I didn’t address your concern regarding the owner acting on behalf of the corp. while the corp. is suspended/dissolved. It’s important you do a title/lien search to see whether there may be other parties of interest who might challenge any actions the owner takes while the corp. is suspended. Assuming there’re no rival claimants then no one will challenge what’s being done as long as the owner is acting in good faith and has all the rights you believe he has (sole sharholder, chief corp. officer etc.)
I’m trying to purchase a couple of preforeclosure properties (back taxes) from a guy who purchased them using a company that’s now defunct. Officially, the status of the company with the state is “Void by Proclamation” for failure to pay back taxes. I can have the company’s status reinstated to “active” (hopefully in enough time) but the state needs the company’s Federal Tax id (FEIN) #. The owner is 80 years old and has no idea where the paperwork is for the business. He hasn’t dealt with this in over 15 years (he didn’t even know the company still owned the properties and was in danger of losing them). Does anyone know how I can obtain the FEIN for this company? Thanks in advance.
By paperwork- does that include old corp.tax returns? Was he the only shareholder? If so, have the owner or an authorized agent call or visit the local IRS office and ask for the information. The FEIN will be listed on each corp. return- they should have it in their system unless he hasn’t filed a return in many years.
Have you gone to the recorders office and looked at what they have recorded–there may be a document that has the FEIN?
Do have an attorney? Ask him about having the owner quit-claim to you- you will then be a party of interest–you redeem the taxes and then bring a suit for quiet title. The property taxes will have to be paid either way–a suit-to quiet title should be $1500-2000 unless other parties of interest pop-up—do a title search to see if there’re others out there.
By ‘paperwork’, I mean anything that may have the FEIN on it, including tax returns.
I’ll stop down tomorrow to look up more docs. Good idea.
The ‘quit claim’ idea sounds interesting. I’m going to check with my attorney in the morning. Do you think this can be done when the corporation has been suspended?
Providing you a quit-claim deed gives you any interest he may have in the property. Bringing a suit to quiet title will sort out ownership. If he was the sole shareholder and records confirm this (state corporate annual report?) and other state documents such as articles of incorporation confirm he was the chief officer and incorporator it should be no problem.
You could also redeem on behalf of the owner and create a note with a mortgage securing your loan. If there’s a problem- you can foreclose on your note (perhaps have a balloon payment which would trigger a default). I would consider the latter only if you’re working closely with the owner and you have counsel representing you so you have things thought out before you move forward.
Thing to remember is that if you do nothing a tax investor will get the property–the owner is already at risk.
Good luck–please post back what your attorney says.