West Virginia Foreign Registration / Wyoming-formed
A Wyoming LLC applying for authority in West Virginia
A Wyoming-formed LLC pays $150 for the West Virginia application, and its Wyoming certificate is priced at $0, which makes the opening cost $150. After the first West Virginia report the total is $175. Wyoming's $60 minimum is billed on its own.
Wyoming and West Virginia side by side
| Point | Wyoming (home) | West Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate | $0 | Dated within the current tax year |
| Registration | Nothing, because Wyoming formed it | $150 |
| Yearly | $60 minimum | $25 report |
| Agent | A Wyoming agent | An agent for service of process, if named |
Completing the form for a Wyoming company
Type the exact Wyoming name, then Wyoming as the state of organization. The principal office comes next with its county, then the members or managers who can sign. A Wyoming LLC with no West Virginia office leaves the designated office blank.
What Wyoming charges for the paper
Wyoming prices its certificate at $0. West Virginia wants a certificate of existence (good standing) from the home state, dated during the current tax year, so a certificate that has gone stale is easily replaced for the same price.
The Wyoming minimum next to the West Virginia report
The $60 Wyoming minimum stays payable whatever West Virginia does. The $25 West Virginia report is payable only for the years in which the registration stands.
Five-year cost in both states
Five years of West Virginia fees come to $275 before any certificate, and $575 once Wyoming's $300 of minimums is added.
Case: furniture online with a Morgantown warehouse
Consider a two-member Wyoming LLC that sells furniture online and holds stock in a Morgantown warehouse. The company names an agent, gets the Wyoming certificate for $0 and pays $150 to file. A year later West Virginia's report costs $25 and the Wyoming minimum adds $60, which puts the first year at $235.
A warehouse and the property sentence
Holding stock in a leased warehouse is not on the statute's list. The statute also says that the ownership in this state of income-producing real property or tangible personal property, other than property the list excludes, constitutes transacting business. Ask a lawyer before treating a Wyoming LLC with such property in West Virginia as exempt.
Veteran ownership in a Wyoming company
A Wyoming LLC owned by veterans can claim the waiver by attaching Form DD214, subject to the test. The waiver stops at West Virginia's fee and does not touch the Wyoming minimum.
Using the exemption
If a Wyoming LLC touches West Virginia only through a bank account, independent sales agents or orders accepted in Wyoming, it may fit the statute's list and can file Form LLF-2, Application for Exemption from Certificate of Authority of a Limited Liability Company at $25.
The year in numbers
A Wyoming LLC pays $150 to register and $175 after its first West Virginia report. With Wyoming's $60 minimum on top, year one reaches $235.
If the Wyoming name is taken here
If the home-state name is not available in West Virginia, the company registers a forced DBA name that includes a required LLC term, and attaches a resolution adopting it; the name is not accepted without the resolution.
The report window
The West Virginia report falls due between January 1 and June 30 of each year following the calendar year in which the business was registered. Wyoming runs its minimum on a calendar of its own.
Who signs for a Wyoming company
An individual member or manager with signature authority must sign and date the form, and an unsigned application is returned as incomplete.
Certified copies
A certified copy of the filing is $15 each, and the Wyoming certificate itself is separate from it.
How a certificate can be lost
The Secretary of State may revoke a certificate for failing to pay fees, taxes and penalties owed to the state; failing to deliver the annual or biennial report within 60 days after it is due; failing to file a statement of a change in the agent's name or business address; a material misrepresentation in a filed record; a revoked professional license that the company needs; or a default with the Bureau of Employment Programs.
Wyoming agents and West Virginia agents
The Wyoming agent covers Wyoming. West Virginia asks, if the company wants one, for its own agent for service of process.
Closing the West Virginia registration
When the company stops working in West Virginia it files a withdrawal application, covered on the cancellation page. The Wyoming minimum is not affected by that filing, since it concerns only Wyoming.
From Wyoming to a West Virginia certificate
Pick an agent
Optional, and entered on the application when used.
Confirm the name
Keep a forced DBA name ready if the Wyoming name is unavailable.
Order the Wyoming certificate last
It is listed at $0.
File Form LLF-1
Pay $150 with it.
Wyoming LLC questions
Does West Virginia accept Wyoming's certificate?
Yes, when it is dated during the current tax year.
Does Wyoming charge for it?
Wyoming lists it at $0.
What is Wyoming's yearly minimum?
$60.
Does registering here change the Wyoming bill?
No, since the Wyoming minimum follows Wyoming's own schedule.
What you pay
Get authority in West Virginia
West Virginia$199
+ $150 state fee
- Form LLF-1 prepared from your questionnaire answers
- A home-state good standing certificate dated in the current tax year
- A West Virginia agent for service of process, ours or your choice
- The filed certificate of authority, passed on to you
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
$150 is the Secretary of State's fee for an LLC. Veteran-owned companies can have it waived, and an exemption application costs $25. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Sources
- West Virginia SOS, register an out-of-state (foreign) business
- Form LLF-1 and instructions, application for certificate of authority of a limited liability company
- West Virginia SOS, fee schedule for services and registration
- West Virginia SOS, annual reports
- W. Va. Code 31B-10-1003, activities not constituting transacting business
- Form LLF-2, application for exemption from certificate of authority of a limited liability company
- Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division fee schedule
- W. Va. Code 31B-10-1002, application for certificate of authority
- W. Va. Code 31B-10-1006, revocation of certificate of authority
- West Virginia SOS, cancel or withdraw an out-of-state business
Working in West Virginia?
Order now and the application is on file before another reporting season passes.