The South Dakota foreign LLC application, item by item

The application has to state the company name (and an alternate name where its own does not meet South Dakota's naming rule), the state or jurisdiction under whose law it is formed, the street and mailing addresses of its principal office and of any office its home law requires, the series information where it may establish series, and the name and street and mailing address of its initial agent for service of process. The form follows that order, and each point is a place where a filing can go wrong.

The application gives the home jurisdiction, meaning the place whose law formed the company. Copy it from the home certificate so the two documents agree.

A company that is authorized to establish series states the series matters the Act calls for and pays $800 in place of the usual fee.

The company delivers a certificate of existence, or a record of similar import, signed by the Secretary of State or other official who keeps the company's public filings in its home state or country. A missing certificate heads the state's own checklist of problems with foreign filings. It comes from the home state, and the home state sets the price and the pace.

The online system, Business Services Online, builds the application from your answers and takes the fee by card. A paper filing goes to Secretary of State, 500 East Capitol Avenue, Suite 204, Pierre with the certificate and the fee, and the paper surcharge of $15 applies.

The state's own checklist for foreign filings names these frequent problems: a certificate of good standing that is not enclosed, a missing South Dakota registered agent or agent address, an unsigned filing, an incorrect or missing fee, and a corporate name that is not available for use in the state.