<p dir="ltr">Hi Mike, thanks for checking in. We're aware of the issue and have been working with the state for some time to resolve it. Apparently we never applied for state exemption back in the day and the state only recently noticed and suspended us for not paying taxes as a non-exempt corporatioxemption and reinstatement process is long and slow, but the SOS office assured us that everything will be retroactive once it goes through because we are still legally a 501c3 at the federal level and we've been filing correctly for an exempt organization. Currently we have been approved for state exemption and are going through the hoops to remove the suspension. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Sounds like you are familiar with the process as well. I have to call the state again today to nag them, so I will heartily accept your sympathy.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kelly</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Feb 22, 2013 4:26 AM, "Mike Higashi" <<a href="mailto:mhigashi@gmail.com">mhigashi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>Hi, folks. </div><div><br></div><div>I'm on the board of the corporation that runs BayCon, the science fiction convention.</div><div>Every once in a while, I go to the California Secretary of State's business search </div>
<div>web page and check on our corporate status. (We had trouble a few years ago, and </div><div>I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.)</div><div><br></div><div>I did that again tonight (we were fine) but since I was on that page, I also checked</div>
<div>up on some other corporations that I know. When I entered "Noisebridge" into</div><div>their search field, it came up with a status of suspended. So unless your corporation</div><div>operates under a different name, you will need to deal with this.</div>
<div><br></div>You can try it yourself here: <a href="http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/" target="_blank">http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/</a><div><br></div><div>A California corporation can be suspended for two different reasons, either from</div>
<div>failing to file the annual officers and directors form with the Secretary of State's</div><div>office, or from failing to file income tax forms with the Franchise Tax Board.</div><div>(Non-Profits that make more than a certain amount of money per year still need</div>
<div>to file tax returns.)</div><div><br></div><div>You'll need to contact the Secretary of State's office to find the reason for the </div><div>suspension, and when it occurred. (That info is not on the search results page.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>A slight digression: The person you talk to at the Secretary of State's office will</div><div>probably list a whole bunch of dire consequences from being suspended. The</div><div>thing to remember is that most corporations get suspended from failing to pay</div>
<div>taxes, and it's their job to get the deadbeats to pay up, so they maximize the</div><div>level of seriousness by saying things like its unlawful to conduct business</div><div>while suspended. The reality is that many corporations get into this situation,</div>
<div>and as long as they get returned to active status then there's no long term damage</div><div>that results.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Sympathetically yours,</div><div>Mike Higashi</div><div><br></div>
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<br></blockquote></div>