Granting Authority to Do Business in Ohio

The Secretary of State Business Services Division receives and approves articles of incorporation for Ohio business entities and grants licenses to out-of-state corporations seeking to do business in Ohio. Limited partnerships and limited liability companies also file with the Secretary of State’s office.

The Corporations Section of the Business Services Division also approves amendments to filed documents, mergers, consolidations and dissolutions, registers trademarks, trade names, service marks and fictitious names. This section also approves and keeps a registry of business names, names and addresses of statutory agents, incorporators’ names, corporations’ charter numbers, dates of incorporation, and the number of authorized shares per corporation.

Filing Forms & Fee Schedule

In an effort to provide clear direction when filing to register a domestic business entity in the state of Ohio, some of the following forms have been revised by the Ohio Secretary of State Business Services Division. These forms have been updated to help reduce common filing errors and revisions are based on feedback from Ohio businesses and those who frequently use the forms. All updated forms now include a correspondence cover sheet to assist in communication with our office. As forms are revised, the most recent update will be posted in the “Date Updated” column below. If you would like to provide feedback on any of the forms or to be notified about future updates, please e-mail the Business Services Division. When submitting the forms to our office, please note that we may only accept single-sided, 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper as the documents are all scanned and imaged into our database after being processed. Please make checks and money orders payable to “Ohio Secretary of State.”

• Domestic Business Entities
  • For-Profit Corporation
  • Nonprofit Corporation
  • Professional Association
  • Limited Liability Company
  • Partnership
  • Limited Partnership
  • Limited Liability Partnership
  • Unincorporated Nonprofit Association

Ohio Business Gateway

Use the Ohio Business Gateway to register, file, and pay many types of taxes and other transactions — including sales and use tax, employer withholding, commercial activity tax, unclaimed funds, and unemployment compensation tax. 

Through the Ohio Business Gateway you can:

• Start a Business
• Manage a Business and 
• Grow a Business.