August 2015 State Holidays and Office Closures

State Holidays and Office Closures 

Please note state filing offices occasionally make last-minute changes to their holiday closing schedules. We will update this list as we become aware of any such changes.

Date	State	Holiday
Monday, August 10	RI	Victory Day
Monday, August 17	VT	Bennington Battle Day
Friday, August 21	HI	Statehood Day

CLAS Information Services understands that your job doesn’t stop just because a state filing office is closed. Our online DIY Search and UCC eZFILE® systems provide users with anytime, anywhere access to perform UCC and lien searches, print online images and prepare UCC filings for submission as soon as the state resumes operations. Want to learn more? Contact Kacy Flowers at 800.952.5696 ext. 123 or connect@clasinfo.com.

CLAS Adds Five New States to DIY Search System

Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota Now Available 

CLAS Information Services is pleased to announce that we have added five new states to our DIY Search System™.  Users can now logon to www.clasinfo.com and perform searches in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

See below for details on what lien types are included in the data:

Kansas: UCCs and Federal Tax Liens

Montana: UCCs

Nebraska: UCCs, Federal and State Tax Liens and Judgments

North Dakota: UCCs, Federal and State Tax Liens

South Dakota: UCCs and Federal Tax Liens

The CLAS DIY Search System™ provides users with anytime, anywhere access to perform UCC and lien searches, prepare customized search reports, print or save document images, generate similar name reports, access historical search results and more.

Want to learn more? Contact CLAS at 800.952.5696 or click here to schedule a free online system demonstration!

Delaware Division of Corporations to Close for System Upgrade

Division of Corporations Will Be Closed September 4-8, 2015

The Delaware Division of Corporations recently announced that it is completing a major upgrade to its computer platform, the first comprehensive rewrite of the Division's imaging, workflow and data systems since 1989.

To facilitate the upgrade, the Division of Corporations will close at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 3, 2015 and is scheduled to reopen for business at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, September 8, 2015.

Click here to read full-text notice from the Delaware Division of Corporations. 

PLEASE NOTE: During the closure, no business entity filings, UCC filings, document retrievals or UCC searches can be completed. CLAS recommends submitting your service requests before 12:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, September 3 to ensure timely processing.

Contact CLAS Information Services for help in planning your projects to avoid potential service delays. 800.952.5696 | connect@clasinfo.com

Technology Drives New State Certification Techniques

New Trends in State Certification

Has this ever happened to you? As part of a routine due diligence investigation, you order a certified copy of an entity’s articles of incorporation. When you receive the document back from the filing office or your service provider, you cannot determine if what you are holding is a certified document or not!

This is a rather new public records dilemma. Certified documents used to be obvious and elaborate: embossed foil stamps, wax seals, full color cover sheets, hand-written signatures – these were all common marks of certification even just a few years back. We’ve come a long way. Today, many states allow requesting parties print certified documents directly from their website, and this technological advancement has driven filing offices to develop new, more subtle methods for applying certification.

Certified documents printed from a state’s website will most commonly include a black and white cover page, or a certification code that can be entered online to verify the document’s authenticity. And these new certification techniques are not limited strictly to the digital realm. In an effort to cut costs, some states are beginning to use these same methods of certification for documents they produce in house.

While these new techniques have made certification simpler and more cost effective, they can occasionally cause confusion. Some filing offices and regulatory agencies are not used to seeing documents certified in these ways and staff may not immediately recognize documents bearing these marks as originals.

If you find yourself in a situation where the authenticity of your document is being questioned, refer to the issuing agency’s website for details about their certification practices or call CLAS Information Services at 800.952.5696. Our highly trained, friendly Service Representatives are always happy to help!

Evaluating if UCC E-filing is Right for Your Organization

Is UCC E-filing the Right Choice for Your Organization?

These days, nearly every state filing office accepts some form of electronic filing (E-filing) for UCC documents, often either through xml transmission or a fillable web form. Some states are even beginning to mandate E-filing for UCCs. Back in 2012, Colorado became the first state to require that all UCC filings be submitted electronically. New Jersey has now followed suit and will require E-filing for all UCCs beginning July 1, 2015. Click here to read our blog post about this new development.

