Title 7
Corporations, Associations, and Partnerships

Chapter 5.3
Benefit Corporations

R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.3-13

§ 7-5.3-13. Availability of annual benefit report.

(a) A benefit corporation shall send its annual benefit report to each shareholder within one hundred twenty (120) days following the end of the fiscal year of the benefit corporation, except that the first report shall be recorded the year following the calendar year in which its articles of incorporation or its certificate of authority was issued by the secretary of state.

(b) A benefit corporation shall post all of its benefit reports on the public portion of its internet website, if any, but the compensation paid to directors and financial or proprietary information included in the benefit reports may be omitted from the benefit reports as posted.

(c) If a benefit corporation does not have an internet website, the benefit corporation shall provide a copy of its most recent benefit report, without charge, to any person that requests a copy, but the compensation paid to directors and financial or proprietary information included in the benefit report may be omitted from the copy of the benefit report provided.

(d) Concurrently with the delivery of the benefit report to shareholders under subsection (c), the benefit corporation shall deliver an annual report as specified in § 7-1.2-1501 together with a copy of the benefit report specified in § 7-5.3-12 to the secretary of state for filing. The compensation paid to directors and financial or proprietary information included in the benefit report may be omitted from the benefit report as delivered to the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall charge a fee of sixty dollars ($60.00) for filing the combined reports. Benefit corporations will not be subject to the annual report filing period outlined in § 7-1.2-1501(c).

(e) If the secretary of state finds that the annual report conforms to the requirements of this section, the secretary of state shall file the report. If the secretary of state finds that it does not conform, the secretary of state shall promptly return the report to the corporation for any necessary corrections, in which event the penalties subsequently prescribed for failure to file the report within the time previously provided do not apply if the report is corrected to conform to the requirements of this section and returned to the secretary of state within thirty (30) days from the date on which it was mailed to the corporation by the secretary of state.

(f) Each corporation, domestic or foreign, that fails or refuses to file its annual report for any year within thirty (30) days after the time prescribed by this chapter is subject to a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per year.

History of Section.
P.L. 2013, ch. 487, § 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 500, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 61, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 65, § 1.