Oregon Secretary of State

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Business Alerts

​News and information you can use:

​​​Information to help you navigate the Corporate Transparency Act​. Federal reporting requirements in place as of January 1, 2024.​​

​Renewal reminder notices help keep your business registry active. Be sure to keep your mailing address updated. Updating your information is easy. Find more information on our Update Registration ​page.​

​Find out more about electronic notifications​. Instead of, or in addition to your mailed paper notifications.​

​2023 Annual Report​ from the Office of Small Business Assistance.​

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​Solicitation Alerts

We often hear from business owners concerned about receiving offers and solicitatio​ns that are confusing, deceptive, suspicious or even fraudulent. Below are examples reported to us:

​​​​​​​​​Many Oregon businesses report receiving a questionable solicitation entitled "2023 - Annual Report Instruction Form" or “State Annual Report Renewal Notice.”  These forms, sent by out-of-state companies "Workplace Compliance Services" also known as W.C.S. or C.P.S. and “Business Compliance Services” can be easily mistaken for correspondence from the State of Oregon. It is not.

Despite their appearance, the Annual Report Instruction Form​ or the Annual Report Compliance​ were not sent by the Secretary of State Corporation Division.

To see if your annual report is due to be filed with our office, please visit sos.oregon.gov/bi​zsearch​.

Report any payments made to one of these solicitations to the Department of Justice by filing a complaint online​.

If you were misled into paying the additional fee, visit our Don't Be Misled​ page for more information.

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​​​Be aware of solicitations offering to provide services for a fee. C.P.S., a third-party private business offers an OSHA safety manual for a fee of $295. You can get the manual from the OSHA website free of charge. Please visit their website​ for more information.​ Speak directly with Oregon OSHA's Consulting Services​ for free and confidential help.

​​​Employment poster scams are a concern for many business owners. Required employment posters are generally free. You can download most directly from government agency websites. ​

A typical employment or labor poster solicitation cites state and federal requirements to post labor posters and notices at job sites as well as penalties for non-compliance. These companies offer to provide all the required posters for $105 or more. These offers are scams.

Examples of scam solicitations:

Scam labor law poster solicitation

Visit the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries​ (BOLI) for information on employer poster requirements and instructions for downloading and ordering employer compliance posters. ​​​​

​​​​The Oregon Employment Department issued a fraud alert​ for people applying for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and other benefits. Please be aware of any phishing or spoofing attempts from scammers claiming to be from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). These fraudulent attempts can be made through email, text message, or phone. U.S. DOL will never ask you to provide personal information.​ If you would like to report an allegation of fraud involving unemployment insurance or other U.S. Department of Labor activities or programs, please contact the OIG Hotline at: https://www.oig.dol.gov/hotline.htm or 202-693-6999 or 1-800-347-3756.

​​Applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN)​​ is a free service offered by the Internal Revenue Service. Beware of websites on the Internet that charge for this free service.

Using a site other than www.irs.gov​ to apply for an EIN may result in fees as much as $250. These companies won’t refund payments made to them, so it is important that you remain vigilant regarding the site that you use to apply.

​​​​​​Oregon businesses have reported receiving a lett​er from OR Certificate Services offering a certificate of standing/existence. Although the letter might appear to be from a government agency​​, it's not. You can get a certificate of existence ​from the Corporation Division for a fee of $10. The order form can be found here.​


OR Certificate Services charges a fee of $77.25. The Secretary of State Corporation Division provides certificates of e​xistence for $10 each. Please visit our certificate page​ and complete a request form if you need a certificate of existence.​ ​​​​​​

Report any payments made to one of these solicitations to the Department of Justice by filing a complaint online​.
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​In 2018 the IRS announced a sca​m that's impacting employers and payroll companies. ID thieves sent an email to the human resources person within a company, pretending to be the CEO or another executive. They ask the Human Resources employee to send them the W-2s. However, the information is NOT going to the company CEO, it's going to an identity thief who uses names and social security numbers to file fraudulent returns.​​​​

Protect yourself from identity theft. Visit the Internal Revenue Service website to learn about taxpayer identity theft.

Find informat​ion and resources to protect your business from identity theft​.

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On January 1, 2013, Oregon implemented a law regulating precious metal secondhand dealers (ORS 646A.064-068​​). Be aware that precious metal secondhand dealers who solicit, receive, purchase, trade or accept delivery of items of precious metal from individuals in return for money or other consideration are required to follow state law.


​Scam email appears to be from a Oregon Department of Small Business Services Certification Unit. Do not click the link. Read more …”​ ​​

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Investigations

Oregon warns small business owners of fake state fee demand notice from Workplace Compliance Services (2018).​​​​ ​​
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We Are Here to Help

Please call us at 503-986-2200, or email CorporationDivision.SOS@sos.oregon.gov.​​​​

Oregon Department of Justice Links

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