An Ohio Good Standing Certificate is issued by the Ohio Secretary of State and is often required for loans, to renew business licenses, or for tax or other business purposes in the state of Ohio or in any other state. An Ohio Certificate of Good Standing is evidence that your Ohio business franchise - your Ohio Corporation, LLC or LP - is in Existence, is authorized to transact business in the state of Ohio, and complies with all state of Ohio business requirements and therefore is in "Good Standing" in the state of Ohio.

Also known as an Ohio Certificate of Existence, an Ohio Certificate of Status or an Ohio Certificate of Authority, an Ohio Good Standing Certificate is a one page document which looks like a letter and bears the seal of the state of Ohio Secretary of State. An Ohio Good Standing Certificate is provided by the Ohio Secretary of State and is conclusive evidence of the existence of your Ohio business franchise. In most cases an Ohio Certificate of Good Standing can be valid up to a year depending on the requirements of the Good Standing Certificate requester.

To obtain an Ohio Good Standing Certificate, your company must be registered as a legal entity with the Ohio Secretary of State, i.e., your company is in existence in the state of Ohio, and cannot be in default of Ohio corporate rules, or suspended by the state of Ohio.

Total cost for an Ohio Good Standing Certificate depends on how fast you need the Certificate.  You can get the EXACT fee using our Ohio Good Standing Cost Estimator.

   

• The Ohio company must be registered as a legal entity with the Ohio Secretary of State as a Corporation, LLC or LP.
• The Ohio company cannot be in default or suspended as defined by the laws of the state of Ohio.
• The Ohio company must have filed all reports required by the Ohio Secretary of State or any other state of Ohio agency.

A Corporation, LP or LLC that is registered in the state of Ohio may require an Ohio Good Standing Certificate to qualify as a "Foreign Corporation" in a state other than Ohio.  A Foreign Corporation is a Corporation that is registered with a state agency, usually the Secretary of State, in one state and has the Authority to do business in another state. 

For example, a Corporation registered in the state of California that plans to do business in the state of Ohio is a "Domestic Corporation" in California and a "Foreign Corporation" in the state of Ohio.

All states require you to register as a Foreign Corporation with a state agency, usually the Secretary of State, in order to do business in their state.  In order to register as a Foreign Corporation in any state you must provide evidence that you are registered and are in Good Standing in another state as a Domestic Corporation or LLC.  This evidence is a Certificate of Good Standing from the state in which your Corporation or LLC was originally formed.

An Ohio Good Standing Certificate is legal and official proof of Good Standing from the Ohio Secretary of State.

If your Corporation, LLC or LP falls out of Good Standing with the OH Secretary of State it is technically illegal for your company to do business in the state of Ohio or any other state. This could lead to the piercing of the corporate veil and make the owners of the Ohio business liable for penalties and law suits.

In order to get back into Good Standing you will have to pay a Reinstatement Fee.

The cost to Reinstate an Ohio Company depends on the exactly why the Corporation, LLC or LP is not in Good Standing. In some cases the fees for reinstatement of an Ohio Company may be more expensive that those for walking away from the business and then creating an entirely new company.

An Ohio Good Standing Certificate is issued by the Ohio Secretary of State for business entities that have registered with the state of Ohio.  A Sole Proprietorship or DBA is not normally registered with the Ohio Secretary of State so an Ohio Certificate of Good Standing cannot be issued for them.

If you own an Ohio business and have not registered as a Corporation, LLC, LP or other legal entity with the Ohio Secretary of State, then you are a Sole Proprietor by default.  Nothing needs to be filed with the Ohio Secretary of State to create a Sole Proprietorship.  If you plan to use a name different from your first and last name then you would register in the Ohio county in which you do business with your first and last name "Doing Business As" (DBA) the name of your business (for example: Sue Smith, DBA Sue's Ohio Business).

An Ohio Good Standing Certificate may be referred to by another name.

Yes. Each Ohio Good Standing Certificate includes a unique Validation Number which may be used to verify the Certificate with the Ohio Secretary of State.

Yes.  An Ohio Good Standing Certificate includes the Date of Incorporation for an Ohio Corporation or the Date of Organization for an Ohio LLC.

If you place your order for an Ohio Good Standing Certificate before 1 PM Ohio time we can get your Ohio Good Standing Certificate as fast as 2-3 hours. We will send you a scanned copy of your Ohio Good Standing Certificate by email as soon as we get it from the OH Secretary of State.

The Ohio Secretary of State reserves the right to extend expedite periods in time of extreme volume, staff shortage or equipment malfunction.  We are dependent on, and have no control over, the staff and systems of the Ohio Secretary of State.  In our experience the time specified is the time it usually takes the Ohio Secretary of State to process Good Standing Certificate orders.  We get your Ohio Good Standing Certificate request to the OH Secretary of State ASAP.  Once it is at the state we have very little or no control over the Ohio Good Standing Certificate process.

A valid expiration date is not written on an Ohio Good Standing Certificate.  The validity of an Ohio Certificate of Good Standing is usually determined by the intended recipient of the Good Standing Certificate.

Some institutions may request that an Ohio Good Standing Certificate be less than a certain number of days old.  Generally the information included on an Ohio Certificate of Good Standing is implied to be valid for 60-90 days but it really depends on the nature of the business for which the Ohio Good Standing Certificate is being used.

If you need to verify that all outstanding tax liabilities for a Ohio Corporation or Ohio LLC have been paid then you need an Ohio Tax Status Compliance Certificate.

In Ohio a Tax Status Compliance Certificate is called a Form D5. An Ohio Form D5 is issued by the Ohio Department of Revenue and is sometimes called a Tax Clearance Certificate or an Entity Status Letter or a Certificate of Account Status.

If you need a Good Standing Certificate from the highest Court in the state of Ohio for an Ohio Attorney we can help.