To check if your business is in good standing online, go to the website of the state agency where you originally registered the company — in most states, the Secretary of State — and run a free business entity search using your company’s exact legal name or state-issued entity number. The result page will show a status field such as “Active,” “In Good Standing,” or “Current” if you’re compliant, or terms like “Revoked,” “Delinquent,” or “Dissolved” if something has gone wrong. The search takes a couple of minutes and costs nothing on official state portals.
Run the Free Entity Search on Your State’s Website
Nearly every state offers a free, searchable database of registered businesses. You don’t need an account, and you shouldn’t need to pay anything to look up your own entity.
The fastest way to find the right portal is to search for your state’s name plus “business entity search” and open the result on a .gov domain. Stick to official government sites. Third-party pages that mimic state portals often charge steep markups for information the state provides free. If a site is asking $50 just to run a search, you’re not on the official portal.
In most states, the Secretary of State’s office runs the database. A few states use a differently named agency. Maryland uses the Department of Assessments and Taxation. Delaware routes filings through its Division of Corporations. The name varies; the function is the same office that received your articles of incorporation or organization.
Once you’re on the portal, you’ll need one of two things to pull up your record:
- The exact legal name of the business, including suffixes like “LLC” or “Inc.”
- The entity number the state assigned when you registered.
The entity number is the more reliable identifier because multiple businesses can have similar names. You’ll find it on your original formation documents or on any prior correspondence from the filing office. It is not the same as the federal Employer Identification Number issued by the IRS; that’s a separate nine-digit number used for taxes.
Reading the Status Field
Once you’ve opened your entity’s profile, look for a status field. The exact wording varies by state. Reassuring results include:
- Active
- In Good Standing
- Current
Results that signal a problem include:
- Dissolved
- Revoked
- Forfeited
- Delinquent
- Inactive
Any of the second group means something has gone wrong with your compliance, and you’ll need to take corrective action before the entity can operate normally.
While you’re on the page, confirm the other information the state has on file: your principal address, registered agent, and officers. Outdated details here are often the first sign that a filing was missed, since many states send compliance notices to the registered agent address on record.
An “Active” Result Doesn’t Always Mean Fully Compliant
This is where owners get blindsided. In some states, the Secretary of State’s status field confirms only that you’ve met the filing requirements with that office. It says nothing about whether you’re current on state taxes. Tax compliance is tracked separately through the state’s Department of Revenue or Comptroller, and a separate tax clearance certificate may be needed to prove full compliance.
That gap matters most in three situations:
- Applying for a business loan, since lenders increasingly want both documents.
- Dissolving or withdrawing your business from a state.
- Reinstating a company that’s been administratively dissolved.
If you’re not sure whether your state separates these functions, call the Secretary of State’s office and ask. It’s a two-minute call that can save you from discovering the gap during a loan closing.
Check Every State Where You’re Registered
If your company does business outside its home state, you likely have a foreign qualification in each additional state, which creates a separate compliance record. Each state tracks your entity independently. You might be active and compliant in your home state but delinquent in a state where you forgot about a biennial report.
Run the search in every state where you’re registered, not just where you formed the company. The results may differ.
One common surprise: if you stopped doing business in a state but never formally withdrew the registration, you’re still on the hook for annual filings and fees there. The state doesn’t know you’ve left. Owners sometimes discover years later that a forgotten foreign qualification has accumulated penalties, or that the entity has been revoked in that state. Formally withdrawing from states you no longer operate in ends those ongoing obligations.
Order a Formal Certificate When a Third Party Needs Proof
The free search is enough for your own peace of mind, but banks, investors, and business partners usually want an official document bearing the state’s seal. Depending on the state, that document is called a Certificate of Good Standing, Certificate of Existence, Certificate of Status, or Certificate of Compliance. They all serve the same purpose: formal proof from the state that your business is currently authorized and compliant.
Most states let you order the certificate online through the same portal you used to search. You enter the entity name or number, pay the fee, and in many cases receive a PDF within minutes. Fees range widely — free in some states, around $50 in others, with most falling somewhere between $10 and $25. A few states still accept paper requests by mail, with processing times stretching from a couple of weeks to over a month.
If you need the document fast, check whether the state offers expedited processing. Many do, for an added fee. Rush orders typically run between $25 and $75 on top of the base cost.
How Current the Certificate Needs To Be
A certificate of good standing is a snapshot of your compliance status on the date it was issued. It doesn’t technically expire, but it becomes outdated the moment anything changes about your entity. In practice, most banks and business partners want a certificate issued within the last 30 to 90 days. If you’re preparing for a transaction, order the certificate close to the deadline rather than weeks in advance. An older one may be rejected, forcing you to pay for another.
What To Do If the Search Shows You’re Not in Good Standing
Discovering that your business has been dissolved or revoked is alarming, but in most states it’s fixable. The reinstatement process follows a predictable pattern, though the forms, fees, and deadlines vary by state.
- Fix the underlying problem first. That usually means filing all delinquent annual reports and paying overdue taxes, penalties, and interest.
- Obtain a tax clearance letter if the state requires one. Many states won’t process reinstatement until the revenue or comptroller office confirms your tax obligations are satisfied.
- File the reinstatement application with the Secretary of State (or equivalent) along with the filing fee. Reinstatement fees range from around $25 on the low end to several hundred dollars, depending on the state and how long the entity has been dissolved.
- Update your registered agent, principal address, and officer information if any of these have changed since the dissolution.
The critical detail most owners miss is the time limit. Many states only allow reinstatement within a window after dissolution, often somewhere between two and five years. Once that window closes, you may not be able to revive the entity at all, and you’d need to form a new one. If your search shows a revoked or dissolved status, don’t sit on it. The clock may already be running.
When reinstatement is approved, most states treat it as if the dissolution never happened. Your entity’s legal existence is considered continuous from the original formation date, which matters for contracts, licenses, and liability protection.
Staying Current After You Check
Checking your standing once is useful. Keeping it current is the real goal. Set a recurring annual reminder to verify your status in every state where you’re registered. Many state offices send email reminders if you opt in, but don’t rely on that as your only safety net.
Keep your registered agent’s information current, and make sure someone at the company is responsible for state compliance. For businesses registered in several states, a commercial registered agent service can centralize filings and deadline tracking. The annual cost is small next to the reinstatement fees, penalties, and legal complications that follow a lapse.