Relating to the fee amounts prescribed by the secretary of state for expedited commercial and business record searches or filings and the exemption from the franchise tax and certain filing fees for veteran-owned businesses.

Contracts

• Client Engagement Letters: Review and amend standard "administrative fee" language. Replace fixed estimates for government filings (e.g., "$25 expedited fee") with variable language such as "actual government fees incurred."
• Lending & Security Agreements: Ensure borrower covenants regarding perfection costs cover "all filing fees prescribed by the Secretary of State" rather than specific dollar amounts, as UCC filing costs will fluctuate.

Hiring/Training

• Accounts Payable: Instruct finance teams to stop issuing automatic flat-rate checks (e.g., $25) for expedited services effective 9/1/2025. Implement a verification step to check the current SOS fee schedule before payment.
• Legal Staff: Train paralegals and corporate secretaries to verify the specific fee for the specific entity type (LLC vs. Corp) prior to submission, as the SOS may implement tiered pricing.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Veteran Documentation: Cease preparation of tax exemption filings for veteran-owned entities for the 2026 tax year; these exemptions have been repealed. Maintain standard franchise tax reporting protocols.
• Cost Sheets: Update internal "Cost of Doing Business" matrices to reflect that expedited fees are no longer fixed by statute.

Fees & Costs

• Budget Impact: Anticipate an increase in transactional costs. Agencies rarely request authority to uncap fees to lower them.
• Variable Pricing: Be prepared for differential pricing. The law authorizes the SOS to set different fees for different categories of documents or entities (e.g., an LLC filing may cost more than a nonprofit filing).