How to File a Washington State Annual Report: CCFS, Fees, and Deadlines

To file a Washington State annual report, log in to the Corporations and Charities Filing System (CCFS) at ccfs.sos.wa.gov, confirm or update your registered agent, principal office, and governors, and pay the filing fee, which is $70 for most for-profit corporations and LLCs.¹ The report is due by the last day of the month your entity was originally formed or registered in Washington, and filing online is processed immediately.

When Your Report Is Due

Your deadline is the last day of your formation month, every year. Form a corporation in March, and your report is due by March 31 annually. Register an LLC in October, and your deadline is October 31.² You can file up to 180 days early without moving the following year’s due date.³

What to Gather Before You Start

RCW 23.95.255 sets out what has to be in the report. Have these ready:⁴

Your nine-digit Unified Business Identifier (UBI), found on your original formation documents or through the Secretary of State’s online search.
The name and Washington street address of your registered agent. P.O. boxes are not accepted.⁵
Your principal office street address, also not a P.O. box.
The names of your governors. For corporations, that means officers and directors. For LLCs, it means managers, or members if the LLC is member-managed.⁶
A brief description of your entity’s business.

Nonprofit corporations also provide a federal EIN and any additional information required under RCW 24.03A.075.⁴ Everything you report must be current as of the day you file.

Filing Online Through CCFS

The fastest route is the Corporations and Charities Filing System at ccfs.sos.wa.gov.¹ CCFS offers an express annual report option with two paths: file with no changes, or file with changes. If nothing has changed since last year, the no-changes path is a confirmation and payment. If your agent, office address, or governors have changed, the with-changes path walks you through each field.

Before you submit, CCFS shows a summary screen. Verify each line. Corrections after filing require a separate amendment. Payment is by credit card, and the system generates a confirmation with a transaction ID. Online filings are processed immediately.

Filing by Mail

You can download the annual report form from the Secretary of State’s website and mail it to the Corporations and Charities Division with a check or money order. The office inputs mailed filings on the day they arrive, but processing runs well behind the online turnaround.⁷ If your deadline is close, file online.

What It Costs

Current fees under WAC 434-112-085(7):⁸

Profit corporations: $70
LLCs: $70
Nonprofit corporations: $20 to $60, depending on entity type

If you file after the deadline, a $25 delinquency fee is added, bringing most for-profit filings to $95.² Nonprofit miscellaneous corporations, mutual corporations, and corporations sole are not charged the delinquency fee.

If You Miss the Deadline

Washington does not dissolve you the moment you miss the date. Your entity first moves to delinquent status, and you can still file by paying the regular fee plus the $25 surcharge.⁸

If the report stays unfiled, the Secretary of State can move to administratively dissolve the entity under RCW 23.95.610.⁹ Once dissolved, the entity loses its legal authority to do business in Washington: it cannot enforce contracts, sue in its own name, or maintain the liability protections that come with its structure.

You have five years from the dissolution date to reinstate through the online portal. Reinstatement requires filing and paying for every annual report you skipped ($70 per year for profit entities and LLCs) plus a $140 penalty. Two missed years, for example, comes to $140 in back reports plus the $140 penalty, or $280. Expedited processing adds $100 and is generally completed within three working days.¹⁰ Past five years, reinstatement is no longer available, and you would have to form a new entity.

Nonprofits File the Same Report

Nonprofit corporations file through CCFS like any other entity. The fee runs $20 to $60 rather than $70, and the report must include the federal EIN and any additional statutory disclosures.⁴ If your nonprofit solicits donations in Washington, you likely also have a separate charity registration renewal through the Secretary of State’s Charities Program, due by the end of the eleventh month after the close of your fiscal year.¹¹ The corporate annual report and the charity renewal are separate filings with separate deadlines. Filing one does not satisfy the other.

Remember That Your Filing Is Public

Everything in the annual report is searchable through the Secretary of State’s Corporation Search: registered agent name and address, principal office address, the names of officers, directors, or LLC members, and the business description.¹ If you use your home address as either the principal office or registered agent address, that address is part of the public record. Owners who want to keep a home address private often use a commercial registered agent and a separate business mailing address. Decide before your first filing, because changing it later means another update.

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Washington Secretary of State. Washington Corporations and Charities Filing System
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Washington Secretary of State. File an Annual Report (Multiple Entity Types) Online
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Washington Secretary of State. Annual Reports
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Washington State Legislature. RCW 23.95.255 – Initial or Annual Report for Secretary of State
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Washington Secretary of State. Contact Info Requirements and Updates
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Washington Secretary of State. Governors/Officers/Directors/Members/Managers
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Washington Secretary of State. Processing Guidelines and Procedure
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Washington Secretary of State. Fee Schedule/Expedited Service
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Washington State Legislature. RCW 23B.14.200 – Administrative Dissolution, Grounds
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Washington Secretary of State. Reinstate a LLC, PLLC, Profit or Professional Service Corporation Online
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Washington Secretary of State. Charity Renewal