65 of 71 fee datums on this page are verified against the agency's own published schedule or statute (2026-09-04); the rest are marked pending review in the Status column - portal-surcharge components no official page states, values the official source contradicts (held for a correction package), or sources that could not be reached.
Values were first corroborated across independent internal records; verified cells now also carry the agency's own published schedule or statute as their authority, which is what promotion to verified requires.
Cost position
Ranked 29 of 54 on first-year state
filing cost, at $196.00 against a national median
of $185.00.
Recurring annual cost $26.
See the full ranking.
Where Wisconsin sits among its neighbours in the first-year cost ranking (USD)Show all 54 jurisdictionsThe full ranking with Wisconsin highlighted (USD)
Registered-agent statutes, quoted verbatim
The one section on this page that clears the publication gate in full. 11 citations, verified, quoted from the official code with every elision marked.
Wis. Stat. § 180.0501
◎Verified
Wisconsin Business Corporation Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 180) · applies to
corporations
Registered office and registered agent.(1m) Each corporation shall designate and maintain a registered office and registered agent in this state. The designation of a registered agent is an affirmation of the fact by the corporation that the agent has consented to serve. The registered office may, but need not, be the same as any of the corporation's places of business. The registered office must be an actual physical location with a street address and not solely a post office box, mailbox service, or telephone answering service. [...] (2m) A registered agent for a corporation must have an e-mail address and a place of business or activity in this state.
Uniform Limited Liability Company Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 183) · applies to
LLCs
Registered agent and registered office.(1) Each limited liability company and each registered foreign limited liability company shall designate and maintain a registered agent and registered office in this state. The designation of a registered agent is an affirmation of fact by the limited liability company or registered foreign limited liability company that the agent has consented to serve. (1m) The registered office of a limited liability company or registered foreign limited liability company may, but need not, be the same as any of the company's places of business or activity. The registered office must be an actual physical location with a street address and not solely a post office box, mailbox service, or telephone answering service. [...]
Wisconsin Business Corporation Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 180) · applies to
corp
Articles of incorporation.(1) The articles of incorporation shall include all of the following information: (a) A statement that the corporation is incorporated under this chapter. (b) A corporate name that satisfies s. 180.0401. (c) The number of authorized shares, except that an investment company may declare an indefinite number of authorized shares. [...] (h) The street address of the corporation's initial registered office and the name and e-mail address of its initial registered agent at that office. (i) The name and address of each incorporator.
Uniform Limited Liability Company Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 183) · applies to
LLCs
Formation of limited liability company; articles of organization.(1) One or more persons may act as organizers to form a limited liability company by signing and delivering to the department for filing articles of organization. (2) The articles of organization shall contain all of the following information: (a) A statement that the limited liability company is organized under this chapter. (b) The name of the limited liability company, which must comply with s. 183.0112. (c) The street and mailing addresses of the company's principal office. (d) The name and street and mailing and e-mail addresses of the initial registered agent of the limited liability company. (e) The name and address of each organizer. [...]
Wisconsin Business Corporation Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 180) · applies to
corp
Annual report for department of financial institutions.(1) Except as provided in s. 180.1921, each domestic corporation and each foreign corporation authorized to transact business in this state shall deliver to the department an annual report that states all of the following: (a) The name of the domestic corporation or foreign corporation and the state or country under whose law it is incorporated. (b) The street address of its registered office in this state and the name and e-mail address of its registered agent at that office. (c) The e-mail address and street address of its principal office. (d) The name and business street address of each director and principal officer. [...]
Uniform Limited Liability Company Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 183) · applies to
LLCs
Annual report for department.(1) A limited liability company or registered foreign limited liability company shall deliver to the department for filing an annual report that states all of the following: (a) The name of the company or foreign company. (b) The street address of its registered agent in this state and the name and e-mail address of its registered agent at that office. (c) The street address of its principal office. [...] (3) (a) A domestic limited liability company shall deliver its annual report to the department in each year following the calendar year in which the domestic limited liability company's articles of organization became effective, during the calendar year quarter in which the anniversary date of the articles' effective date occurs.
Wisconsin Business Corporation Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 180) · applies to
corp
Grounds for administrative dissolution.The department may bring a proceeding under s. 180.1421 to administratively dissolve a corporation if any of the following occurs: (1) The corporation does not pay, within one year after they are due, any fees or penalties due the department under this chapter. (2) The corporation does not have on file its annual report with the department within one year after it is due. (3) The corporation is without a registered agent or registered office in this state for at least one year. [...]
