If you’re planning to take your business idea to the next step, you probably have your sights on registering your
company. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched new online platforms to make the complex
registration process easier.
SEC has been ramping up its efforts to streamline company
registration and document submission. SEC launched the Company Registration System (CRS) back in
2017. Now, the commission recently rolled out the SEC Express System and SEC Express Nationwide Submission.
Through
these new platforms, requesting and submitting documents can be done online. Transaction fees can be paid via
courier, banks, and credit card. Deliveries take about three to seven working days nationwide.
You can
request plain and authenticated copies of the following documents:
- General Information Sheet (GIS)
- Articles of Incorporation/Partnership (original and amended)
- By-laws (original and amended)
- Application for Increase/Decrease of Capital Stock
- Resolution (Minutes)
- Secretary’s Certificate
- Board Resolution
- Registration Data Sheet
- Other company-related documents
Before you start diving into the process, it may help to
understand a few interrelated terms and concepts that you’ll keep seeing along the way:
- General Information Sheet The GIS is only one of the documents which the SEC can use to ensure that each corporation is lawfully conducting business. GIS collects comprehensive data on a company and its members (e.g. stockholders, directors, etc.). This includes, but is not limited to, personal information like nationality, address, and taxpayer information number. The contents of the GIS is also available to the public.
- Articles of Incorporation
The articles of incorporation is the legal document that officially creates a corporation. This document
contains crucial information about your company including, but not limited to:
- Reason for incorporating
- Business address
- Company name
- Names of incorporators
- Authorized capital
- Number of directors or trustees
- By-Laws Once formed, the corporation must then develop its by-laws. The purpose of the by-laws is to provide more specific information on how the directors and owners should run the corporation. The by-laws are usually submitted after filing articles of incorporation. However, you can actually submit them at the same time, with the incorporators’ signatures affixed on the by-laws.
- Authorized Capital The SEC defines this as the total amount of shares a corporation is allowed to issue if the shares have par value (written or stated value). In other words, this is the total amount of shares or stocks that the corporation can possibly issue. Companies do not usually exhaust this amount in case they need to quickly raise money later on.
- Paid-in Capital This term is best understood in relation to authorized capital. Paid-in or paid-up capital is the portion of the company’s capital that has been paid for by shareholders or subscribers. Subscribers are required to pay for at least 25% of the subscribed shares of the corporation.
Got any useful feedback and suggestions after using SEC’s
online platforms? Are there any other terms or concepts you’d like to better understand? Send us a message!
