Letters asking you to pay to file your annual report
Business owners in New England have reported official-looking mail and email about annual reports or beneficial ownership filings. What the government agencies themselves say (verified 2026-10-17):
NH Secretary of State warning (press release quoted by the NH Banking Department, March 3, 2026)
Solicitations 'often resemble official government forms or notices' but are private advertisements; some vendors charge substantially more than the statutory filing fee or direct you to file when no report is due. File directly in NH QuickStart.
Source: NH Banking Department · verified 2026-10-17
Rhode Island Department of State warning
Mailings can look official and charge far more than the $50 annual report fee. Filing directly is simple, and the office offers free help.
Source: RI Department of State · verified 2026-10-17
FinCEN: 'beneficial ownership report' scam alert
FinCEN says there is no fee to file BOI directly with FinCEN, there is no 'Form 4022' or 'Form 5102', and no government entity called 'US Business Regulations Dept.' It also states that, under the final rule effective August 14, 2026, U.S. companies are exempt from BOI reporting.
Source: FinCEN BOI page (updated Aug 11, 2026) · verified 2026-10-17
A simple check
- Find your entity on your state's official business search and see whether a report is actually due and what the state fee is (state pages on this site link to each).
- Compare the fee on the letter to the state's fee.
- If you decide to file, go to the state's own site, not the link on the letter.
This site cannot tell you whether a particular letter is legitimate. If you think you were a victim of a scam, contact your state's Attorney General consumer protection office (Rhode Island's Department of State named the RI Attorney General's Consumer Protection team in its release).