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How to Get a Certificate of Good Standing in Maine

Maine calls it the Certificate of Existence and charges $30. Here is how to order it and what must be current first.

At a glance

Document name
Certificate of Existence
State fee
$30
Online ordering
Yes
Typical turnaround
Online: immediate via Interactive Corporate Services. Mail: processing may be slower due to backlog
Issuing office
Maine SOS ↗

How to order it

  1. Clear any past-due filings first. The Maine SOS will not issue a certificate while you have unpaid tax or an unfiled report. The state-specific requirements are in the points below.
  2. Order it online. Search your LLC in the Maine portal, request the certificate, and download it. Link in the table above.
  3. Pay the $30 fee. Pay by card at checkout. A small card surcharge usually applies.
  4. Use it inside the recipient's window. The certificate has no state expiration, but banks and other states usually want one dated within the last 30 to 90 days. Order it close to when you need it.

Would rather not deal with the agency yourself?

CorpNet orders the certificate for you
$69 service fee, plus the Maine state fee shown above · A filing service, not a registered agent. Ordering it yourself is cheaper and the steps above are the whole process.
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Full ordering details for Maine

Maine charges $30 for this, or $10 for a nonprofit. Maine publishes expedited tiers of $50 for within 24 hours and $100 for immediate, but those are sold on FILINGS: the online Certificate of Existence already downloads on demand, so there is nothing to expedite. It calls the document a Certificate of Existence for a domestic entity and a Certificate of QUALIFICATION for a foreign one, under 31 M.R.S. 1664. Order online through the Bureau of Corporations Interactive Corporate Services, ICRS, which needs an InforME subscription account or a card at the time of order; the ICRS menu names only the existence certificate, so a foreign filer may have to use post or the counter. Note that a Certificate of Fact costs the same $30, so the price does not tell you which document you have ordered.

Processing and expedited tiers: Online: immediate via Interactive Corporate Services. Mail: processing may be slower due to backlog

Important to know about Maine

  • Maine puts the annual report on the face of the certificate. 31 M.R.S. 1664 requires it to state whether "the most recent annual report required by section 1519 has been filed" and that "all fees and penalties owed to the State have been paid in full", so a lapsed report shows up in the document itself rather than merely risking dissolution. The report is $85 for a domestic LLC and $150 for a foreign one, due June 1, with a $50 late penalty, and 60 days past due triggers administrative dissolution. File it before ordering.
  • Maine has severe processing backlogs for paper corporate filings: the Bureau published 40-55 business days on 2026-08-16. That figure governs FILINGS, not certificate orders, and the online Certificate of Existence downloads on demand. Maine also warns that "due to the high volume of expedited filing requests, there may be a delay in processing", so even the $50 and $100 expedites are slipping.
  • For foreign-state apostilles/authentications, Maine requires a paper request that cannot be processed through the online ICRS system.

Ordering this to register in another state?

A certificate of good standing from Maine is what the new state asks for when your Maine LLC registers to do business there. Pick the state you are expanding into to see its exact filing, fee, and process.

Find your state-to-state guide · Registering an out-of-state LLC into Maine instead?

Related guides

This page provides general information based on publicly available Maine Secretary of State requirements. It is not legal advice. Names, fees, and procedures can change. Verify with the Maine SOS before ordering.