Mississippi Articles of Incorporation Domestic Nonprofit Corporation

The Mississippi Articles of Incorporation Domestic Nonprofit Corporation is an online form which Incorporators must use to fill out then submit information required by the Mississippi Secretary of State. The State of Mississippi has enacted an online filing process as a cost cutting measure in cutting down in paperwork. However, once an Incorporator has completed the online form correctly, it may be printed and mailed in. This will not be as speedy a process as submitting online, however filing by mail will allow Incorpoorators to pay the $50.00 Filing Fee by check (payable to Secretary of State). When filing online, this filing may only be paid for by credit card.

It should be noted that nonprofit corporations are not automatically Tax-Exempt. It is strongly recommended to confer with the Internal Revenue Service before filing these articles (or filling them out) as this is the only entity that may grant Tax-Exempt Status.

How To File

Step 1 – Sign in to the account (https://corp.sos.ms.gov/corp/portal/c/page/login/portal.aspx) you created for the Mississippi Secretary of State Business Services. This will direct you to your home page. Beneath the heading “Name Reservation and Formation Filings,” select the link labeled “Form a Mississippi Corporation, Non-Profit, LLC or Partnership.

Step 2 – On the first page, locate the field labeled “Business Type,” then use the drop down list to choose the entity type you are forming (Nonprofit Corporation). This will cause the appropriate form fields to appear.

 

Step 3 – In “Business Name,” report the Full Name you wish to use for the corporation being formed.

Step 4 – Next in, “Business Email,” you must provide a valid E-Mail Address for the nonprofit corporation being formed.

Step 5 – Under some circumstances, it may be useful to delay the Effective Date of corporate status. If this is the case, you may choose such a date in the field labeled “Future Effective Date.” You may report a date for these articles to become active for up to 90 days after the filing date. If left blank the Effective Date will be the Filing Date.

Step 6 – Some nonprofit corporations do not wish to operate indefinitely or perpetually. If this is the case enter the number of years this nonprofit corporation will operate in the field labeled The “Period of Duration.” Otherwise, you may leave this field blank to confirm this nonprofit corporation’s intent to operate “perpetually.”

Step 7 – In the field labeled “The initial planned non-profit activity,” use the drop down list to select one of the official nonprofit activities this corporation will focus on while it is active.

Step 8 – Next, you will need to provide at least one NAICS code to describe your corporation’s activities. You may enter up to three separate codes for a full description.

Step 9 – The Registered Agent section, requires several fields to be filled out. First select either “Individual” or “Organization” from the drop down list in the first field. (If you wish you may select “Organization” then select “Find Commercial Registered Agents” to auto-populate the fields. If this is an individual, you will need to fill in the First Name, Last Name, Address Line 1, City, State, Postal Code, and E-Mail Address of the Registered Agent you have obtained.

Step 10 – Next, in the Signature section, select the button labeled “Click to Sign.” Once you do, a pop up window will allow the Signing Party to provide an Electronic Signature by filling in his/her First Name, Last Name, Address, and E-Mail Address. Once this is done, you may select “Next” to continue.

Step 11 – The next page will provide a warning that all nonprofit corporations being formed must be reviewed by the Mississippi Secretary of State before being processed. Read the information on this page then select the “Next” button.

Step 12 – Next, you will be given the opportunity to upload a document. Select the “Browse” button to find the appropriate file on your computer then upload it. You may upload as many files as you like. Once you are done, select the “Next” button.

Step 13 – The final page will ask you what you would like to do with the completed articles. If you would like to submit the articles electronically then select the first button. This will guide the browser to an area where you may enter your credit card information to pay the $50.00 Fee. If you would like to mail in the articles, select the second button. This will guide you through the printing process. Once done, you may mail the articles to the Mississippi Secretary of State with a check made payable to Secretary of State for the full amount of the Filing Fee. Otherwise, you may select the third button to email the articles to a third party for review. The fourth button will allow you to save the articles to submit at a later date.