By Katie Northcott, News Director
Tre Hargett, Tennessee Secretary of State, published a press release on Monday, Jan. 12, warning Tennesseans that unaffiliated mail and email solicitations involving annual business reports are on the rise in Tennessee.
The solicitations appear to be from a third party called the Tennessee Business Filing Center.
Hargett’s warning comes after Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin warned that fraud crimes are on the rise in Coffee County. Find that story here.
The full press release from Hargett’s office is published below.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett issued a new warning today about unaffiliated mail and email solicitations involving annual business reports on the rise across Tennessee that could cause additional financial burden on businesses and charitable organizations.
Tennessee businesses and charitable organizations have reported receiving an official-looking mailer or email from a third-party called the Tennessee Business Filing Center. Wording on the solicitation offers a similar service, however, it requires additional excessive fees, compared to working through our office directly to file these reports.
“Our office has seen a steady increase in complaints from businesses about this misleading mailer requesting hundreds of dollars in fees to file annual reporting documents,” said Secretary Hargett. “This situation is similar to what we have seen in recent years, and we want all Tennessee businesses to know we provide this very same service at substantially lower costs.”
Business entities are required to file an annual report with the state by April 1 each year. These documents update or confirm business information on file with the Secretary of State’s office, and are required for entities to maintain “active status” so they can legally operate in Tennessee.
“All business owners should be wary of any correspondence that attempts to look like it is from the State of Tennessee,” Secretary Hargett added. “These groups are not affiliated with us, and we ask recipients of these unaffiliated communications to report them to us, so we can notify the proper authorities.”
Entities needing to file annual reports can do so through the Secretary of State’s Tennessee Charity and Business Filing System (TNCaB) by clicking here.
You can contact the Division of Business and Charitable Organizations to report suspicious activity by calling (615) 741-2286 or emailing TNSOS.corpinfo@tn.gov.
To file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office, call (615) 741-3491 or visit Attorney General & Reporter (tn.gov).
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