Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 181.1501

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Property: includes real and personal property. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • State: when applied to states of the United States, includes the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the several territories organized by Congress. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
   (1)    In general. A foreign corporation may not transact business in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority from the department.
   (2)   Permitted activities. The following activities, among others, do not constitute transacting business in this state within the meaning of this subchapter:
      (a)    Maintaining, defending or settling any civil, criminal, administrative or investigatory proceeding.
      (b)    Holding meetings of the board or members or carrying on other activities concerning internal corporate affairs.
      (c)    Maintaining bank accounts.
      (d)    Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange and registration of the foreign corporation’s memberships or maintaining trustees or depositaries with respect to those memberships.
      (e)    Selling through independent contractors.
      (f)    Soliciting or obtaining orders, whether by mail or through employees or agents or otherwise, if the orders require acceptance outside this state before they become contracts.
      (g)    Creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages and security interests in property.
      (h)    Securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and security interests in property securing the debts.
      (i)    Owning, without more, property.
      (j)    Conducting an isolated transaction that is completed within 30 days and that is not one in the course of repeated transactions of a like nature.
      (k)    Transacting business in interstate commerce.