Uniform Limited Liability Company Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 183) · applies to
LLCs
Administrative dissolution.(1) The department may commence a proceeding under sub. (2) to dissolve a limited liability company administratively if any of the following applies: (a) The company does not pay, within one year after they are due, any fees or penalties required to be paid to the department under this chapter. (b) The company does not have on file with the department its annual report within one year after it is due. (c) The company is without a registered agent in this state for at least one year. [...]
Wisconsin Business Corporation Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 180) · applies to
corp
Corporate name.(1) (a) The corporate name of a corporation: 1. Shall contain the word "corporation", "incorporated", "company" or "limited" or the abbreviation "corp.", "inc.", "co." or "ltd." or words or abbreviations of like import in another language, except as provided in par. (b) or s. 180.1907. 2. May not contain language stating or implying that the corporation is organized for a purpose other than that permitted by s. 180.0301 and its articles of incorporation. [...] (2) (a) Except as provided in subs. (3) and (4), the corporate name of a domestic corporation must be distinguishable upon the records of the department from all of the following names: [...]
Uniform Limited Liability Company Law (Wis. Stat. ch. 183) · applies to
LLCs
Permitted names.(1) The name of a limited liability company must contain the phrase "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "LLC" or "LC" or a variation of these abbreviations that differs only with respect to capitalization of letters or punctuation. "Limited" may be abbreviated as "Ltd.," and "company" may be abbreviated as "Co."
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.
Is the agent's consent required
○Pending review
Consent required: yes.
What happens when the agent cannot be served
○Pending review
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).
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 reinstate 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.).
Dollar amounts named in the registered-agent statutes
What
Amount
Status
Cap on the extra penalty (50 percent of back fees or this amount, whichever is less) owed by a foreign corporation transacting business without a certificate of authority
$5,000
○Pending review
Same cap for a foreign LLC doing business without registering
$5,000
○Pending review
Cap on the amount a foreign corporation must pay to reinstate its revoked certificate of authority within 6 months ('fees or penalties due the department under s. 180.1502 (5) (a) or $5,000, whichever is less')
$5,000
○Pending review
12 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
7 governance rules are recorded for Wisconsin - the organizational and annual meetings, action by written consent, and whether bylaws or an operating agreement are mandatory. Each verified rule links to the statutory text it was verified against, quoted verbatim below.
Organizational meeting required · applies to
corporations ·
yes
the initial directors shall hold an organizational meeting, at the call of a majority of the directors, to complete the organization of the corporation by appointing officers and carrying on any other business brought before the meeting
Annual meeting required · applies to
corporations ·
yes
Except as provided in sub. (4), a corporation shall hold a meeting of shareholders annually at a time stated in or fixed in accordance with the bylaws.
Action by written consent allowed · applies to
corporations ·
yes
may be taken without a meeting in any of the following ways: (a) Without action by the board of directors, by all shareholders entitled to vote on the action.
Operating agreement required · applies to
LLCs ·
no
"Operating agreement" means the agreement, whether or not referred to as an operating agreement and whether oral, implied, in a record, or in any combination thereof, of all the members
Action by written consent allowed · applies to
LLCs ·
yes
Unless otherwise provided in a written operating agreement, an action requiring the vote or consent of members under this chapter may be taken without a meeting if all of such members consent to the action
$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.
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.
Original or renewal registration of a mark, or recording of an assignment (Department of Financial Institutions)
$15
Wis. Stat. § 132.01(3)
◎Verified
Known gaps in the record
Fees: the § 134.17(4) register-of-deeds recording fee is set by Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2)(ag), which is not in the corpus; no dollar figure cited
regime rests partly on absence evidence: no general mandatory assumed-name act was located in the corpus or the 2026-08-01 retrieval wave (manifest note verified against §§ 132.01 and 134.17 text)
entity-side: only ch. 180 (business corporations) was verified for the fictitious-name mechanism; the ch. 183 LLC-act foreign-name provision was not extracted
Common questions
Does Wisconsin require a DBA filing for a sole proprietor or partnership?
No general Wisconsin statute requires one. Registration under Wis. Stat. § 132.01 is voluntary - the statute says a person 'may file' a mark for record with the Department of Financial Institutions, and the chapter's definition of 'mark' includes a trade name. One narrow exception: § 134.17 requires anyone doing mercantile or commission business under a corporate-appearing name, with intent to obtain credit, to first record a verified true-name statement with the county register of deeds.
How long does a Wisconsin trade-name (mark) registration last and what does it cost?
