written on October 06, 2008 by James K Roosa
Ohio now allows conversion of LLCs and Corporations. Until recently, business owners who wished to convert their Limited Liability Company to a Corporation (or vice versa) were required to abandon their former entity and form a new entity. In other words, entity conversions were not permitted in Ohio.
Now, domestic or foreign business entities may convert into certain types of different business entities. Entities eligible for conversion are corporations, limited liability companies (LLC's), partnerships, and certain trusts.
* Ohio Corporation can convert into a domestic or foreign LLC, a domestic or foreign partnership, or a foreign profit corporation.
* An Ohio for-profit corporation, LLC, partnership or limited partnership can convert into an out-of-state non-profit corporation, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), business trust or common law trust, if that other state's non-profit, REIT or trust statutes permit it.
* A non-profit corporation, non-profit limited liability company, REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), business trusts or common law trust cannot convert into a different Ohio entity because the Ohio Revised Code does not contain provisions that allow these types of conversions.
The major advantages of the new conversion statue are:
* The ability to modify the business entity without changing the charter number or giving up original date the entity was created.
* Only one filing fee of $125 is charged (the same filing fee for a new corporation or a merger) rather than having to pay the fee to dissolve, and then pay to reform into a new entity.
* The old business is not dissolved, merely converted into a new entity type.