In recent years, E-filing has been gaining popularity among lenders and other high-volume UCC filers owing to a couple of key benefits. First, E-filing is a great way to reduce UCC filing costs.  That’s because most states charge a lower fee to file a UCC that is submitted electronically than they do for a paper document that is presented for “over the counter” processing. Consider Delaware, for example, where a one-page, single debtor UCC Financing Statement submitted in paper form will incur a $100 filing fee while that same document submitted electronically will incur a charge of only $30.

E-filing UCC documents not only saves money it also saves time. A paper filing is subject to indexing backlogs and other processing delays at state filing offices, which can slow the turn-around time for acknowledgement. A filing that is submitted electronically requires little (if any) filing officer involvement though, so it is often assigned a date and file number much more quickly. In fact, most E-filed UCCs are acknowledged within 24 hours – sometimes even sooner.

Despite these benefits, some UCC filers have been reluctant to adopt E-filing over concerns about formatting changes that can occur with electronically filed UCC documents. Here’s why.

If you elect to begin E-filing your UCCs, it is important to be aware that the acknowledgement copy you receive back from the state may look different from the document you prepared. In many states, an electronically filed document will undergo minor changes during the submission process. These can include converting text to ALL CAPS, changes to font style or size, adjustments in spacing or formatting of collateral descriptions and more.  

UCC experts agree that these changes are purely cosmetic and will not compromise the effectiveness of the record, but it is always best to know what to expect when making a change to an important business process.

Ready to Start E-filing?

The CLAS Information Services UCC eZFILE® system offers E-filing in every state that accepts UCCs electronically. That’s over 40 filing offices nationwide! As an added benefit, every document submitted through UCC eZFILE® is reviewed by one of our highly trained UCC experts to catch potential filing errors, reduce rejected filing and save you money. Contact CLAS today at 800.952.5696 or connect@clasinfo.com to learn more or click here to request a free system demonstration!

July 2015 State Holidays and Office Closures

State Holidays and Office Closures 

Please note state filing offices occasionally make last-minute changes to their holiday closing schedules. We will update this list as we become aware of any such changes.

Date	State	Holiday
Friday, July 3	AL, AK, AZ, AR, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA,  HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD,  MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ,  NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD,  TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WY	Independence Day
Monday, July 6	RI	Independence Day
Friday, July 24	UT	Pioneer Day

CLAS Information Services understands that your job doesn’t stop just because a state filing office is closed. Our online DIY Search and UCC eZFILE® systems provide users with anytime, anywhere access to perform UCC and lien searches, print online images and prepare UCC filings for submission as soon as the state resumes operations. Want to learn more? Contact Kacy Flowers at 800.952.5696 ext. 123 or connect@clasinfo.com.  

Nevada to Increase Annual List and Business License Fees

Annual List, Business License Fees to Increase July 1, 2015

The Nevada Secretary of State recently issued an important notice regarding upcoming increases in certain business filing fees. The following increases will go into effect July 1, 2015:

• The fee to file an Annual or Initial List will increase by $25 for all entity types.
• The annual State Business License fee for corporations formed pursuant to Chapters 78, 78A, 78B and 80 will increase from $200 to $500. There is no change to the Business License fee for other entity types.

Any Annual or Initial List or State Business License fee due by August 31, 2015 that is received prior to July 1, 2015 will be assessed the pre-July fees.

For Annual or Initial Lists or State Business License applications, reinstatements and revivals received after July 1, 2015, Nevada will calculate amounts due based on the new fees, even if for prior years.

Click here to read the full-text notice from the Nevada Secretary of State.

Need help filing an Annual List or paying your Business License fee?  CLAS Information Services can coordinate with the state to process payment before the July 1 increases take effect. We also offer a comprehensive Annual Report Management Service to ensure you never miss a critical annual filing. Contact us today to learn more!  800.952.5696 or connect@clasinfo.com.