A registration recorded on or after May 1, 1990 is effective for 10 years and may be renewed for 10-year periods; the renewal application must be made within 6 months before expiration (Wis. Stat. § 132.01(6)(b)). The statute sets the fee at $15 for an original or renewal registration or the recording of an assignment (§ 132.01(3)).
Does registering a trade name in Wisconsin give exclusive rights to the name?
Not by itself. The registration certificate is 'prima facie evidence' of adoption of the mark (Wis. Stat. § 132.031), and § 132.033(5)(f) makes it a defense to an infringement suit that the defendant acquired rights in an identical mark under common law or federal law before the registration.
What happens if a foreign corporation's name is already taken in Wisconsin?
Under Wis. Stat. § 180.1506(1), a foreign corporation whose corporate name is not available may use a fictitious name to transact business in Wisconsin by delivering to the department a copy of a board resolution, certified by an officer, adopting the fictitious name. The fictitious name must be distinguishable on the department's records from other registered names.
Recurring entity-level tax
Corporation franchise or income tax (franchise tax measured by Wisconsin net income)
Stored as a delta against the federal baseline:
2 days this state closes that the
federal government does not, and 5 federal
holidays its filing office works through.
Wisconsin 2026 closure delta
Date
Day
Filing office
2026-02-16
Washington's Birthday (Presidents Day)
OPEN - federal holiday not observed
2026-07-03
Independence Day (Friday, July 3, 2026 federal observance)
OPEN - federal holiday not observed
2026-06-19
Juneteenth
OPEN - federal holiday not observed
2026-10-12
Columbus Day
OPEN - federal holiday not observed
2026-11-11
Veterans Day
OPEN - federal holiday not observed
2026-12-24
Christmas Eve Day
Filing office closed
2026-12-31
New Year's Eve Day
Filing office closed
Provenance - Wisconsin 2026 closures◎Verified
Citation withheld: this record did not clear the publication gate.
Wisconsin observed status strings and their verdict
Observed status
Verdict
Confidence
(BLANK)
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
ACTIVE
In good standing
high
ADMINISTRATIVELY DISSOLVED
Not in good standing
high
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY REVOKED
Not in good standing
high
CERTIFICATE OF CANCELLATION
Not in good standing
high
CONSOLIDATED
Not in good standing
medium
CONSOLIDATED (NON-SURVIVOR)
Not in good standing
medium
DELINQUENT
Not in good standing
high
DISSOLVED
Not in good standing
high
DISSOLVED (NAME PROTECTED)
Not in good standing
high
DISSOLVED, NAME PROTECTED
Not in good standing
high
EXPIRED FOREIGN REGISTERED NAME
Not in good standing
medium
FILED IN <YEAR>
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
IN BAD STANDING
Not in good standing
high
IN PROCESS / NOT YET FILED
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
INCORPORATED/QUALIFIED
In good standing
medium
INCORPORATED/QUALIFIED/REGISTERED
In good standing
medium
INVOLUNTARILY DISSOLVED
Not in good standing
high
MERGED (NON-SURVIVOR)
Not in good standing
medium
MERGED, ACQUIRED
Not in good standing
medium
NAME REGISTERED (LONG TERM)
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
NAME RESERVED (LONG TERM)
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
NOT FILED
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
NOT YET FILED
Unresolved - do not automate on this
medium
ORGANIZED
In good standing
medium
REGISTERED
In good standing
medium
RESTORED TO GOOD STANDING
In good standing
high
REVOCATION OF CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY
Not in good standing
high
REVOCATION/TERMINATION OF CERTIFICATE/REGISTRATION
Not in good standing
high
TERMINATED
Not in good standing
high
TERMINATED FOREIGN REGISTERED NAME
Not in good standing
high
WITHDRAWAL
Not in good standing
high
WITHDRAWN
Not in good standing
high
Restricted entity-name words
5 restricted entity-name word entries
are recorded for Wisconsin - 1 prohibited outright,
the rest requiring an agency's consent or licensure before the word may appear in a name.
