State annual reports and renewals: keeping your charity in good standing

This guide is for the board secretary, treasurer or founder who keeps the charity's paperwork current. Your IRS return gets the attention, but your state also expects filings every year or two, and missing them can quietly end your corporation's legal existence. After reading, you'll know the kinds of state filings most charities face, what happens if you miss them, three real examples, and how to make sure someone owns each date.

For your state's own forms and fees, start with our state guides. To keep every date in one place, use the annual compliance checklist.

The usual state filings

Most charities deal with some or all of these. The names, dates and fees differ by state.

These are separate from each other. Filing your charity registration with the attorney general doesn't file your corporate annual report with the secretary of state, and the other way round.

What happens if you miss one

For the corporate report, the usual result is administrative dissolution (or, in some states, suspension or forfeiture): the state treats your corporation as no longer active. The examples below show how that works in three states. Getting back into good standing means more forms and fees, under your state's own reinstatement rules, and in the meantime banks, funders and charity regulators may start asking questions.

Your federal tax exemption is a separate matter. Losing it comes from missing IRS filings, not state ones; see reinstating exempt status.

Three examples

These show how much the rules vary. They are not the rules for your state.

California: statement of information every two years

• What: a Statement of Information filed with the Secretary of State.
• When: the Secretary of State's FAQ says California nonprofit corporations "are required to file every two years," in the month they registered, in even or odd years.
• Fee: the Secretary of State lists "$20 for California nonprofit corporations."
• If you miss it: the FAQ says penalties are assessed by the Franchise Tax Board when an entity hasn't filed. Its filing page warns that not filing "may result in penalties being assessed by the Franchise Tax Board and suspension or forfeiture."
• Watch out: the Secretary of State warns about mailings, not sent on its behalf, that charge a fee "nearly 10 times" the state's fee to file the statement for you. It says paying them "does not meet the business entity's statutory obligation to file." File directly with the state.

California charities registered with the Attorney General also renew that registration every year, separately, by filing Form RRF-1, according to the Attorney General's Guide for Charities. Our compliance calendar has the date.

Florida: annual report every year

• What: an annual report filed online with the Division of Corporations (Sunbiz).
• When: the Sunbiz page says annual reports "are due by the third Friday in September to avoid administrative dissolution." Its May 1 deadline (11:59 p.m. Eastern on Friday, May 1, 2026, for the 2026 report) is when a $400 late fee starts for profit corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships. File early anyway.
• Fee: $61.25 for a nonprofit corporation. The page says "Non-profit corporations are not subject to the $400 late fee" that applies to other entities.
• If you miss it: entities that haven't filed by the third Friday of September are "administratively dissolved or revoked" at the close of business on the fourth Friday of September.

Florida charities that ask for donations also register with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and "renew annually," as the Sunbiz page notes under Chapter 496, Florida Statutes.

Illinois: annual report before your anniversary month

• What: an annual report to the Secretary of State listing your registered agent and office, principal office, directors and officers, and what the corporation does (805 ILCS 105/114.05).
• When: within the 60 days before the first day of your corporation's anniversary month, which for an Illinois corporation is the month its articles of incorporation were filed (805 ILCS 105/101.80 and 114.10).
• Fee: $10 (805 ILCS 105/115.10).
• If you miss it: the Secretary of State may dissolve a corporation administratively if it hasn't filed its annual report "before the first day of the anniversary month" (805 ILCS 105/112.35). The same section lists failing to keep at least 3 directors as another ground.

Illinois charities registered with the Attorney General also file a yearly financial report there, under the Solicitation for Charity Act; what it must include depends on how much the charity receives in contributions (225 ILCS 460/4).

Making sure it happens

• List every state filing in your annual compliance checklist: what, where, when, fee, and who.
• Assign one person and a backup to each filing, and record it in the minutes.
• Keep the state logins in the charity's password manager, not one person's email.
• Check your status online once a year, if your secretary of state offers a business search.
• Read the confirmation and save it with your board records.
• Watch for look-alike mailers offering to file for a fee. Your state's own website is the place to file.

State filings checklist

• We know which state filings apply to us, from our state guide or secretary of state site
• Each filing has a named owner and a backup
• Due dates are on our compliance checklist and calendar
• Our registered agent and mailing address are current with the state
• We checked our corporation's status online this year
• Confirmations are saved with our board records
• We file directly with the state, not through look-alike mailers