NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab let Hutch Post know of a change in the law to hopefully reduce the regulatory burden both on businesses and on his office.
"You have to do an annual report, which just says, yes, we are still a business and these are the folks that are in charge of this business," Schwab said. "We're switching that to every other year. This is an initiative we came into office with in 2019. Originally, we wanted to do three or four years, but the bankers and the attorneys didn't like going that far out, because it's easy to hide fraud."
A business will have its every other year filing schedule set by the year that the business originally filed with the Secretary of State's office.
"If you originated your business in an odd year, then it will be every odd year is your filing," Schwab said. "If you originated in an even year, it's every even year that you will do your 24-month filing."
This is part of switching to a new computer system that will eventually allow for even less paperwork. The office does allow for these filings to be online, but you can still do it old school, if you want.
"We encourage them to do it online, but we still have folks that come to Topeka and paper file, or they try to mail it, which I always get a little bit nervous about mailing anything through the U.S. Postal Service these days," Schwab said. "Eventually, where we'd like to go is, if you file to start a new business, let's say a restaurant, then you've got to go to Ag and get your restaurant permit, get your liquor permit from Revenue, unemployment from Labor, if you're a minority business, you've got to go to Commerce. Eventually, we'll take the system so that you'll just answer all the questions in the wizard and when you click send, all those permits and policies come directly to you."
If you have any further questions, you can still call the Business Services Division at (785) 296-4564.
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