Register your business in Colorado

LLCs, corporations, nonprofits, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships register with the Colorado Secretary of State. A sole proprietor or general partnership does not file articles. A business that trades under a name other than its legal name files a trade name with the same office.

What’s different in Colorado

• Online filings are finished when you pay. Most documents are filed online, and immediately, once you have the payment confirmation. Paper is the exception, for documents that cannot be filed online, and those take typically 7 to 10 business days from the day the office receives a paper-only document.
• The yearly filing follows your month, not a statewide date. The Periodic Report is $25, and you have five months. Stay compliant has the late fee and what happens to the name.
• A trade name is a state filing. It is not filed with a county clerk. It costs $20, and it does not have to be unique.
• The registered-agent rules are strict. An individual needs a Colorado ID, or a residency check, and the street address cannot be a commercial mailbox or a P.O. box.
• A missed report does not dissolve you. administrative dissolution for a missed report appears on records from before October 1, 2005. Today the status becomes delinquent, and the name can be lost later.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit, partnership, or sole proprietorship. A sole proprietor or general partnership can skip to step 6. Some professions have extra name rules: accountants, attorneys, and the other professions the Secretary of State lists may need a professional term in the name. Read Title 12 and ask the licensing agency.
2. Check the name on the business database. An entity name must be distinguishable from other entity names on record. The designator is a term that shows the entity type, such as LLC, Inc, or Corp, which you choose. Not ready to file? Reserve the name for 120 days ($25). A reservation holds the name. It does not start the business.
3. Choose a registered agent. That person or company is the person or company in Colorado that receives lawsuits and state documents for the business. An individual must be over 18, live in Colorado or have a usual place of business here, and have a current Colorado driver's license or ID card, or a residency check with the Secretary of State. The address must be a physical Colorado address, and it is not a commercial mail address or a P.O. box. The registered agent FAQ has the residency-check steps if you do not have a Colorado ID. The entity can be its own agent only after you file, and only by a second filing that changes the agent to the entity itself.
4. File on the Secretary of State’s site. Start at File a form. The fee is on the fee schedule. Online, immediately, once you have the payment confirmation. A paper-only document takes typically 7 to 10 business days from the day the office receives a paper-only document. Expedited paper review is $150 extra and is handled within 3 business days of receipt. The fee schedule was revised July 1, 2024, and it says the fees can change without notice.* Check the schedule when you file.
5. Download a certificate of good standing if a bank asks. It is free from the Secretary of State. A mailing that offers a certificate of good standing for a fee is not a different certificate from the free one on the Secretary of State's site.
6. File a trade name if you use another name. a for-profit business that is not using its true name, or a person who is not using their legal first and last name. File it online with the Secretary of State ($20). A reporting entity, such as an LLC or a corporation, keeps it as long as the reporting entity stays in good standing or noncompliant status. An individual, a general partnership, or another non-reporting filer gets one year, renewed any time in the three months before it expires for $5. If it expires, it cannot be renewed. File a new Statement of Trade Name. A trade name is no. A trade name can match one already on file.
7. Find your periodic report month. It is on the entity’s summary page. The report is online only, due the last day of the second month after the periodic report month. Selling taxable goods means a sales tax license before you rely on it: Get your tax IDs.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization ($50). The name must be distinguishable from other entity names on record, and it needs a term that shows the entity type, such as LLC, Inc, or Corp, which you choose. Each year the LLC files a Periodic Report ($25).

Corporation

File Articles of Incorporation ($50). The same $25 report applies. S corp and C corp are federal tax choices made with the IRS, not a Colorado form.

Nonprofit

File Articles of Incorporation ($50). The charities fee schedule lists $10 to apply for a registration number and $10 to renew one. That schedule does not say which nonprofits must register.* Read the charities FAQ before you pay it. Federal 501(c)(3) status is a separate IRS application.

Partnership

A general partnership files no formation document. Partners using a business name file a Statement of Trade Name, filed online with the Secretary of State. A limited partnership files a Certificate of Limited Partnership ($50). A limited liability partnership files a General Partnership Registration (LLP) ($50).

Sole proprietorship

No articles. If you do not register another entity, you are a sole proprietor. A name other than your own legal name means a Statement of Trade Name, filed online with the Secretary of State ($20, then $5 a year). Sales tax and any license your work needs still apply.

Formed in another state

“Foreign” means formed outside Colorado. File a Statement of Foreign Entity Authority ($100) if you are required to get authority. On a remote employee, the Secretary of State does not say yes or no. It points to section 7-90-801 and says to ask a lawyer. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

A filed record you can search on the Secretary of State’s site, and a payment receipt. You will want both for an EIN and a bank account. Dissolving later costs $10 for an LLC, a profit corporation, or a nonprofit, and the name is changed to include the word dissolved and the date.