Maine calls it qualification, and the price list has some surprises

Maine's statute for LLCs from elsewhere is titled the statement of foreign qualification, and the verb is conduct activities. Maine bars an LLC from elsewhere from conducting activities unless it follows the subchapter, and it may not start until the Secretary of State has its statement in the records.

The form has 12 numbered items. They cover a required name ending or fictitious name, the formation date and state, the nature of the Maine business, the registered agent and the agent's consent, the managers, the date activities begin, a professional LLC box, a series LLC box, and the proof of existence. The MLLC-12 walkthrough goes through each in order.

The statement names either a commercial registered agent, identified by its public number, or a noncommercial agent with a name and a physical Maine address. A post office box does not qualify. Whichever you choose, naming the agent counts as the LLC's assurance that the agent agreed to serve. See the agent page.

A foreign LLC pays $150 for each annual report, which is almost double the $85 a Maine LLC pays. The legal deadline is June 1. A report that is late draws a $50 penalty on top of the fee, and an unpaid penalty is its own ground for revocation. The annual report page has the rest.

Maine's charges for an LLC start at $250 for the statement and reach $400 with the first annual report. A fictitious name statement adds $40, a statement of change is $90, or $35 for a new principal office address alone, and cancellation is $90. Same-day handling brings the statement itself to $350. Payment is by check, money order or the published card voucher. A certificate of existence from Maine costs $30.

Most applicants come from Delaware or Wyoming. Each has a page that adds that state's costs to Maine's: Delaware and Wyoming.

Mail the package to Department of the Secretary of State, Corporations, UCC and Commissions, 101 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0101. Couriers use 6 E. Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Augusta, ME 04330. Maine takes a check or money order in the name of its Secretary of State, or a credit card used through a published voucher form.

When anything in the filed statement stops being true, the LLC delivers a statement of change promptly. A new agent, a new name or a new purpose goes on Form MLLC-12A for $90. A new principal office address alone costs $35.

Two optional boxes on the form need a line here. A professional LLC qualified under Maine's professional corporation chapter ticks item TENTH and names its services. An LLC governed by an agreement that creates designated series ticks item ELEVENTH and attaches an exhibit with the additional information the statute lists.

Four answers speed the job. Does the LLC have managers, or do its members run it? Does its home name end in a recognized LLC marker? Who will be the Maine agent, and is that agent commercial or not? And is the Maine work already under way, so that the start date in item NINTH is in the past?