It is relatively easy to register a loanout or production company to do business in Oregon. It is done online through the Oregon Secretary of State’s (SOS) website. At time of the writing of this article the fee for doing this is $100 for a domestic (or Oregon based) and $275 for a foreign (or non-Oregon based) company. You can find a fee schedule here.
In order for a company to qualify for the film and media incentives in Oregon any company must be:
- Registered to do business in Oregon.
- Listed as both “active” (ACT) and “current” (CUR) on Business Registry on the Oregon SOS website.
Registering your loanout or production company in Oregon can be done online via this page on the Oregon SOS website.
- Go to: https://secure.sos.state.or.us/cbrmanager/index#stay
- You will first need to login in with an existing account or create a new account by providing your contact information.
- Once you are logged in you will click on the START button found underneath the prompt “Register business name and other registrations/licenses.”
- Click on “Register Name.”
- The next steps will guide you through entering the information needed to register your company including the company name.
Foreign (or out of state) companies will most likely need an Oregon address in order to register. This needs to be a place that can receive and process mail within the state of Oregon. Some out of state entities will use a “registered agent” for this service.
- A “registered agent” is an individual or a business entity located at a physical street address in Oregon, whose sole responsibility is to accept physical delivery of legal documents (service of process, lawsuits, liens, subpoenas, etc.) on behalf of the business. An entity cannot designate itself as its own registered agent, but an individual owner can be the registered agent for their business.
- The registered office is the physical street address where the registered agent is located during normal business hours. The registered office address may be the same as the business’ place of business. The registered office address must be a physical street address located in Oregon.
- The registered office address is where the Corporation Division mails correspondence, renewal and late notices, unless a separate mailing address for the business is provided.
There are many local service companies that provide Register Agent services in Oregon. You can find several examples of these by searching the internet for “Registered Agents in Oregon.”
You can find out more about other services provided by the Business Registry Department of the Oregon SOS on this page of their website: https://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/register.aspx