Businesses Now Required To File Annual Reports Online

HARTFORD — Secretary of the State Denise Merrill is reminding more than 300,000 businesses registered in Connecticut that starting on January 1, 2012, they will be required to file their annual reports with the Secretary of the State’s office online. While there are a few exemptions to the new requirement, businesses can log on at www.sots.ct.gov to file their annual reports.

A law requiring the online filing of annual reports — House Bill No. 6565 — was passed unanimously by the Connecticut General Assembly in the 2011 session and goes into effect on January 1. Secretary Merrill expects the new requirement to save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, streamline and improve customer service, and eliminate the use of at least two tons of paper processed by the Secretary of the State’s office every year.

“After years of trying to enact this legislation, the deadline is finally here,” said Secretary Merrill, Connecticut’s chief business registrar. “This simple, common-sense step to modernize the way we perform the essential functions of state government such as register businesses will mean more convenience for our entrepreneurs and business customers, and will result in significant savings for taxpayers. Shifting the filing of annual business reports to an online platform is also a green e-government practice by eliminating the need for more than two tons of paper we currently process every year.”

In requiring Connecticut businesses and nonprofits to file their annual reports online, HB 6565 also requires businesses that register with the state to provide an e-mail address to the Secretary of the State’s office for notifications of when annual reports are due. 

There are also several waiver provisions to mandatory online filing that would create exemptions for customers that do not have capability to file electronically (no access to a computer), do not have the ability to pay online using an acceptable form of payment, or for other good cause. The online filing system will bypass the cumbersome and tedious steps of reviewing the paper files of the annual reports since businesses will know instantaneously if their report had sufficient information to be processed.

Any filings lacking requisite information will instantly be rejected and the businesses or nonprofits will be told what data is lacking.

In addition, those filings accepted by the online process will be directly printed to microfilm and entered into the online CONCORD database of more than 340,000 Connecticut businesses and nonprofits registered with the state. Secretary Merrill estimates this will save a significant amount of time spent every year by staff reviewing and processing the reports, and converting them to microfilm.

The secretary’s office has already directly notified more than 104,000 businesses by e-mail informing them of the change in filing for annual reports, and is in the process of sending postcard notifications through traditional mail to every business entity registered with the Secretary of the State’s office.

Annual reports for registered business entities are due by the end of the month that the entity was incorporated. Secretary Merrill’s office has already begun the process of sending monthly email notifications to businesses whose annual reports are due in the following month.