Comply overview - Palm API

Comply is Palm’s action layer. Where Verify confirms a business’s identity and Monitor watches for changes, Palm resolves compliance gaps through Comply and keeps businesses in good standing. When Palm submits a filing and the authority accepts it, the response updates the business’s record in Palm with state-confirmed data.

Image showcasing a confirmation screen for a filing.

How Comply works

Palm uses the data already in the vault to pre-fill state-specific forms and submit them. When the authority accepts the filing, Palm updates the business’s record with the confirmed data. This means you do not need a separate compliance vendor or a manual data collection step. The same business record you verified through Verify and track through Monitor is the one Comply files against.

What Comply covers

Comply spans the full business lifecycle in three stages:

Stage	What it does	Actions
Formation	Create the business entity	State filing, name availability, EIN application.
Ongoing Compliance	Keep it in good standing	Annual reports, registered agent services, foreign registration, amendments.
Remediation	Fix problems when they arise	Reinstatement, filing corrections.

Formation

Palm handles the full formation workflow — from validating the business name, to filing formation documents with the state, to applying for an EIN with the IRS. See Form a business and Apply for an EIN for the full integration guides.

Name availability: Palm checks whether a business name is available in the target state as part of submission validation. Prevents failed submissions and wasted filing fees.
State filing: Palm prepares and submits formation documents (Articles of Organization, Articles of Incorporation, etc.) to the state. Includes entity type selection, jurisdiction, and registered agent designation.
EIN application: Palm collects the required information and submits the application to the IRS. EIN applications work standalone or bundled with a formation.

Formation integrates with Onboard — a business formed through Palm is immediately available for verification and monitoring without re-entering data.

Ongoing Compliance

Palm keeps a business in good standing through its required filings and services.

Annual reports: Every state requires periodic filings to maintain good standing. Miss a deadline and the state can suspend or dissolve the registration. Palm handles the full lifecycle: determining required filings, deadlines, and fees for a jurisdiction and entity type; calculating due dates and fees (which vary by state, entity type, and factors like authorized shares or gross assets); pre-filling and submitting the state-specific form using data from the vault; and updating the business record when the filing is accepted.
Registered agent services: Every state-registered business must designate a registered agent to receive legal and government documents. Palm provides registered agent services managed entirely through the API:

Action	Description
Provision	Assign Palm as the registered agent, during formation or for existing businesses.
Status check	Query the current registered agent status for a business.
Document forwarding	Palm forwards legal and government documents received by the registered agent through the API.
Change	Switch to Palm, or from Palm to another provider. Palm handles the state-specific filing.
Termination	Discontinue registered agent services when a business dissolves, switches providers, or is offboarded.

Remediation

Palm resolves compliance problems that put a business at risk.

Reinstatement: When a business loses good standing through missed filings, unpaid fees, or administrative action, it may need to be reinstated before it can transact, open accounts, or meet regulatory requirements. Palm determines what is needed (back filings, penalties, forms), pre-fills from the existing record, and submits the full reinstatement package to the state. Reinstatement is typically triggered by a Monitor event — the business’s status changes to suspended, revoked, or dissolved, and Comply provides the path back to good standing.
Filing corrections: When data on file with the state is wrong (name, address, officer information), Palm prepares and submits the appropriate amendment or correction filing.

The filing object

Every action in Comply creates a filing — a tracked record that moves through a status lifecycle. Whether you submit it via the API or Palm initiates it on your behalf, the mechanics are the same: track its status, handle any information requests, and retrieve the result when it completes.

Status lifecycle

queued → ready_to_file → processing → filed → completed

Status	Meaning
`queued`	Filing received and validated. Preparing for submission.
`ready_to_file`	Palm is ready to submit the filing to the authority.
`processing`	Palm submitted the filing. The authority is processing it.
`filed`	Authority has accepted the filing. Awaiting final confirmation.
`completed`	Filing is done. Result is available (registration number, EIN, etc.).
`canceled`	Filing was canceled. See `status_reason` for details.

Information requests (cases)

Any time before a filing completes, Palm may need additional information from you — a value to correct, or a detail not collected at submission. When that happens, Palm opens a case on the filing and notifies you with a case.opened webhook. Each case includes a structured request with typed fields you respond to programmatically, so a single generic handler covers every case:

JSON

{
  "kind": "missing_information",
  "status": "needs_response",
  "summary": "Additional information needed to complete your filing.",
  "request": {
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "corrected_principal_address",
        "type": "string",
        "description": "The principal office address on the filing was incomplete. Provide the full street address.",
        "required": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Respond via POST /v1/case/{case_id}/response. See Cases for the full object, lifecycle, and how to respond.

Documents

Completed filings include documents — articles of organization, IRS confirmation letters, state certificates, and receipts. Each document has a type, a time-limited download URL, and an upload timestamp.

Fees

Filing fees vary by state, entity type, and filing method. Use the formation requirements endpoint to get fee estimates before submitting. The final amount paid is available on the filing record once it reaches completed, broken down by component (base, expedite, etc.).

How Comply connects to Onboard, Verify, and Monitor

Palm closes the loop through Comply.

Representation of how comply falls within the Palm product suite.

Product	Role
Onboard	Find the business — pull registration data.
Verify	Verify the business — confirm identity and compliance state.
Monitor	Subscribe to monitoring — watch for changes.
Comply	File on behalf of business — formation, EIN, annual reports, reinstatement.

Each product feeds the next. Verify creates the identity record. Monitor watches it. Comply acts on what Monitor finds. And every Comply filing updates the business record with state-confirmed data — every filing keeps the record accurate over time, not just checked once at onboarding.

When to use Comply

Embedded compliance for platforms: If your platform serves businesses, offering compliance as an embedded feature reduces churn and creates a recurring touchpoint. A business that files its annual report through your platform is less likely to leave it.
Lending and underwriting: A borrower that falls out of good standing is a covenant violation. Palm lets you cure compliance gaps programmatically through Comply rather than flagging them for manual follow-up.
Post-verification maintenance: Verification is a point-in-time check. Palm keeps the underlying record current through the compliance activity that is already required — each filing updates the record with state-confirmed data.
Formation follow-through: Businesses formed through Palm immediately need a registered agent and will need annual reports going forward. Ongoing compliance picks up where formation ends.

State coverage

Palm’s compliance infrastructure maps the filing requirements, deadlines, fee structures, and submission processes for all 50 US states and DC. Each state has different forms, different rules, and different submission methods — Palm normalizes this into a single interface. Coverage includes domestic and foreign entity filings. Filing frequencies vary by state (annual, biennial, or one-time), and fee calculations account for state-specific inputs like authorized shares, gross assets, or par value. For the current list of supported filing and entity types, contact us.

Before you begin

A Palm API key — Get access
For formation: business data can be collected fresh or pulled from an existing vault record.
For EIN: an existing business record with required vault fields populated.
For monitoring-triggered actions: a monitoring subscription — Monitor.

​How Comply works

​What Comply covers

​Formation

​Ongoing Compliance

​Remediation

​The filing object

​Status lifecycle

​Information requests (cases)

​Documents

​Fees

​How Comply connects to Onboard, Verify, and Monitor

​When to use Comply

​State coverage

​Before you begin

​Next steps

How Comply works

What Comply covers

Formation

Ongoing Compliance

Remediation

The filing object

Status lifecycle

Information requests (cases)

Documents

Fees

How Comply connects to Onboard, Verify, and Monitor

When to use Comply

State coverage

Before you begin

Next steps