Numerous North Alabama companies and religious organizations are reporting that they have received a green envelope stamped “Annual Records Requirement Statement,” from Corporate Records Service who uses a Montgomery, Ala. return address. Even the BBB of North Alabama received the mailing.

Inside is a document titled “2013 – Annual Corporate Records Form” that recipients are asked to complete and return along with a $125.00 fee payable to Corporate Records Service.

Even though the correspondence does state that Corporate Records Service is not a government agency, many recipients indicate they believed the material was from a state office.

North Alabama BBB noted that the document cites a portion of two Alabama Codes. One of these codes refers to a requirement of corporations to keep minutes of all meetings of its shareholders and board of directors as permanent records, but there is nothing requiring that the minutes be sent to the Secretary of State each year.

BBB contacted the Alabama Secretary of State’s (SOS) office and verified that they do not require any fees or yearly updates from corporations. If a business wants to make an amendment they would do so directly with the SOS and only then a fee is required. According to the SOS, the only type of organization that requires any annual filing is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

BBB of North Alabama has learned that Corporate Records Service is actually located in Lansing, Michigan and the BBB of Western Michigan recently issued an alert on this company, which has also been associated with the name Labor Law Poster Service. The company has an F rating due to 86 complaints on file with the BBB and government action that has been taken against the business and its owners. Of the 86 complaints that have been filed in the last three years, 15 were tagged as “serious” by BBB of Western Michigan. For more, please see the BBB’s Business Review for Corporate Record Services at http://bbb.org/h/7v.

“Just as we have found with some promotions for labor posters, this company appears to be offering a service that companies can take care of themselves at no cost,” says BBB of North Alabama president Michele Mason. “In fact, in this case, most of the companies and organizations receiving the mailing don’t need to file anything, and if they did, they would be providing all of the information themselves which makes you question why you need to pay a fee to someone else,” Mason added.

In their alert, BBB of Western Michigan noted that Corporate Records Service is identified as a scam on the State of Michigan website:

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-53480_53484-295672–,00.html.

The North Alabama BBB advises businesses and non-profit corporations to ignore mailings from Corporate Records Service and to report solicitations from this company to the Alabama Attorney General’s office at 800-392-5658 or http://bbb.org/h/7w.