Filing a Decennial Report

Many businesses are beginning to receive an unfamiliar postcard in the mail from the Pennsylvania Department of State. The postcard references a Decennial Report, which, by definition, is required once every 10 years. The purpose of the report is to provide an update to the state and so that corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and nonprofits can retain exclusive use of their business name. The right of the use of the name continues after December 31, 2021, but absent the filing of the Decennial Report, the name also becomes available to other organizations. Entities that have amended their registration with the department of the state any time since January 1, 2012 do not need to file the report.

For those entities that are unsure of the need to file the Decennial Report, the state has listed each and every organization that needs to file one. The listing can be found here and is broken out into four very large PDFs alphabetically.

Required entities have until December 31, 2021 to file this form, and the fee for filing is $70. The form and payment are to be mailed in and are entirely separate from any entity-level tax returns that are required to be filed annually. A PDF of the Decennial Report can be found here: 54-503 Decennial Rpt of Assn Cont Exist