Michigan Nonprofit Annual Report: October 1 Deadline, Automatic Dissolution, and Corporate Renewal

Direct answer

Every Michigan domestic nonprofit corporation and every authorized foreign nonprofit corporation files a corporate Annual Report with LARA's Corporations Division by October 1 each year, beginning the calendar year after incorporation or foreign qualification. The online workflow generally opens June 15, and the current on-time fee is $20, filed through MiBusiness Registry. Two consecutive missed domestic reports can lead to automatic dissolution; a foreign corporation faces the equivalent consequence under a one-year LARA standard, subject to the statutory notice and revocation procedure. Renewal after either event uses a formula covering up to the last five delinquent reports at $25 each plus a $5 penalty per report — though the current-year charge on an on-or-after-October-1 renewal is itself an unresolved $20-versus-$25 conflict in official Michigan sources.

Who files, and when the first report is due

The Annual Report applies to every domestic nonprofit corporation and to every foreign nonprofit corporation holding a Michigan Certificate of Authority. The first report is due in the calendar year after the year of incorporation or foreign qualification, not in the formation or qualification year itself, and every year thereafter by October 1.

The June 15 opening date, the $20 fee, and what the report covers

The online Annual Report workflow generally opens June 15 for the October 1 due date, and LARA sends email reminders roughly 90 days before the deadline when an email address is on file — but portal opening and reminder delivery are operational conveniences, not the legal deadline itself, which remains October 1 regardless of whether a reminder arrives. The current on-time fee for the report is $20, filed online through MiBusiness Registry, which the current system treats as an online-only filing channel.

The report itself asks for the resident agent and registered office, principal-office information, and current officers and directors on file with LARA. Filing the Annual Report can update that listed information, but it does not replace a separate charter amendment, an assumed-name renewal, or every other event-triggered filing — a name change, purpose change, or membership/directorship change still requires its own filing (Form 511 or Form 515), and a resident-agent or registered-office change still requires its own filing (Forms 520 through 522) rather than relying on the Annual Report alone.

Why the Annual Report is not the same as charity renewal or Form 990

This LARA filing is legally and administratively separate from three other systems a nonprofit may also owe filings to: Attorney General charitable-solicitation renewal (CTS-02, on a one-year-and-seven-month cycle tied to the organization's own financial period, not October 1), the federal Form 990 series, and Michigan tax returns filed with the Department of Treasury. Filing one of these does not satisfy, extend, or excuse any of the others — a nonprofit that keeps its corporate Annual Report current can still have a lapsed Attorney General registration, and vice versa.

Missing the deadline: automatic dissolution and revocation

A domestic nonprofit corporation that neglects or refuses for two consecutive years to file its Annual Report or pay the required fee is automatically dissolved. Current LARA guidance describes the equivalent consequence for a foreign corporation as arising after a one-year period, but that one-year point does not replace the separate statutory notice and revocation procedure that still applies before authority is actually revoked. Automatic dissolution or revocation is a distinct enforcement stage from voluntary dissolution, and it does not by itself close a nonprofit's Attorney General, tax, payroll, gaming, alcohol, or local accounts — those remain open and generating obligations until separately closed.

The five-report renewal formula under MCL 450.2925

A domestic nonprofit automatically dissolved under MCL 450.2922, or a foreign nonprofit whose Certificate of Authority was revoked, renews by filing reports for the last five years (or any lesser number of years actually required) and paying the fee for each of those years plus a $5 penalty for every delinquent report. Reports older than that five-report restoration window are not separately required by the statutory formula itself. The current LARA renewal page states $25 for each prior-year report; that figure, plus the $5 per-report penalty, is the settled restoration charge for years before the current one.

The current-year report — the one due for the year in which the renewal is actually being filed, when that submission happens on or after October 1 — is where official Michigan sources currently disagree: the renewal-procedure page states $25 for that current-year report, while the ordinary current nonprofit Annual Report fee schedule states $20 for the same report. This guide does not pick one figure over the other; confirm the live amount displayed in MiBusiness Registry at the time of filing before submitting payment.

Form 525 is a different filing from MCL 450.2925 restoration

Form CSCL/CD-525, titled Certificate of Renewal of Corporate Existence, concerns renewal after the expiration of a stated corporate term set in the Articles — a different legal trigger from annual-report delinquency. The MCL 450.2925 restoration process described above is implemented through the corporate renewal portal workflow, not through Form 525. Do not describe Form 525 as the universal restoration form for a nonprofit that was automatically dissolved or revoked for missed Annual Reports without current LARA confirmation that it applies to that specific corporation's situation. A further, separate filing — Form CSCL/CD-533 — is used only to revoke a voluntary dissolution within its own statutory window, and is not a substitute for either Form 525 or MCL 450.2925 restoration.

What renewal does and does not restore

Once corporate existence or foreign authority is renewed under MCL 450.2925, corporate rights and authority are generally restored, including the statutory treatment of acts and contracts during the period of dissolution. Renewal does not automatically reinstate a lapsed Attorney General charitable-solicitation or charitable-trust registration, a closed Michigan Treasury tax or withholding account, an unemployment-insurance employer account, workers' compensation coverage, charitable-gaming, raffle, bingo, or millionaire-party licenses, alcohol permissions, or local permits. Each of those must be independently checked and, where lapsed, separately restored — corporate renewal reopens the corporate record, not every account built on top of it.

Practical checklist

Calendar October 1 every year starting the year after incorporation or foreign qualification, and plan to file once the workflow opens around June 15.

Budget $20 for the current on-time Annual Report, filed online through MiBusiness Registry.

Keep the entity's email address current in MiBusiness Registry so LARA's roughly 90-day reminder actually reaches the organization — but never rely on receiving a reminder as an excuse for a late filing.

If a report is missed, act before two consecutive missed years trigger automatic domestic dissolution (or the equivalent one-year foreign consequence, which still requires statutory notice before revocation is final).

If restoring after automatic dissolution or revocation, expect to file up to the last five delinquent reports at $25 each plus a $5 penalty per report, and confirm the live current-year charge in MiBusiness Registry given the $20/$25 conflict in official sources.

Do not use Form 525 for MCL 450.2925 restoration, and do not use Form 533 for anything other than revoking a voluntary dissolution within its own statutory window.

After renewal, separately verify Attorney General registration, Treasury tax and withholding accounts, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation coverage, gaming and alcohol licenses, and local permits — none of these is automatically restored by corporate renewal alone.