Filing Service – Texas Certificate of Authority
Foreign Corporation in Texas
If you are a corporation headquartered in another state and want to conduct business in Texas, you’ll need a Texas registered agent with a Texas street address. Your designated agent must be on hand at their registered address to receive legal documents during normal business hours. Unless you reside in the State of Texas, you cannot serve as your own Texas registered agent, so hiring a professional registered agent service is the best option.
Once you’ve chosen a registered agent you’ll need to apply for a Certificate of Authority from the State of Texas. This is obtained by submitting paperwork as a foreign corporation with the Corporations Division of the Texas Secretary of State. The State of Texas will then return a completed certificate of authority to you.
What is a Foreign Qualification?
Foreign qualification is simply another way to refer to the process of obtaining a Certificate of Authority for your out-of-state business entity. It’s your official notice from the Secretary of State that your foreign corporation is now qualified to conduct business in the State of Texas.
Note: A Texas foreign corporation is not to be confused with an out-of-country corporation. Any corporation not actually formed (created) in Texas is called a foreign corporation.
We’ll File for You
If you want a simple way to get your foreign entity qualified to do to business in Texas, you can hire to serve as your Texas registered agent and file your Certificate of Authority as well. Our Texas registered agent service is $35 a year, and includes same-day scanning of any certified mail we receive for your business.
For the foreign qualification, we charge the state filing fees ($775), plus $100 to prepare and submit your foreign Texas corporation Certificate of Authority form to the Corporations Division of the Texas Secretary of State. We also will find the forms needed from the home state of your incorporation to make the filing. Another reason to have us handle your paperwork, is that our Texas registered agent service comes with some great perks:
- A Texas Business Address
Our registered agent service comes with built-in privacy protection, in form of a Texas business address to list on your state documents. When we prepare your Certificate of Authority, we’ll list the address of our Austin office for every director of your corporation, keeping everyone’s personal addresses out of the public record of Texas. If you need a unique business address, we have 2 comprehensive Texas mail forwarding options that include a never-before-used suite number.
- Free Mail Forwarding
Our Texas registered agent service comes with FREE basic mail forwarding–10 non-legal mail scans to your account each year, at no additional cost. Just as when we receive legal mail for your business, we’ll upload any regular mail items we receive to your secure client account, the same day they arrive at our office. If you expect to receive more than 10 pieces of non-state mail for your business, we have two comprehensive Texas mail forwarding options, both of which include a unique suite number that will only be used by your company.
How Do I Sign Up?
If you want to submit the paperwork yourself:
Sign up for our Texas registered agent service and the foreign corporation form will be in your client account immediately. There are also some tips on how to submit your documents with the state. Your business needs to have a registered agent in Texas anyway, so we try to make the process simple and easy for you, whether you want us to do the filing or you want to send them to the Texas Secretary of State yourself.
If you want us to file for you:
Sign up for our registered agent service first. Next, click the “Add services” tab in your account, and add our filing services for the state filing fees plus $100. Your account shows real time status of our work in progress. After we are done with your Texas foreign corporation registration, we always store the filing to your client account, email you a copy, and send you the original filed documents by mail.