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

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

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

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

   

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

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

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.

A West Virginia Good Standing Certificate is legal and official proof of Good Standing from the West Virginia Secretary of State.

If your Corporation, LLC or LP falls out of Good Standing with the WV Secretary of State it is technically illegal for your company to do business in the state of West Virginia or any other state. This could lead to the piercing of the corporate veil and make the owners of the West Virginia 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 a West Virginia Company depends on the exactly why the Corporation, LLC or LP is not in Good Standing. In some cases the fees for reinstatement of a West Virginia Company may be more expensive that those for walking away from the business and then creating an entirely new company.

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

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

In West Virginia a Good Standing Certificate is called a Certificate of Existence.   A West Virginia Certificate of Existence may be referred to by another name.

Yes. Each West Virginia Certificate of Existence includes a unique Validation ID which may be used to verify the Certificate with the West Virginia Secretary of State.

Yes.  A West Virginia Good Standing Certificate includes the Date of Incorporation for a West Virginia Corporation or the Date of Organization for a West Virginia LLC.

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

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

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

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

Each West Virginia Good Standing Certificate comes with a Validation ID.  A West Virginia Certificate of Good Standing may be verified using the Validation ID on the West Virginia Secretary of State web site.

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

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

In West Virginia a Tax Status Compliance Certificate is called a . A West Virginia is issued by the West Virginia 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 West Virginia for a West Virginia Attorney we can help.