Foreign LLC registration in Iowa

Register your out-of-state LLC in Iowa, and know every date that follows

Iowa charges $100 to register an LLC and $30 online for each biennial report. We file the first and diary the second.

Iowa

What you receive

Registration recordIowa's confirmation that your LLC is registered.
Filed statementThe statement as the state filed it, for your records.
Agent recordOur name or your own agent, as Iowa files it.
Report windowThe year your first biennial report is due.

Report windows tracked for you
Certificate timed to the ninety days
Iowa agent available

A foreign LLC registers in Iowa by filing Form 635_0010, the Foreign Registration Statement, and the Secretary of State charges $100. We prepare and file it for $199. What makes Iowa different from many states is the calendar that follows: a biennial report between January 1 and April 1 of a particular odd-numbered year, and a state that may begin termination once a report or a fee is sixty days late.

This page gives the money, the paper and the dates in one place, and links to the page that goes deeper on each.

What your order includes

The report calendar, kept
Your first biennial report falls between January 1 and April 1 of a set year. We tell you which one.
A certificate that is still fresh
Iowa accepts a certificate dated within 90 days of the date the state files your statement, so we time the request.
One state fee
$100 for an LLC registering. Our charge is a separate line.
An agent with an Iowa place of business
Name us as your registered agent in Iowa, or keep the one you have.
The Iowa forms, filled in
The registration statement for an LLC, the corporation version, and the withdrawal when you leave.
A reply from a person
Ask about your company and an Iowa preparer writes back.

From the first question to a registered LLC

Tell us about the LLC
Its exact name, home state, formation date, main office, and any office your home law requires.
We time the certificate
Iowa counts 90 days back from the date the state files the statement, so we request the home certificate close to filing.
Choose the Iowa agent
Take ours or name the agent you already use. Either way it must be located in Iowa.
We submit through Fast Track Filing
The Iowa fee is $100.
You receive the record
We pass on what Iowa returns and the year your first report window opens.

Iowa registration in eight lines

Document: Foreign Registration Statement
Number: Form 635_0010
Agency: Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services
Registration fee: $100
Paper from home: A certificate of existence issued in the 90 days before the state files your statement
First biennial report: Opens January 1 of the next odd-numbered year once you have registered, closes April 1; $30 online
Online filing: Fast Track Filing, at filings.sos.iowa.gov
Processing time: Paid expedite tiers exist; ask us about a regular filing

What Iowa charges, by filing

Filing	Iowa fee
Registering an LLC	$100
Amending the registration	$100
Withdrawing	$10
Biennial report, online	$30
Biennial report, on paper	$45
Changing or replacing the registered agent	No fee

The costs page adds expedite tiers, copy fees and a worked total for the first four years.

Do you have to register at all?

Iowa bars a foreign LLC from doing business until it registers, and sets aside 11 kinds of activity that do not count. Our page on which activities force registration reads the list in plain words and takes up cases such as a remote employee who lives in Iowa or a short project for an Iowa customer.

Which Iowa paper each kind of company files

Kind of entity	Iowa document	Fee
LLC	Foreign Registration Statement	$100
Business corporation	Foreign Registration Statement	$100
Nonprofit corporation	Application for Certificate of Authority	$25
Limited partnership	Application for certificate of authority	$100
Limited liability partnership	Statement of foreign qualification	$100

The state's forms and fees page groups them this way. We prepare the LLC and corporation filings and handle the others case by case.

A two-minute orientation

Three facts carry the rest. The filing is $100 and rests on a home certificate no more than 90 days old. The agent must work from a business address in Iowa. And the biennial report lands in a January to April window of an odd-numbered year, $30 when filed online.

What the LLC statement asks

The Code lists four statements: the name (and an alternate name if the real one does not comply), the jurisdiction of formation, the street and mailing addresses of the principal office and of any office the home law requires, and the name and street and mailing addresses of the registered agent in Iowa. Nothing in them asks for the members' names, the operating agreement or a financial figure. The LLC form page walks through each one.

The ninety-day certificate

The statute asks for a certificate of existence or a document of similar import, authenticated by the official having custody of the records in the state or country of formation. The certificate may be at most 90 days old on the day the state files your statement, and the clock stops on the filing date, not on the day you mail the papers. That is why we order the certificate late in the process. The step-by-step page says where to get one.

