Maintaining an active corporate status is an important responsibility of California associations. Boards of directors should understand how to maintain their corporate status, monitor that status, and fix any problems.
What are “Corporate Status” forms?
California associations must file the Nonprofit Corporation Statement of Information (SI-100) and the Statement of Common Interest Development (SI-CID) with the Secretary of State every two years. These are not tax forms, but failure to file them with the Secretary of State can result in the suspension of corporate status.
Filing fees are $20 for the SI-100 and $15 for the SI-CID. Since the forms are required only every two years, the due date is tied to the association’s incorporation month, not its fiscal year; and since they are not tax forms, it is common for this filing to be overlooked if the association’s mailing address has changed. Although it is seldom done, the state also allows updated forms to be filed without the payment of an additional filing fee.
You may access fill-in forms directly through the links below.
SI-100 (PDF)
http://bpd.cdn.sos.ca.gov/corp/pdf/so/corp_so100.pdf
SI-CID (PDF)
http://bpd.cdn.sos.ca.gov/corp/pdf/so/corpua_cid.pdf
Both forms are available through the Secretary of State website at www.ss.ca.gov.
Is my association suspended?
You can check to see if your association is suspended by performing a business search on the Secretary of State website. The business search tool is located in the “Business Programs” section of the website under “Business Entities.” You can access the search tool directly through this link:
Select Corporation Name under “Search Type,” and enter any portion of your association’s recorded name into the “Entity Name or Number” field and click Search. Identify your association in the search results and look in the “Status” column to find your association’s corporate status. If you are unsure of your association’s recorded name, you should refer to your governing documents: specifically, the Articles of Incorporation.
Uh oh. What do I do now?
If you performed the business search and discovered that your association’s corporate status is “Suspended” or “Surrender,” you need to take action. Association’s without an “Active” corporate status run several risks.
Find out more in a separate article: Is Your Association’s Corporate Status Suspended?