The annual report, state by state.

It is a periodic filing with the state that holds your registration, confirming the entity's record is still current. Different states give it different names and ask for it on different schedules, but the function is constant: the register stays accurate, and the state can see the entity is still active. It is a maintenance filing, not a tax return and not an accounting document.

The entity stops being in good standing with that state. That status is not just cosmetic. It shows up when a bank asks for a certificate, when another state processes a registration, and when anyone runs diligence on the company. States also have their own escalating consequences for records left uncorrected, and your state page sets out what that state does.

Yes, wherever you hold a registration. A company formed in one state and qualified into two others is on three registers, and each register maintains itself separately with its own name for the filing, its own cadence and its own deadline. This is the most common way a growing business ends up out of good standing somewhere it forgot it existed.

No, though the two get tangled because some states pair them. The report is a filing with the business register about the entity's record. A tax return goes to a tax authority about income. In some states the periodic obligation arrives as a tax filing rather than a report, which is exactly why the state page names the filing your state actually uses.

Generally any LLC or corporation that is active on a state's register, including entities that are registered but not currently trading. Being quiet is not the same as being closed, and the register does not know the difference. If you no longer want the obligation, the answer is a formal closure with the state rather than simply stopping the filings and hoping the record fades.

Yes. States take these directly and most of them online, and for a single entity in a single state it is a short job once a year. The reason people hand it over is the calendar rather than the form: several entities, several states, several different deadlines, and one missed date taking more attention than the whole year of filings put together.