will transact business in Ohio only under that assumed name.C. 1703.31 area, per chapter text).
Penalties
No person doing business under a trade name or fictitious name may commence or maintain an action in that name, or on account of contracts made or transactions had in that name, in any Ohio court until it has complied with § 1329.01 (and, for partnerships, § 1777.02); upon compliance the action may proceed even on pre-compliance contracts. Suits against the user are allowed whether or not the name was registered or reported. The attorney general, on the secretary of state's request, shall bring an action for an injunction against any person who violates § 1329.01 or § 1329.07 and who, after proper notification by the secretary of state, refuses or fails to comply.
What is the difference between a trade name and a fictitious name in Ohio?
R.C. 1329.01(A) defines a trade name as 'a name used in business or trade to designate the business of the user and to which the user asserts a right to exclusive use,' while a fictitious name is a business name 'that the user has not registered or is not entitled to register as a trade name.' Trade name registration blocks later indistinguishable filings (§ 1329.02); a fictitious name report is notice only.
Do I have to file anything with Ohio if I operate under a DBA?
Yes. If you do business under a fictitious name and have not registered it as a trade name (or cannot because the name is unavailable), R.C. 1329.01(D) requires you to report the use of the fictitious name to the secretary of state within 30 days after the date of first use. Both the trade name application and the fictitious name report carry a $39 filing fee stated in the statute.
How long does an Ohio trade name registration or fictitious name report last?
Five years from the date of registration or report, renewable for successive five-year terms on an application filed within six months before expiration (R.C. 1329.04). A general partnership must renew whenever a partner named on its registration or report ceases to be a partner.
What happens if I do business under an unregistered name in Ohio?
Under R.C. 1329.10(B), no person doing business under a trade name or fictitious name may commence or maintain an action in that name in any Ohio court, or on contracts made in that name, until it complies with R.C. 1329.01; once it complies, it may sue even on contracts entered into before compliance. The attorney general may also seek an injunction against a person who refuses to comply after notice from the secretary of state (§ 1329.10(A)).
Recurring entity-level tax
No recurring entity-level tax reaches an LLC here
○Pending review
What it is called
not captured
Administering agency
Ohio Department of Taxation (legacy ch. 5733 franchise tax and CAT); Ohio Secretary of State has no recurring fee role
Corporation minimum
not recorded separately
How it is computed
NONE. Ohio imposes no franchise or privilege tax on LLCs or corporations and no recurring SOS fee: the legacy corporate franchise tax (ORC ch. 5733) was phased out (annual_report wave notes ch. 1703's 'annual franchise taxes' language survives only as the penalty computation for unlicensed foreign corps, referencing 'the now-phased-out ch. 5733 franchise tax'; SOS Form 525B still carries a legacy 'Reinstatement of a Tax Canceled Corporation' option). Ongoing state-level entity cost = $0/yr for LLCs and corps. CAVEAT: Ohio's Commercial Activity Tax (gross-receipts, ORC ch. 5751, Dept. of Taxation) exists but is NOT a franchise tax and ch. 5751 is NOT in the corpus - CAT thresholds/rates are not computable from corpus.
No per-state franchise-tax research document exists for this jurisdiction.
See the national picture.
Filing-office closures, 2026
Stored as a delta against the federal baseline:
0 days this state closes that the
federal government does not, and 0 federal
holidays its filing office works through.
Verified empty delta. This jurisdiction observes exactly the federal calendar - a positive finding, not a missing record.
Provenance - Ohio 2026 closures○Pending review
Citation withheld: this record is at review status provisionally reviewed, one or more rungs below verified.
These come from a research pass its own author graded CANDIDATES. They are shown because they are useful and withheld from every ranking on this site because they are not ratified.