The Colorado Secretary of State is the elected executive-branch office that handles business entity filings, voter registration and elections, notary commissions, charitable solicitation registration, UCC financing statements, and apostilles for documents going abroad.1Colorado Secretary of State. About the Secretary of State Almost everything the office does is handled online through its portal at sos.state.co.us, and most filings process immediately once you pay.
Forming a Business
If you’re starting a company in Colorado, this is the office you file with. The two most common entity types are limited liability companies and corporations. LLCs file Articles of Organization; corporations file Articles of Incorporation. Formation costs $50 for either one.2Colorado Secretary of State. Business Organizations Fee Schedule
A few requirements apply across the board. Your entity name must be distinguishable from every other name already on record, and an LLC name has to include an LLC designation such as “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or an accepted abbreviation.3Colorado Secretary of State. Business FAQs – Names You need a physical street address for the principal office; a P.O. Box won’t satisfy the requirement.4Colorado Secretary of State. Articles of Organization And you must designate a registered agent in Colorado to receive legal notices and service of process. The agent can be an individual at least 18 years old with a usual place of business in Colorado, or another entity in good standing with a Colorado address.5Colorado Secretary of State. Business FAQs – Registered Agent P.O. boxes and commercial mailboxes don’t qualify, and the agent has to consent before the filing goes through.
The office no longer accepts paper filings for most standard formations. You submit through the online portal, pay by credit card or pre-funded account, and the system processes the filing right away. Your business is assigned an 11-digit entity ID that identifies it in state records going forward,6Colorado Secretary of State. Business FAQs and you can download a filing confirmation and certificate of good standing on the spot.
If your business will operate under a name different from its legal entity name, file a Statement of Trade Name. The fee is $20. Registering a trade name doesn’t give you exclusive rights to it; it just creates a public record linking the name to the entity.
Keeping a Business in Good Standing
Filing formation documents is only the start. LLCs, corporations, nonprofits, and foreign entities authorized in Colorado all have to file a periodic report with the Secretary of State every year.7Colorado Secretary of State. Business FAQs – Periodic Reports Each entity is assigned a reporting month, and you have a four-month window around that month — two months before through two months after — to file without penalty. The report costs $25.
This is where many businesses slip up. You’re responsible for filing on time whether or not you got a reminder notice. Miss the window and your entity’s status changes to “delinquent.” You can cure that by filing a Statement Curing Delinquency, but if it stays uncorrected long enough, the Secretary of State can dissolve the entity.
A dissolved entity can usually be brought back by filing Articles of Reinstatement.8Colorado Secretary of State. Business FAQs – Reinstating a Business If someone else claimed your original name during the dissolution period, the reinstated entity takes its old name with “Reinstated” and the reinstatement date appended. Trade names associated with the dissolved entity are not automatically preserved; you’d need to refile them.
Looking Up a Business
The office runs a free business entity search open to anyone.9Colorado Secretary of State. Business Entity Search You can search by name or by the 11-digit entity ID. Results show whether the business is in good standing, delinquent, or dissolved, along with its registered agent, principal office address, formation date, and filing history. Use it to check name availability before you form a new entity, or to vet a company before doing business with it.
The Secretary of State also serves as the filing office for Uniform Commercial Code financing statements. When a lender takes a security interest in a borrower’s personal property, the lender files a UCC-1 to put the public on notice. The UCC database is searchable separately from business entity records and lets prospective lenders or buyers check whether a company’s assets are already pledged as collateral.
Voter Registration and Elections
The office’s Elections Division oversees voter registration, ballot access, and election administration statewide. Colorado allows registration through Election Day, though how and when you register affects how you receive your ballot.
To register, you must be a U.S. citizen, a Colorado resident for at least 22 days before the election, and not currently serving a prison sentence for a felony conviction. You can register starting at age 15 but can’t vote until you turn 18.10Colorado Secretary of State. Colorado Voter Registration Form Instructions
Colorado is an all-mail ballot state. Every active registered voter automatically receives a ballot in the mail before each primary, coordinated, and general election.11Colorado Secretary of State. Uniformed and Overseas Electors FAQs and Additional Resources The word “active” matters. If your registration lapses to inactive status because you moved without updating your address or missed enough elections, you stop receiving ballots. The Go Vote Colorado platform lets you check your status, view a sample ballot, find drop-box locations, and update your address or name.
For money moving through Colorado campaigns, the office runs TRACER, the public campaign finance database.12Colorado Secretary of State. TRACER – Campaign Finance Disclosure Candidates, political committees, and other election participants report contributions and expenditures there, and anyone can search individual contributions, committee spending, independent expenditures, complaints, and penalties.
Notary Commissions
The Secretary of State commissions notary publics in Colorado. To become a notary, you complete an approved training course and pass an exam. The office offers both free online, and approved private vendors are available as well.13Colorado Secretary of State. Notary Public Training Renewing notaries have to repeat the training and exam; it’s not a one-time step.14Colorado Secretary of State. Notary Public FAQs The application fee is $10, and once approved you need an official stamp and a notary journal before you can perform any notarial acts.15Colorado Secretary of State. Notary Public Fee Schedule
Colorado also authorizes remote online notarization, which lets a commissioned notary perform notarial acts over a live audio-video connection when the signer isn’t physically present. Adding this capability requires additional remote notary training, a separate exam, and approval from the Secretary of State, and the technology platform you use must also be state-approved.16Colorado Secretary of State. Remote Notarization – Notary Public FAQs Every remote session must be recorded and stored for ten years, and the signer must give verbal consent to both the recording and its storage before the session begins. Remote notaries can charge up to $25 per act.
Apostilles for Documents Going Abroad
When you need a Colorado document recognized by a foreign government — for international business, immigration, adoption, or personal matters — the Secretary of State can issue an apostille or authentication certificate. An apostille verifies that the signature of the Colorado notary or public official on the document is genuine, which lets countries in the Hague Convention accept the document without further legalization.
Submit the original document bearing a Colorado notary signature, a county clerk certification, or a Colorado Vital Records certification, along with a completed request form and $5 per document.17Colorado Secretary of State. Apostilles and Authentications18Colorado Secretary of State. Apostilles and Authentications Request Form Documents going to countries that are not part of the Hague Convention follow a different process through the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications rather than this office.
Charitable Organization Registration
Any charitable organization that plans to solicit donations in Colorado — or have someone solicit on its behalf — must register with the Secretary of State before collecting a single dollar, with limited exceptions.19Colorado Secretary of State. Instructions for Registering as a Charitable Organization An incorporated charity must first file its Articles of Incorporation as a business entity, then complete the separate charity registration. Out-of-state charities soliciting in Colorado also need to file a Statement of Foreign Entity Authority. This requirement catches more organizations than people expect; online donation buttons and email campaigns directed at Colorado residents can trigger it.