Montana corporations and limited liability companies statewide can now file annual reports on-line

Secretary of State Bob Brown announced today that
Montana corporations and limited liability companies statewide can now file annual reports on-line using the business entity annual report service.

"In this electronic information age, people have come to expect business
transactions of all kinds to be handled via the internet," said Brown.
"We
knew business entity annual report on-line filing would be the kind of
service our customers would want."

All businesses in Montana are required to file an annual report with the
secretary of state by April 15 each year. In January 2004 the
secretary of
state’s office sent out 66,353 annual reports to businesses all over
Montana, an 11 percent increase over 2003 annual report filing.

According to Business Services Deputy and Chief of Staff Pat Haffey, the
majority of business owners file their annual reports by updating
information received from the secretary of state’s annual report
mailing.
Already this year about 45,000 annual reports have been updated and
returned
to the secretary of state’s office for filing.

Haffey reminds business owners the $15 processing fee doubles to $30 for
annual reports received after the April 15 deadline.

"For those who have yet to return their annual reports, this might be
the
time to try filing on-line. Not only is it convenient, on-line filing
is
available at the reduced rate of $10 until April 15, and $25 after the
April
15 deadline," said Haffey.

By next year the secretary of state’s office anticipates approximately
30
percent of annual reports will be filed on-line.

The business entity annual report on-line filing service is the result
of an
alliance between state government and the private sector. It was
cooperatively developed and is supported by the Montana secretary of
state’s
office, the Montana department of administration’s information
technology
services division, and Montana Interactive, Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary
of eGovernment provider NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV).

For more information on the business entity annual report on-line filing
service visit DiscoveringMontana.com, or the secretary of state’s web
site
at http://sos.state.mt.us. For personal assistance call the business services
bureau of the secretary of state’s office at (406) 444-3665.