Documents
What are Good Standing Certificates and for which companies can they be obtained?GOOD STANDING CERTIFICATE is a document obtained from the Corporation Bureau in PA (and the similar division in other states) that basically affirms that a company has not dissolved or otherwise been rendered incapable of performing legal acts. In PA, for a company to be "in bad standing" requires something drastic to have happened such as a merger, division or consolidation in which the company did not survive, or the filing of an actual dissolution (or withdraw if it is a foreign company).
OUT OF EXISTENCE affidavits filed at the Dept. of Revenue do NOT affect the company's good standing status nor does a failure of the company to file a decennial report (see out related FAQ's on both of these issues). The failure to file 3 successive tax reports for Revenue does NOT put the company is bad standing either. The only result that these three acts produce at the Corporation Bureau is a loss of name exclusivity, i.e. another company can grab the subject company's name.
GOOD STANDINGS...can be obtained for Corporations, LLC's, LP's, Municipal Authorities both foreign and domestic but can not be obtained for Fictitious Name Registrations. The work around here is to obtain something called a Great Seal Certificate. Call us for more information.