South Dakota

SD uses the Model Registered Agents Act (SDCL ch. 59-11) for all filing entities; the business corporation act's own agent sections (47-1A-501 to 47-1A-504) were repealed when it was adopted. An entity names either a commercial registered agent (listed with the SOS under § 59-11-7), a noncommercial registered agent (an individual or a domestic or foreign entityDomestic / foreignRelative to one state's records: an entity is domestic in the state that formed it and foreign everywhere else it registers to do business.Read the full entry → that serves in SD as agent, § 59-11-2(15)), or the holder of an office or position with the entity. Filings must state an actual street address or rural route box number in SD (§ 59-11-5).

Consent required: yes.

Under the Model Registered Agents Act, if an entity no longer has a registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is by registered or certified mail addressed to the entity's governors by name at its principal office - not on the Secretary of State. If that fails, process may be handed to the manager, clerk, or person in charge of any regular place of business (§ 59-11-17). Separately, revocation of a foreign corporation's certificate of authorityCertificate of authorityPermission for an entity formed in one state to do business in another - the 'foreign' registration.Read the full entry → appoints the SOS its agent for service (§ 47-1A-1531.1).

• 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 corporation without a registered agent for 60 days or more, or that fails to notify the SOS of an agent change or resignation within 60 days, may be administratively dissolved (after notice and a 60-day cure window, § 47-1A-1421).
• Revocation Foreign. A foreign corporation without a registered agent in SD for 60 days or more, or that fails to file notice of an agent change or resignation within 60 days, faces revocation of its certificate of authority.
• 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. Corporate reinstatement after administrative dissolution costs $300 plus delinquent annual-report fees and penalties; a Department of Revenue tax-clearance certificate is also required (§ 47-1A-1422).
• Reinstatement Fee. LLC reinstatement after administrative dissolution costs $150 plus delinquent annual-report filing fees.
• No Court Access. A foreign corporation transacting business in SD without a certificate of authority (e.g., after revocation) may not maintain a proceeding in any SD court until it obtains one.
• Civil Penalty. Civil penalty of $100 per day (capped at $1,000 per year) for a foreign corporation transacting business in SD without a certificate of authority.
• Other. Effect of administrative dissolution: the corporation continues to exist but may only wind up and liquidate; the agent's own authority is not terminated.

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

South Dakota Secretary of State (SOSEnterprise portal)

State fee

$10 DBA (Fictitious) Business Name Registration; $10 amendment; cancellation free

Term

5 years

Renewal

$10 renewal every 5 years; renewals accepted only within 90 days of the expiration date; an EXPIRED registration cannot be renewed - it must be re-filed as a new registration

Publication

Not required. None

Online filing

Available

The regime

South Dakota requires any person regularly engaging in or conducting a business in the state to file a 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 → statement unless the business name plainly shows the true surname of each person interested in the business, or the name is already on file with the Secretary of State in a required business filing (which covers registered entities operating under their true names). The statement is filed electronically with the Secretary of State, or in paper form with any register of deeds, and is renewed every fifth year for a $10 fee.

Where it is filed

The registry is the Secretary of State's electronic filing system: statements are filed electronically with the Secretary of State, or in paper form with any county register of deeds - and the register of deeds must, within seven days, record paper filings on the Secretary of State's electronic filing system, so all filings land in the state system.

Term and renewal

Five years - the filing must be renewed every fifth year.

Assumed names for registered entities

South Dakota's entity codes provide the name-conflict mechanism: a foreign corporation whose corporate name does not satisfy the state's distinguishability requirements may either add a corporate indicator (corporation, incorporated, company, limited or an abbreviation) or use a fictitious name by delivering a certified board resolution to the Secretary of State for filing (SDCL 47-1A-1506); the fictitious name itself must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records (47-1A-1506.1). A parallel fictitious-name approval for foreign LLCs is referenced at SDCL 47-34A-1005 (via 47-34A-105(b)(3)). Domestic-name conflicts are governed by SDCL 47-1A-401.1, which notes 'This chapter does not control the use of fictitious names' (47-1A-401.3).

Penalties

A non-compliant person or firm may not maintain a legal action in the business name, and may not recover anything or enforce any right arising out of the business, until the required statement is filed.
All persons interested in the business at any time remain liable at all times for contracts or obligations incurred while they were so interested.

Official source

sdsos.gov/general-information/filing-fees.aspx↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

not captured

Administering agency

n/a for SOS-side maintenance; SD Department of Revenue appears only for reinstatement tax-clearance certificates (SDCL 47-1A-1422)

Corporation minimum

not recorded separately

How it is computed

$0 - no general corporate income or 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 → on domestic corporations or LLCs. Corpus basis: foreign_withdrawal wave (fpc.tax_clearance): 'SD has no corporate income tax'; no annual entity tax appears anywhere in the captured entity statutes (SDCL 47-1A, 47-34A) or on the SOS fee schedule as mined; the only tax hooks found are the MBCA boilerplate 'franchise taxes' revocation ground in 47-1A-1530(2) and the DOR tax-clearance certificate required only at reinstatement (47-1A-1422). LIMITATION: SD revenue statutes (Title 10, incl. the bank franchise tax on financial institutions) are NOT in the corpus, so the no-franchise-tax conclusion rests on wave notes plus absence, not on captured tax statute text.