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Businesses Beware: State Cutting Postcard Reminders

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 31, 2009

TAMPA - Chalk up another consequence of Florida's budget crisis: annual report reminders for business are going all-digital.

This spring, the Florida Division of Corporations, a unit of the Department of State, is notifying hundreds of thousands of businesses that they need to file their annual reports by e-mail. That's a change from the past, when the division sent postcards by mail and alerted businesses they had until May 1 to submit their annual report.

The new e-mail-only policy applies to most businesses in Florida and is expected to save the state more than $2 million a year in printing and postage costs, as well as the cost of processing the mail, said Jay Kassees, director of the corporations division.

However, the new system could cause problems if some of the e-mails don't reach their destination, said Al Colby, a commercial real estate and business transactions attorney in Tampa.

"Long term, I don't see it being a big problem, but the transition could be a bit bumpy," Colby said.

Filing annual reports is an early-year routine for up to 1.5 million business entities in Florida, including for-profit and nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies and limited and general partnerships. Renewing an annual report, which lists information including officers and addresses, costs $150 a year. A business can be hit with a $400 late fee if it doesn't file by May 1.

The state isn't required to notify businesses they need to renew but traditionally did it as a courtesy, Kassees said. Meantime, Florida has been encouraging businesses to go to the agency's Web site, www.sunbiz.org, to file electronically.

Last year, about 900,000 of the state's 1.5 million business entities filed online. When they do so, the state asks business people to fill in their e-mail addresses. That is where the state is sending e-mail renewal notices this year, Kassees said.

Still, the state doesn't have e-mail addresses for about 300,000 businesses. So, it still sent them postcard notices, Kassees said.

An e-mail could fail to reach its destination because of spam filters or other problems. If that happens, and business didn't receive notice of renewal, the state will not charge a late fee, Kassees said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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