Upcoming Deadline: Your Business May Need a Decennial Filing

By: Ashley S. Wagner

If you are a business owner in Pennsylvania, you should keep an eye on your mail over the next several weeks.  You may be receiving or may have already received notice from the Commonwealth to file a Decennial Report.

A Decennial Report is a report of an entity’s continued existence or a report of continued use of certain marks. All domestic and foreign profit and nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, business trusts, insignias and marks, that have not made a new or amended filing with the Pennsylvania Corporation Bureau from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2020 are required to file a Decennial Report on or before December 31, 2021. 

If you are required to make this filing and fail to do so, you may lose the exclusive use of the name of your entity after January 1, 2022.  The entity will continue to exist, but its name may become available for any other entity to do business in Pennsylvania because the legislative intent for these filings is to identify business names and marks that are no longer in use, so that they may be reissued and placed back into the stream of commerce.

The Commonwealth has sent or will be sending out notices and forms, however, if you do not receive the notice, it does not necessarily mean that you are not responsible to make this filing if it is required.  Please contact Ashley S. Wagner, Esq. at 412-594-5550 if you need assistance determining if your entity is required to make a Decennial Report or if you need help completing the filing.