Question 1

Do I need tax clearance from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue before filing?

Accepted Answer

No. Wisconsin requires no clearance certificate and no revenue consent, and the absence is scoped rather than assumed: a search of the full certified text of Chapter 180 for clearance, tax clearance and department of revenue returned zero hits, as did the same search across Chapter 71, the income and franchise tax chapter. Form 10 contains no occurrence of the words tax or revenue across all three of its pages, and the Department of Revenue's own Closing a Business guidance never mentions dissolution or the Department of Financial Institutions. Your Revenue obligations run on a separate track: the final income or franchise return marked as final, the final sales and use return within 30 days of your closure date, the WT-7 reconciliation within 30 days, and a Request to Close Account for each tax account.

Question 2

Which form does Wisconsin use to dissolve a business corporation, and is it mandatory?

Accepted Answer

Form 10, printed as Form Corp10 and revised May 2026, titled Articles of Dissolution Business Corporation and citing Sections 180.1401, 180.1402 or 180.1403. One form covers both statutory routes as a pair of checkboxes, so there is no separate short form for a corporation that never issued shares and no second filing fee for one. Its use is optional, unusually. Section 180.0121(1)(a) names only four documents the Department must prescribe and whose use is mandatory under paragraph (1)(c), and articles of dissolution are not among them, which puts them under subsection (2) where use of the form is not mandatory. Most filers use Form 10 anyway because it tracks the statutory content list item by item.

Question 3

How much does it cost to file articles of dissolution in Wisconsin?

Accepted Answer

Either $20 or $35, and the gap is the channel rather than a stale figure. The Department's published Corporation Fees table prices Dissolution/Termination Online Filing at $20 in the Business Corporation column and the paper Dissolution/Cancellation/Termination at $35. Both are current: $20 is the statutory fee under Section 180.0122(1m)(p), and Section 180.0122(5) lets the Department charge more by rule for a filing delivered in paper format, which is where $35 comes from. The same pattern shows on the annual report line, $25 online against $40 on paper. Add $100 for next-business-day expedited processing, or $250 and $500 for four-hour and one-hour processing at the Madison counter under Section 182.01(4)(d). Filing fees are non-refundable.

Question 4

Who has to approve dissolving a Wisconsin corporation, and by what vote?

Accepted Answer

If the corporation never issued shares, the incorporators or the board of directors may authorize dissolution by themselves under Section 180.1401(1), and Form 10 makes you state which of the two acted. In every other case Section 180.1402 governs: the board proposes dissolution for submission to the shareholders, and the proposal passes if approved by a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast on it, unless the chapter, the articles of incorporation, bylaws adopted under articles authority, or the board's own condition demands more or a vote by voting groups. Read the denominator carefully, because it is all votes entitled to be cast rather than those represented at the meeting. Notice is broader than the franchise: Section 180.1402(2) requires notice to each shareholder, whether or not entitled to vote, 10 to 60 days ahead under Section 180.0705(1), stating that acting on dissolution is a purpose of the meeting.

Question 5

Do I have to notify creditors before dissolving my Wisconsin corporation?

Accepted Answer

Not before, and not at all unless you want the protection. Both Wisconsin routes are permissive and both operate after the effective date. Section 180.1406(2) lets a dissolved corporation deliver written notice to known claimants, setting a deadline no fewer than 120 days after the notice takes effect under Section 180.0141(5); a notified claimant who misses it is barred, and one whose claim is rejected has 90 days to bring a proceeding. Section 180.1407(1) lets the corporation publish a class 1 notice under Chapter 985, which is a single insertion under Section 985.07(1), in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of its principal office, which bars anyone not already handled unless they sue within two years of the publication date. That notice reaches claims against directors, officers and shareholders too, not just the company.

Question 6

How long does a dissolved Wisconsin corporation keep exclusive use of its name?

Accepted Answer

120 days from the effective date of the articles, under Section 180.1405(3), unless the corporation registers the name under Section 180.0403(2). Form 10 turns this into an optional item with two boxes: waive exclusivity as of the effective date, or keep it until a stated date inside the 120 days. The form cannot run the other way. Its instructions say so expressly, that a dissolving corporation cannot use this form to lengthen the 120-day default, and that registering the name under Section 180.0403(2) is the route to a longer hold. Shortening the window is worth a thought if someone is waiting to take the name, and worth avoiding if you may still need to sign in the corporate name during winding up.

Question 7

Can a Wisconsin corporation undo its dissolution after the articles are filed?

Accepted Answer

Yes, within 120 days of the effective date of the dissolution, under Section 180.1404(1). Revocation has to be authorized the same way the dissolution was, except that the board may act alone where the incorporators authorized dissolution under Section 180.1401 or where the authorization permitted board-only revocation. You then file articles of revocation of dissolution together with a copy of the articles of dissolution, for $10 under Section 180.0122(1m)(q). The effect is unusually clean: Section 180.1404(4) makes the revocation relate back to the effective date of the dissolution, so the corporation may resume carrying on its business as if dissolution had never occurred. Past the 120 days, that door closes and reinstatement is a different and more expensive road.

Question 8

Does a Wisconsin articles of dissolution filing need notarization or a drafter name?

Accepted Answer

No notary, but yes to a drafter. Section 180.0120(3)(c) says the document may but need not contain a corporate seal, a secretary's attestation, or an acknowledgment, verification or proof, and Form 10 carries no notary block, no jurat and no penalty-of-perjury clause. Section 182.01(3) does require the drafter's name on articles of dissolution, in the form This document was drafted by, and the instructions add that a document executed outside Wisconsin should say so in that space. On signing: an officer signs, or an incorporator if directors were never selected, or a receiver, trustee or court-appointed fiduciary if the corporation is in such hands. A director cannot sign as a director, though a director who is also an officer may sign in the officer capacity. A knowingly false filing is a Class I felony under Section 180.0129.

Wisconsin Articles of Dissolution

Find out where you stand in Wisconsin

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Articles of Dissolution Template with DocDraft

Wisconsin Requirements for Articles of Dissolution

No Clearance Certificate and No Revenue Consent

Tax Assessments Sit Outside Both Claim Bars

Form 10, One Step, and Its Use Is Optional

Twenty Dollars Online, Thirty Five on Paper

Majority of All Votes Entitled to Be Cast

Elective Creditor Notice: 120 Days, 90 Days, 2 Years

Two 120-Day Clocks Start on the Effective Date

Drafter Name Required, Notarization Not

Frequently Asked Questions