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EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
*sb0278*
SENATE BILL 278
C1 6lr2302
HB 1416/25 – ECM CF 6lr2304
By: Senators West and Waldstreicher
Introduced and read first time: January 19, 2026
Assigned to: Budget and Taxation
A BILL ENTITLED
AN ACT concerning 1
State Department of Assessments and Taxation – Expedited Document 2
Processing and Fees 3
FOR the purpose of establishing expedited processing fees for certain documents filed with 4
the State Department of Assessments and Taxation; requiring the Department to 5
process documents filed at certain times within certain time frames; and generally 6
relating to document processing by the State Department of Assessments and 7
Taxation. 8
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 9
Article – Corporations and Associations 10
Section 1–203 and 1–203.2 11
Annotated Code of Maryland 12
(2025 Replacement Volume) 13
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 14
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 15
Article – Corporations and Associations 16
1–203. 17
(a) In addition to any organization and capitalization fee required under § 1–204 18
of this subtitle, subject to subsection (c) of this section, the Department shall collect the fees 19
specified in subsection (b) of this section. 20
(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (10) of this subsection, for each of the 21
following documents, the nonrefundable processing fee is $100: 22
Document 23
Articles of incorporation 24
2 SENATE BILL 278
Articles of amendment 1
Articles of extension 2
Articles of restatement of charter 3
Articles of amendment and restatement 4
Articles supplementary 5
Articles of share exchange 6
Articles of consolidation or merger 7
Articles of revival for stock corporation 8
Articles of revival for nonstock corporation 9
Articles of conversion 10
Articles of validation 11
(2) For each of the following documents, the nonrefundable processing fee 12
is as indicated: 13
(i) Notice of change of address of principal office...........................$25 14
(ii) Notice of change of name or address of resident 15
agent.....................................................................................................................................$25, 16
up to a maximum of $30,000 for a bulk filing 17
(iii) Certificate of correction….………………………………….……$25 18
(iv) Except as provided in paragraph (14) of this subsection, any 19
other documents……………...…………….……………..........................................................$25 20
(3) (i) For each of the following documents which are f iled but not 21
recorded, the nonrefundable processing fee is as indicated: 22
Reservation of a corporate, limited partnership, limited liability partnership or 23
limited liability company name………………………………………………………...…...…...$25 24
Original registration of name o f a foreign corporation to end of calendar 25
year…………………………………………………………………………………………..…..….$100 26
Renewal of registration of name of a foreign corporation for 1 calendar 27
year…………………………………………………………………………………………..…...…$100 28
Documents in connection with the qual ification of a foreign corporation to do 29
intrastate business in this State……………………………………………………....………$100 30
Application for registration of a foreign limited partnership, a foreign limited 31
liability partnership, or a foreign limited liability company………………………....……$100 32
Other documents……………………………………………………………………...……$6 33
SENATE BILL 278 3
(ii) Except as provided in paragraph (13) of this subsection, for each 1
of the following documents which are filed but not recorded, the filing fee is as indicated: 2
Annual report of a Maryland corporation, except a charitable or benevolent 3
institution, nonstock corporation, savings and loan corporation, credit union, family farm, 4
and banking institution…………………………………………………………………………$300 5
Annual report of a foreign corporation subject to the jurisdiction of this State, except 6
a national banking association, savings and loan association, credit union, nonstock 7
corporation, and charitable and benevolent institution…………………..………………$300 8
Annual report of a Maryland savings and loan association , banking institution, or 9
credit union or of a foreign savings and loan association, national banking association, or 10
credit union that is subject to the jurisdiction of this State………...……………………$300 11
Annual report of a Maryland limited liability company, limited liability partnership, 12
limited partnership, or of a foreign limited liability company, foreign limited liability 13
partnership, or foreign limited partnership, except a family 14
farm……………………………………………………………………………………....……….$300 15
Annual report of a business trust………………………………………….…….……$300 16
Annual report of a real estate investment trust or foreign statutory trust doing 17
business in this State……………………………………………………………………………$300 18
Annual report of a family farm……………………………………………...…………$100 19
(4) For each of the following documents recorded or filed the nonrefundable 20
processing fee is $100: 21
(i) Certificate of limited partnership, certificate of limited liability 22
partnership, articles of organization of a limited liability company, certificate of trust of a 23
business trust, including certificates of amendment, certificates of reinstatement, and 24
articles of reinstatement; and 25
(ii) Any statement filed by a partnership under Title 9A of this 26
article. 27
(5) For issuing each of the following certificates, the nonrefundable 28
processing fee is as indicated: 29
Type of Instrument ……..……………….......................……..………………...Special Fee 30
Certificate of status of a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited 31
liability partnership, or limited liability company of this State or of a foreign corporation, 32
foreign partnership, foreign limited partnership, foreign limited liability partnership, or 33
foreign limited liability company……..……………….......................……..……………….....$20 34
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Certified list of the charter papers of a corporation of this State or any certificates of 1
a limited partnership, limited liability partnership, or a limited liability company of this 2
State recorded or filed with the Department……………………...………..………………......$20 3
Certificate of compli ance by a foreign corporation, foreign limited partnership, 4
foreign limited liability partnership, or foreign limited liability company with requirements 5
of law in respect of qualification or registration……………………....……..………………....$20 6
Certificate of withdrawal of registration or qualification...…….……….….………..$20 7
Certificate of any paper recorded or filed in the Department’s office………...……..$20 8
