West Virginia

For corporations, the registered agent may be an in-state resident individual, a domestic corporation or nonprofit corporation, or an authorized foreign corporation or nonprofit corporation, in each case with a business office identical to the registered office (W. Va. Code § 31D-5-501). For LLCs, the agent must be an individual resident of the state, a domestic corporation, another LLC, or an authorized foreign corporation or company (§ 31B-1-108(b)). Note both statutes say the entity 'may' (not 'shall') continuously maintain an agent; the Secretary of State is statutory attorney-in-fact regardless.

Consent required: no.

If an LLC fails to appoint or maintain an agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found, the Secretary of State is the company's agent for service. For corporations, an entity with no agent may be served by registered or certified mail addressed to the corporation's secretary at its principal office (§ 31D-5-504(b)), and the Secretary of State is additionally constituted attorney-in-fact for every domestic corporation with authority to accept service (§ 31D-5-504(c)), forwarding process by certified mail and requiring a fee set by § 59-1-2 (outside this corpus).

• 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 →. The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve a corporation that does not notify the office within 60 days that its registered agent or registered office changed, that its agent resigned, or that its office was discontinued, after written notice and a 60-day cure period under § 31D-14-1421.
• Revocation Foreign. 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 → may be revoked for failing to inform the Secretary of State of an agent or office change, resignation, or discontinuance within 60 days.
• Revocation Foreign. A foreign LLC's certificate of authority may be revoked if the company fails to file a statement of change in the name or business address of its agent, on at least 60 days notice.
• No Court Access. A foreign corporation transacting business without a certificate of authority (which requires listing any registered office and agent on the application, § 31D-15-1503(a)(5)) cannot maintain a proceeding in any West Virginia circuit court; the foreign LLC parallel is § 31B-10-1008(a).
• Other. 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 → after administrative dissolution is available only within two years, and the application must include a Tax Commissioner certificate that all taxes owed have been paid; the LLC parallel is § 31B-8-811.

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

West Virginia Secretary of State (Form NR-3, Application for Trade 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 → (DBA)) for corporations/LLCs/LPs/LLPs

State fee

$25 for corporations and LLCs (also LP/LLP/voluntary association/business trust); +$1.00 online processing fee for online filings

Term

No fixed term/expiration - W. Va. Code 47-8 contains no renewal provision; registration remains effective until a certificate of withdrawal is filed

Renewal

None required (no renewal provision; discontinue by filing certificate of withdrawal with the SOS)

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 (statute 47-8-4 contains no publication language)

Online filing

Available

The regime

West Virginia's assumed-name statute is a statewide Secretary of State filing regime. Individuals, sole proprietorships and general partnerships doing business under any name other than the owners' real names must file a true-name form with the Secretary of State, and registered entities (corporations, LPs, LLPs, LLCs, business trusts, voluntary associations) must file an application for registration of trade name with the Secretary of State before doing business under an assumed name.

Where it is filed

All filings under the article go to the West Virginia Secretary of State - the true-name form for individuals, sole proprietorships and general partnerships (§ 47-8-2) and the application for registration of trade name for registered entities (§ 47-8-4). The Secretary of State maintains a searchable database of filers. No county-level filing appears anywhere in the article.

Publication

No newspaper-publication requirement appears anywhere in the article (all five sections, §§ 47-8-1 through 47-8-5, were read in full); the obligations are filing obligations with the Secretary of State only.

Term and renewal

The act states no fixed term and no renewal cycle for either the § 47-8-2 true-name form or the § 47-8-4 trade-name registration. Instead, an entity that stops using a registered trade name withdraws it by filing a certificate of withdrawal with the Secretary of State.

Name restrictions

An entity's registered trade name must be distinguishable from the name of any other corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, business trust or voluntary association, and from any reserved or registered name for those entity typesEntity 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 →. The article states no comparable content restriction for the § 47-8-2 sole-proprietor/partnership true-name filing.

Assumed names for registered entities

The entity-side mechanism is inside the general act itself: § 47-8-4 requires registered entities to file an application for registration of trade name with the Secretary of State, with distinguishability screening and a certificate of registration. Separately, a foreign corporation whose real name is unavailable in West Virginia may adopt a fictitious name by delivering a certified board resolution to the Secretary of State (W. Va. Code § 31D-15-1506(a)), and a foreign LLC whose real name is unavailable must do the same with a certified resolution of its managers or members (W. Va. Code § 31B-10-1005(a)).

Penalties

Willful failure to comply with § 47-8-2 or § 47-8-4 is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100, or up to thirty days in county jail, or both.

Official source

sos.wv.gov/business/registration-and-waivers/register-trade-name-dba↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

None (Business 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 →, W. Va. Code ch. 11 art. 23, phased out - no tax due for taxable years beginning on/after 2015-01-01)

Administering agency

West Virginia State Tax Division (Tax Commissioner) administered the BFT and administers the CNIT and business registration certificate; SOS collects the $25 annual report fee

Corporation minimum

not recorded separately

How it is computed

NONE. The former Business Franchise Tax (W. Va. Code 11-23, base = apportioned capital, greater of $50 minimum or a declining rate 0.55% (2007-08) down to 0.10% (2014)) was phased to zero: for taxable years beginning on or after 1/1/2015 'there shall be no tax due under the provisions of this article' (11-23-6). No successor entity-level franchise/privilege/excise tax for LLCs or corporations. Corporations instead pay the Corporation Net Income Tax at 6.5% of WV taxable income (11-24-4) - a pure income tax with NO minimum ($0 if no WV taxable income); LLCs/pass-throughs owe no entity-level tax by default (elective - the filer's service-level choice). One-time (not annual) $30 business registration certificate per location (11-12-3; permanent until name/location/ownership change per Tax Division). Only recurring maintenance charge = $25 SOS annual report (59-1-2a(c)).