State launches online business filings

The New York Department of State has launched a streamlined online filing system for businesses forming domestic business corporations and domestic limited liability companies.

The electronic filing of certificates of incorporation and articles of organization will reduce the filing process for businesses from more than a week  to a matter of minutes and eliminate any expedited processing fees, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said when announcing the launch.

“By streamlining the process to create a new business venture, we are making it easier than ever for entrepreneurs to do business in New York” and  “focus on creating jobs and pursuing new opportunities for growth,” he said.

The innovation follows the start of a phased-in electronic licensing system for certain professional disciplines by the Department of State and the implementation last year of a simpler sales tax reporting system by the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

“This system improvement will save state resources and will provide the business community with a dramatically improved, practical and cost-efficient system,” New York Secretary of State Cesar A. Perales said in the announcement.

State officials partnered with Servico Inc., a 90-year-old legal service company in Albany, to test and implement the new online system.

New businesses on average file more than 100,000 basic certificates of incorporation and articles of organization with the Department of State each year, according to state officials.

The filing system is available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. through the department”™s Division of Corporations website at http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/index.html.