(6) For a duplicate of a certificate mentioned in paragraph (5) of this 9
subsection which is issued at the sam e time as the original, the fee is $1, and for a 10
nonelectronic copy of any other paper recorded or filed with the Department, the fee is $1 11
per page. 12
(7) (i) For acceptance of service of process or notice on the Department, 13
the Department shall charge a fee of $50. 14
(ii) Each county and Baltimore City is exempt from the fee under 15
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph. 16
(8) Subject to § 1 –203.2(c) of this subtitle, for processing each of the 17
following documents on an expedited basis, the additional fee is as indicated: 18
Recording any document, including financing statements, or submitting for 19
preclearance any document listed in paragraph (1) or (4) of this subsection, if processing 20
under § 1–203.2(b)(1) of this subtitle is requested..........................................................$425 21
RECORDING ANY DOCUMEN T, INCLUDING FINANCING STATEMENTS, OR 22
SUBMITTING FOR PRECLEARANCE ANY DOCUMENT LISTED IN PARAGRAPH (1) OR (4) 23
OF THIS SUBSECTION, IF PROCESSING UNDER § 1–203.2(B)(2) OF THIS SUBTITLE IS 24
REQUESTED..........................................................................................................$1,000 25
RECORDING ANY DOCUMEN T, INCLUDING FINANCING STATEMENTS, OR 26
SUBMITTING FOR PRECLEARANCE ANY DOCUMENT LISTED IN PARAGRAPH (1) OR (4) 27
OF THIS SUBSECTION, IF PROCESSING UNDER § 1–203.2(B)(3) OF THIS SUBTITLE IS 28
REQUESTED..........................................................................................................$1,500 29
Recording any document, including financing statements, or submitting for 30
preclearance any document listed in paragraph (1) or (4) of this subsection, if processing 31
under § 1 –203.2(b)(1) THROUGH (3) of this subtitle is not 32
requested……….…….........……….…….........……….…….........……….……........................$50 33
SENATE BILL 278 5
Certificate of status of a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited 1
liability partnership, or limited liability company, or a name reservation………....……..$20 2
Certified list of the charter documents of a Maryland corporation or any certificate 3
of a Maryland limited partnership, limited liability partnership, or limited liability 4
company recorded or filed with the Department.........................................……....……....$20 5
A copy of any document recorded or filed with the Department, or a corporate 6
abstract…………………………….........................................................................................$20 7
Application for a ground rent redemption or a ground rent extinguishment, or 8
payment of a redemption or extinguishment amount to t he former owner of the ground 9
rent………………………......................................................................................................$50 10
(9) A nonrefundable processing fee for a request by paper document for an 11
extension of the date for submitting an annual report under § 14–704 of the Tax – Property 12
Article is $20. 13
(10) A nonrefundable processing fee for articles of incorporation of a 14
nonstock corporation that is organized to operate as a nonprofit entity under § 501(c)(3), 15
(4), or (6) of the Internal Revenue Code is $150. 16
(11) A fee for the nonpayment of a check or other negotiable instrument that 17
was presented to the Department as payment for any of the other fees imposed under this 18
section is $30. 19
(12) A nonrefundable processing fee for preclearance of a document or draft 20
of a document listed in paragraph (1) or (4) of this subsection is $275. 21
(13) Beginning in fiscal year 2022, the Department shall waive the filing fee 22
for a business entity described under paragraph (3)(ii) of this subsection for each year that 23
the entity provides evidence to the Department that: 24
(i) The entity is required to comply with and is in compliance with 25
Title 12 of the Labor and Employment Article; or 26
(ii) The entity otherwise provides an emplo yer–offered savings 27
arrangement, as defined in § 12 –101(e) of the Labor and Employment Article, that is in 28
compliance with federal law. 29
(14) There is no processing fee for documents filed to dissolve, cancel, or 30
terminate an entity under this subsection. 31
(c) For each fee identified under subsection (b) of this section as nonrefundable, 32
the Department shall adopt regulations to specify the conditions under which the fee shall 33
be nonrefundable and the conditions under which the fee may be applied to a resubmission 34
of a document for filing, recording, or processing. 35
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(d) The fees collected under subsection (b)(8) and (12) of this section shall be 1
credited to the fund established under § 1–203.3 of this subtitle. 2
(e) Of the $150 collected under subsection (b)(10) of this section, $50 shall be 3
credited to the Maryland Nonprofit Development Center Program Fund established under 4
§ 5–1204 of the Economic Development Article. 5
1–203.2. 6
(a) On payment of the APPLICABLE fee provided in § 1–203(b)(8) of this subtitle, 7
the Department shall process documents on an expedited basis as provided in subsection 8
(b) of this section. 9
(b) Subject to subsection (c) of this section, the Department shall: 10
(1) Process documents filed with the Department at least 2 hours before 11
the Department’s close of business within 2 hours after the documents are received; [and] 12
(2) PROCESS DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE DEPARTMENT AT LEAST 13
1 HOUR BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT’S CLOSE OF BUSINESS WITHIN 1 HOUR AFTER 14
THE DOCUMENTS ARE RECEIVED; 15
(3) PROCESS DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE DEPARTMENT AT LEAST 16
30 MINUTES BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT’S CLOSE OF BUSINESS WITHIN 30 MINUTES 17
AFTER THE DOCUMENTS ARE RECEIVED; AND 18
[(2)] (4) To the extent practicable, process all other documents on the 19
same day that the documents are received. 20
(c) (1) The Department shall adopt regulations governing the manner of filing 21
and processing of documents on an expedited basis, including reasonable limitations on 22
filing documents of unusual volume or length. 23
(2) The Department may: 24
(i) Adopt regulations establishing: 25
1. Expedited document processing tiers; or 26
2. Additional methods of expedited document processing; 27
and 28
(ii) Charge reasonable fees for services provided in accordance with 29
this paragraph. 30
SENATE BILL 278 7
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 1
October 1, 2026. 2