Iowa's own certificate

Two details about Iowa's own certificates are worth knowing: the Iowa office issues a Certificate of Existence only for a domestic entity; a foreign entity must contact its state or country of incorporation for the original; and a foreign entity registered in Iowa can print a Certificate of Authorization/Registration from its Business Entity Summary, which shows that it is authorized to transact business in Iowa. A certificate request costs $5.

The report window

Iowa skips the annual report and asks for a biennial one. For LLCs it falls in odd-numbered years, between January 1 and April 1, and the first one belongs to the first odd year that follows the year of registration. Register in an even year and you report the next year; register in an odd year and you report two years on. The biennial report page gives the fee and the filing routes.

The dates in order

Four dates frame an Iowa registration. First comes the day the home office issues the certificate. Second is the day Iowa files the statement, which must fall within ninety days of the first. Third is the January 1 to April 1 window that opens in the next odd-numbered year after you register. Fourth is the sixty-day mark after any missed date, when termination can begin. Everything this site does is meant to keep those four from slipping.

The agent located in Iowa

Each registered foreign LLC keeps a registered agent, and that agent has to operate from a business address in Iowa. Naming one affirms that the agent agreed, and a statement of resignation also carries no fee. Changing or replacing the agent costs nothing to file, and the agent page covers resignation and service.

What happens if you wait

An unregistered foreign LLC cannot start a case in an Iowa court. The LLC chapter names no money penalty, contracts stay valid, and owners keep their liability protection. The penalty page covers the rest, including the court order the attorney general may seek.

Corporations and other entities

A business corporation registers on Form 635_0110A for $100 and reports in even-numbered years for $60; the corporation page walks through it. Nonprofits, LPs and LLPs get individual handling, so contact us if you are one.

Leaving Iowa

An LLC that has stopped working in Iowa files a statement of withdrawal for $10, and the withdrawal page reads through the form. Delaware and Wyoming companies get separate walk-throughs: Delaware and Wyoming.

Paying for speed

Iowa sells expedited handling per document: two business days for $50 or five for $15, and neither is charged if the filing is rejected. Ask us about a regular turnaround.

If Iowa refuses a filing

The Secretary of State must file a record that satisfies the chapter, and the duty is ministerial. When it refuses, it has fifteen business days to return the record or tell you, with a short explanation, and you may petition the Polk County district court to order the filing.

What you hold afterward

Once Iowa files the statement, you hold the filed record, the home paper behind it, your agent's agreement and a date for the first report. A registered foreign entity can also print a Certificate of Authorization/Registration from its Business Entity Summary, which shows it is authorized to transact business in Iowa.

Is it worth paying for help?

The filing is short, and the self-filing page covers doing it yourself. We add timing: a certificate ordered on the right day, an agent who said yes before the filing, and a first report that does not slip past April 1 of the right year, for $199.

Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year

$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Our charge and the state's fee

Register my LLC in Iowa

+ $100 Iowa filing fee

The Iowa Limited Liability Company Foreign Registration Statement (Form 635_0010), drafted from what you tell us
A home-state certificate ordered so its date falls inside Iowa's ninety-day window
An Iowa registered agent located here: ours, or the one you use today
The filing submitted, the state's record returned to you, and your first biennial report window marked
Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year

$199

Iowa

Our charge and the Iowa fee appear as separate lines at checkout. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Iowa registration questions

What does Iowa charge a foreign LLC to register?

$100 to the Secretary of State, plus $199 from us for preparing and filing.

Which form does an LLC use?

The Foreign Registration Statement, Form 635_0010, which is on the state's forms and fees page and can be filed through Fast Track Filing.

How old can the home certificate be?

90 days at most, counted back from the date the state files it.

When is the first biennial report due?

Between January 1 and April 1 of the first odd-numbered year that follows registration.

What does the biennial report cost?

$30 filed online and $45 on paper.

Is changing the agent free?

As a filing, yes. Iowa lists the statement of change and the agent's resignation as no-fee filings.

How long does Iowa take to file a statement?

Expedited handling of two or five business days is sold for an extra fee. Ask us about timing for a regular filing.

Does registering turn my LLC into an Iowa LLC?

No. The LLC keeps its home-state identity, and Iowa simply lets it do business here.

Sources

Ready to register in Iowa?

Share the home state and the month you expect work in Iowa to begin.