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Banking (must be an entity supervised and examined by the division)
Wis. Stat. 221.0402: a person engaged in business in this state who is not subject to supervision and examination by the division may not use the term 'bank'; exceptions for 'mortgage banker' (licensees under s. 224.72) and 'savings bank' (ch. 214 organizations)
◎Verified
License required
credit union
Wisconsin DFI Office of Credit Unions (must be a chartered credit union or a credit-union organization)
Wis. Stat. 186.03 (Use of name exclusive): a person may not use a name containing the phrase 'credit union', represent itself as a credit union, or conduct business as a credit union unless authorized; forfeiture up to $5,000
◎Verified
License required
Trust
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Banking (must be organized as a trust company bank under ch. 223 or a state bank with trust powers under s. 221.0316)
Wis. Stat. 223.08 (Name of corporation; penalty): all persons, partnerships, associations, or corporations not organized under ch. 223 are prohibited from using the word 'trust' in their business or as a portion of their name or title; exceptions for state banks with trust powers under s. 221.0316 and nonprofits for historic preservation or public land conservation; fine $300-$1,000 and/or 60 days-1 year
◎Verified
Prohibited
Savings
Wis. Stat. 221.0403(4): 'A bank name may not contain the word "savings".'
◎Verified
Restricted
Cooperative
Wis. Stat. 193.105: a business entity may not use the term 'cooperative' as part of its business name or title or represent itself as a cooperative unless it is a cooperative or foreign cooperative under ch. 193 or organized under ch. 185; fine up to $250, each day a separate offense
● accepted · ○ not accepted · ? unknown or conditional (hover for the recorded condition). Channel data covers 54 jurisdictions (2026-08-15 wave). Source links render on verified rows only.
Contact the filing office
Verified against the agency's own contact page
2026-08-13 - office hours: Mon-Fri 7:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m..
Source links render on verified rows only.
State of WI-Dept. of Financial Institutions, Division of Corporate and Consumer Services, 4822 Madison Yards Way, 4th Fl., North Tower, Madison, WI 53705
Express/priority U.S. mail address (Form Corp1 rev. May 2026)
Where to search Wisconsin's UCC (Article 9) financing statements, on what terms, and what the office charges to file one. Verified against the filing office's own pages 2026-09-11. UCC division contacts are listed with the other filing-office contacts above.
Wis. Stat. § 409.501 ('The office of the department of financial institutions or any office duly authorized by the department' in all other cases; transmitting utilities DFI) - read at https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/409/v/501; DFI also cites admin rules DFI-CCS 1-7 (https://dfi.wi.gov/Pages/BusinessServices/UCC/StatutesRules.aspx)
Fees page (online): 'Online Uncertified (Free) Search: Free'; 'UCC-11 Search Listing: $7.00'; 'Search Listing and Copies: $7.00 + $4.00 each IFS'; 'Certified Search Listing: $7.00 + $10.00 Certification'; 'Certified Search Listing and Copies: $7.00 + $4.00 each IFS + $10.00'; 'IFS Copies: $4.00 each IFS'; 'Secured Party Search: $7.00'; database sales 'Full Database: $500.00', 'Weekly Database: $25
Filing images online
Copies of initial financing statements are a paid item ('IFS Copies: $4.00 each IFS', ordered through a free account); whether images display in the free uncertified search was not verified.
$10 online; $20 on paper using a standard IACA UCC-1, plus $20 more when two or more standard addenda are attached, or plus $40 for non-standard attachments; add $20 for a public-finance or manufactured-home filing and $150 for a transmitting-utility filing
Filing channels
online or paper; Online through DFI's UCC filing portal ('File UCC's Online'; the WIMS system at wims.dfi.wi.gov), bulk filing by arrangement with [email protected], or paper IACA forms by mail to PO Box 7847,
Filing expedite
No expedited UCC filing service is printed on the DFI UCC fee schedule
UCC-3 amendments, as the office states the fees
UCC-3 amendment, continuation or assignment $10 online or $20 on paper (same tiers as a UCC-1); termination free online and on paper
Effective for
5 years from filing - Wis. Stat. 409.515(1)
Bulk data
published bulk-data program - $500 - Full UCC Database: all active liens + liens lapsed within the last 1 year; generated on the 4th of each month (data through prior month-end); no images
Whether Wisconsin requires a general state-level business license, and on what terms. A "None" is a verified finding cited to the agency's own pages, not a gap. Which of the state's filings ask for an industry code is in the next section.
State business license - Wisconsin◎Verified
General state license
None - the state issues no general business license; licensing is occupation-specific and local
Which of Wisconsin's business filings ask the filer for an industry classification, and in what form. "No industry information" is a positive finding cited to the form. Where the state uses its own category list and the list was captured, it is expandable below. The NAICS and SIC reference lists are on their own page.
Industry code on Wisconsin filings, 7 of 7 rows verified
Wisconsin has 72 county-equivalents: 72 countyies. Names and codes are the U.S. Census Bureau's (2020 national county codes); county seats and official sites are not yet published here.
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.