Keeping Businesses in Good Standing: South Dakota Changes Annual Report Deadlines

By Susan Rasmussen, a Woods Fuller Associate

South Dakota businesses will soon see changes to the way annual report deadlines are handled. House Bill 1102, passed during the 2026 legislative session, updates 

SDCL § 591125 and establishes new options for when entities may file their annual reports. These updates take effect January 1, 2027. 

The changes are designed to give businesses more flexibility and more predictability in managing their annual compliance obligations.

What’s Changing

Under the revised statute, most business entities—other than banks and limited partnerships, which fall under separate laws—may now choose between two reporting schedules. 

The first option is the traditional anniversarymonth filing, where the annual report is due each year during the month the entity was formed.

The second option introduces a calendaryear deadline, allowing businesses to file their annual report on or before January 31 each year, beginning in the year after formation. This January 31 filing option is newly formalized and may appeal to businesses that prefer a predictable, fixed date. 

More Flexibility for New and Existing Businesses

The updated law requires newly formed entities to select their preferred filing cycle at the time of formation, ensuring clarity from the start. Existing entities are not locked into their current schedule. So long as they are in good standing, they may switch from their anniversarymonth deadline to the January 31 deadline—or vice versa—by submitting a simple changeoffilingdate form to the Secretary of State. Prior law did not clearly authorize this type of switch. 

Why This Matters

For many businesses, compliance is not the problem, it's tracking when compliance is due. Scattered anniversarymonth deadlines can complicate planning for some, especially organizations with multiple entities formed at different times of the year. The newly established January 31 deadline gives companies an opportunity to align their annual report filings with other yearend or yearbeginning administrative tasks, including financial reporting and tax preparation.

The law also provides greater clarity in how deadlines are chosen and maintained. Having the option to consolidate filing dates or select the schedule that best fits internal workflows should reduce the risk of missed deadlines and the administrative issues that can follow.

What Businesses Should Consider Now

Although the new rules do not take effect until January 1, 2027, this is a good time for businesses to review their current filing obligations and think ahead. Some businesses may find that switching to the January 31 deadline will streamline their processes, but they will need to file a change-of-filing-date form; others may prefer to leave their anniversary month deadline in place. New entities formed after the effective date will need to choose between the two options at the time of formation, and planning for that decision ahead of time can prevent confusion later.

Attorneys at Woods Fuller are available to discuss how these changes may affect your organization and to assist if you wish to update your filing date once the new law is in effect.