In April 2010 the Better Business Bureau reported that misleading mailings from Compliance Services were showing up in mailboxes of businesses across northwest Florida. For a $125 fee, Compliance Services claims they will prepare documents “to satisfy the Annual Minutes requirement for your corporation.”

As recently as January 16, 2013 Florida United Businesses Association (FUBA) reported that two companies, Compliance Services and Corporate Records Service, are targeting small businesses with mailed notices offering to file “Annual Minutes” for a fee of $125.  

Please watch out:  you do not have to pay anyone to prepare or file your corporation’s minutes!  And while corporations are required by Florida law to keep minutes of their corporate meetings, minutes do not have to be filed with any agency of the State of Florida.

These companies have mailed forms to thousands of small businesses in Florida – the letters are in green envelopes and say “Important – Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” on the front of the envelope.  Inside is a form titled “2012 Annual Minutes Records Form” (from Corporate Records Service) or one called “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” (from Compliance Services) that looks like an official government document and asks for $125. 

However, when investigating similar scams, the Florida Attorney General has stated that while the statutes cited in these mailings do govern requirements for businesses to keep annual minutes, the statutes do not require that these minutes – not to mention the fee – be submitted to any outside entity including the Secretary of State’s Office.

Any Florida business owner who believes he has been a victim of this scam should call the Florida Attorney General’s Fraud Hotline at 866.9.NO.SCAM.

Because of the misleading nature of the mailings, the states of North Carolina and Texas have both filed temporary restraining orders against Compliance Services and its principle officer Selwyn Monarch, alleging that the defendants “create the impression that the corporations have violated or are about to violate state law.” Included in the North Carolina Attorney General’s complaint are warnings from at least six other states (Ohio, Montana, Massachusetts, Indiana, Georgia and Colorado) about deceptive mailings from Compliance Services and other similarly-named solicitations.