An Illinois Good Standing Certificate is issued by the Illinois Secretary of State and is often required for loans, to renew business licenses, or for tax or other business purposes in the state of Illinois or in any other state.

An Illinois Certificate of Good Standing is evidence that your Illinois business franchise - your Illinois Corporation, LLC or LP - is in Existence, is authorized to transact business in the state of Illinois, and complies with all state of Illinois business requirements and therefore is in "Good Standing" in the state of Illinois.

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

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

Total cost for an Illinois Good Standing Certificate depends on the type of company - Corporation, LLC, LLP, LP - and how fast you need the Certificate. Choose your options in the Good Standing Certificate Cost Calculator below to determine exactly how much your Illinois Good Standing Certificate will cost.

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

Along with the issuance date and signature of the Illinois Secretary of State, an Illinois Good Standing Certificate includes the following information:

A Corporation, LP or LLC that is registered in the state of Illinois may require an Illinois Good Standing Certificate to qualify as a "Foreign Corporation" in a state other than Illinois.  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 Illinois is a "Domestic Corporation" in California and a "Foreign Corporation" in the state of Illinois.

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

If your Corporation, LLC or LP falls out of Good Standing with the IL Secretary of State it is technically illegal for your company to do business in the state of Illinois or any other state. This could lead to the piercing of the corporate veil and make the owners of the Illinois 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 Illinois 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 Illinois Company may be more expensive that those for walking away from the business and then creating an entirely new company.

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

If you own an Illinois business and have not registered as a Corporation, LLC, LP or other legal entity with the Illinois Secretary of State, then you are a Sole Proprietor by default.  Nothing needs to be filed with the Illinois 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 Illinois 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 Illinois Business).

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

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

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

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

The Illinois 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 Illinois Secretary of State.  In our experience the time specified is the time it usually takes the Illinois Secretary of State to process Good Standing Certificate orders.  We get your Illinois Good Standing Certificate request to the IL Secretary of State ASAP.  Once it is at the state we have very little or no control over the Illinois Good Standing Certificate process.

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

Some institutions may request that an Illinois Good Standing Certificate be less than a certain number of days old.  Generally the information included on an Illinois 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 Illinois Good Standing Certificate is being used.

Each Illinois Good Standing Certificate comes with a File Number.  An Illinois Certificate of Good Standing may be verified using the File Number on the Illinois Secretary of State web site.

We can email you a copy of your Illinois Good Standing Certificate the same day, usually within 2-3 hours after we get your order.  If the recipient of your Illinois Certificate of Good Standing requires official validation, they can go to the Illinois Secretary of State web site for quick verification.  The web address to verify an Illinois Certificate of Good Standing on the Illinois Secretary of State web site is printed on each Illinois Good Standing Certificate.

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

In Illinois a Tax Status Compliance Certificate is called a Tax Clearance Certificate. An Illinois Tax Clearance Certificate is issued by the Illinois Department of Revenue and is sometimes called 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 Illinois for an Illinois Attorney we can help.

If you are ready to order an Illinois Good Standing Certificate now, simply fill in the Good Standing Certificate Order Form below and press the Place Order button. If you have any questions you can call us at 855-771-2477 or email us.