BACKGROUND
In 2001, Pennsylvania passed a law that required all corporations – for-profit and nonprofit – to file a Decennial Report. This gets filed once every 10 years, in years ending in “1”. Thus, we are in a Decennial Filing year. The purpose is to show that the corporation is still active. If a corporation has had no activity with the PA Department of State (DOS), then any individual person or entity can come along and use the corporate name of that entity.
FILING
Entities required to file a Decennial Report must complete Form DSCB: 54-503 by December 31, 2021 and pay a fee of $70 to the DOS. This applies to any corporation – for-profit or nonprofit – that has NOT made a new or amended filing with the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations (BCCO) between January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2021.
If you have recently received a postcard from the PA Department of State stating that you have not filed, the link at the bottom on the post provides a list of exemptions for corporations that don’t have to file.
EXEMPTIONS
You do not need to file a Decennial Report if you have made a new or amended filing with the BCCO since January 1, 2012. This does not include a decennial filing, name reservation, name search, consent to appropriate name, fictitious name registration, or filing the yearly BCO form to register your nonprofit to solicit contributions in PA – you may still need to file a Decennial Report even if you’ve filed one or more of these. But if your organization has filed an Annual Statement, you do NOT need to file a Decennial Report.
The Annual Statement, Form DSCB-15-5110, must be filed anytime a PA nonprofit changes Officers of the Corporation. While this has been a legal requirement for quite some time, many nonprofits are unaware of this. The good news is there is no fee to file this form, nor is there any penalty for not filing. You can either fill out the form linked here or create an account in the new PA Business One-Stop Shop and update your Annual Statement there!
PANO highly encourages all nonprofits to file the Annual Statement the next time Officers of the Corporation change. If you have not filed this since 2011, consider filing now so that the DOS will have indication that your organization is active and the 2021 Decennial Filing will not be needed.
