Wisconsin

Every corporation must designate and maintain a registered office and registered agent; the agent may be a resident natural person, or a domestic (or authorized foreign) corporation, nonprofit/nonstock corporation, LLC, LP, or LLP, in each case with a business office identical to the registered office. The registered office must be a physical street address (no PO box, mailbox service, or answering service) and the agent must have an e-mail address and a place of business or activity in the state. LLC rules are parallel at Wis. Stat. § 183.0115.

Consent required: yes.

Wisconsin's fallback is not service on a state officer: if the entity has no registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is by registered or certified mail (or similar delivery service) to the entity's principal office; failing that, by handing a copy to the individual in charge of any regular place of business, and finally by publishing a class 3 notice. The LLC parallel is § 183.0119(2)-(3). Foreign corporations that withdrew or lost authority are served the same mail route under § 180.1510(3)-(4).

• 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 may be administratively dissolved if it is without a registered agent or registered office for at least one year, or fails for one year to notify the department of an agent change, resignation, or office discontinuance (60-day cure period under § 180.1421(2)).
• Administrative Dissolution. An LLC may be administratively dissolved on the same one-year agentless or one-year failure-to-notify grounds.
• Other. On administrative dissolution the entity loses the exclusive right to its name (LLC parallel at § 183.0708(4m)).
• Revocation Foreign. A foreign corporationDomestic / 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 →'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 if it is without a registered agent or office for at least 6 months, or fails to notify within 6 months of a change or resignation; the foreign LLC registration-termination parallel is § 183.09101(1)(c)-(d).
• No Court Access. A foreign corporation transacting business without a required certificate of authority cannot maintain a proceeding in any Wisconsin court; the foreign LLC parallel is § 183.0902(2).
• Civil Penalty. A foreign corporation transacting business without authority owes all back fees and charges plus 50 percent of that amount or $5,000, whichever is less, per year; the foreign LLC parallel is § 183.0902(6). To reinstateReinstatementRestoring 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 → a revoked certificate within 6 months, the foreign corporation must pay fees or penalties due under s. 180.1502(5)(a) or $5,000, whichever is less (§ 180.1531(2)(c)1.b.).

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

Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions (DFI) - optional trademark/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 → registration only

State fee

$15 (optional trade name/trademark registration under Wis. Stat. ch. 132); no mandatory DBA filing exists

Term

10 years

Renewal

$15 renewal, available starting 6 months before the 10-year expiration; assignment $15; amendment and cancellation free

Publication

Not required. None

Online filing

Available

The regime

Wisconsin has no general mandatory DBA/assumed-name registration act. What exists is voluntary: any person, firm, partnership or corporation 'may file' a mark - statutorily defined to include a trade name - for record with the Department of Financial Institutions under Wis. Stat. § 132.01. A narrow mandatory county-level recording duty survives in § 134.17 for anyone doing mercantile or commission business under a name 'purporting or appearing to be a corporate name, with the intent to obtain credit' without disclosing the owners' real names.

Where it is filed

Voluntary mark/trade-name registrations under ch. 132 are filed with 'the department,' which the chapter defines as the Department of Financial Institutions. The narrow mandatory § 134.17 statement is recorded with the register of deeds of the county in which the filer's principal place of business is located.

Publication

Neither the voluntary § 132.01 mark/trade-name registration nor the § 134.17 county recording carries a 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 →. (The class 3 notice publication in § 132.04 applies only to marked containers and receptacles, not to trade names.)

Term and renewal

A ch. 132 registration recorded on or after May 1, 1990 is effective for 10 years.

Name restrictions

The department may not register a mark that replicates or simulates governmental flags, coats of arms or insignia; the applicant must also swear that no other person has the right to the same mark in identical form or deceptive near-resemblance.

Assumed names for registered entities

Wisconsin's Business Corporation Law supplies the entity-side name-conflict mechanism: a foreign corporation whose corporate name is not available in Wisconsin may transact business under a fictitious name by delivering a certified board resolution adopting it to the department, and the fictitious name must be distinguishable on the department's records. A foreign corporation without a certificate of authority may also register its name or such a fictitious name under § 180.0403.

Penalties

Doing or advertising mercantile or commission business under a corporate-appearing name with intent to obtain credit, without first recording the verified true-name statement with the county register of deeds, is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in county jail.
Adopting and advertising a business under a corporate-form name that does not disclose the persons behind it is itself legal evidence that the name was adopted for the purpose of obtaining credit.
Procuring a mark filing by false or fraudulent representations creates liability for resulting damages and is punishable by imprisonment up to 6 months or a fine up to $10,000, or both.

Official source

dfi.wi.gov/Pages/BusinessServices/Trademarks/Fees.aspx↗ (opens the official source)

What it is called

Corporation franchise or income tax (7.9% of net income) + economic development surcharge ($4M+ receipts)

Administering agency

Wisconsin Department of Revenue (franchise/income tax + surcharge); DFI handles entity filings only (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 →)

Corporation minimum

$0

How it is computed

CORP: Wisconsin corporation franchise (or income) tax = flat 7.9% of Wisconsin net income (Wis. Stat. 71.23 imposition; 71.27(1)-(2) rate: 'computed at the rate of 7.9 percent'). NO statutory minimum, no cap; income-measured, not a fixed privilege fee. PLUS economic development surcharge IF gross receipts from all activities >= $4,000,000: greater of $25 or 3% of WI gross tax liability, capped at $9,800 (Wis. Stat. 77.93-77.94; S corps instead 0.2% of WI net income, same $25 min/$9,800 max). Return + surcharge due 15th day of 4th month after close of taxable year (calendar-year = Apr 15); estimated payments required if liability >= $500. LLC (default = partnership/disregarded, federal classification controls per DOR Pub 119): NO entity-level franchise/income tax and NO surcharge (77.93 reaches only ch. 71 subch. IV/V corporate filers; partnerships file Form 3 under subch. III) - only the $25 DFI annual report. Optional 7.9% pass-through entity-level tax ELECTION exists (71.21(6)(a) partnerships / 71.365(4m)(a) S corps) - elective SALT workaround, not a mandatory cost. LLC electing corp/S-corp treatment is taxed per the corp rules above.