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How to Get a Certificate of Good Standing in North Carolina

North Carolina calls it the Certificate of Existence and charges $10. Here is how to order it and what must be current first.

At a glance

Document name
Certificate of Existence
State fee
$10
Online ordering
Yes
Typical turnaround
North Carolina publishes no turnaround for a certificate of existence. The only processing times the Business Registration Division publishes are 15 to 20 business days for entity creation and the same for authentications, and neither covers certificates
Issuing office
North Carolina SOS ↗

How to order it

  1. Clear any past-due filings first. The North Carolina 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 North Carolina portal, request the certificate, and download it. Link in the table above.
  3. Pay the $10 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 North Carolina state fee shown above · A filing service, not a registered agent. Ordering it yourself is cheaper and the steps above are the whole process.
Visit site ↗
Full ordering details for North Carolina

North Carolina prices this document by DOCUMENT FORMAT rather than by filing channel, and the two are mapped: ordering online produces an electronic certificate at $10, ordering by telephone produces a paper one at $15, both plus $1 per page. There is no mail ordering route. The stored fee follows the file convention of holding the online price. Note that the SOS fee tables list only the $15 line and omit the electronic $10 entirely, so the agency's own fee page is incomplete against both its statute and its own alert page. The electronic certificate is saved and reprinted as often as needed.

Processing and expedited tiers: North Carolina publishes no turnaround for a certificate of existence. The only processing times the Business Registration Division publishes are 15 to 20 business days for entity creation and the same for authentications, and neither covers certificates

Important to know about North Carolina

  • The NC LLC Annual Report ($200 by mail, $203 online by card or $202 by ACH, due April 15) is one of the highest annual-report fees in the country and must be current. The online difference is a non-refundable electronic filing fee, $3.00 on a credit card and $2.00 on ACH.
  • A well-known solicitation scam mails fake "Certificate of Existence" invoices for as much as $82. A legitimate NC Certificate of Existence is never more than $15 direct from the Secretary of State, and $10 for the electronic version.
  • For foreign-LLC filings INTO NC from another state, NC requires the home-state Certificate of Existence to be dated within 6 months of the foreign-qualification filing. This is stricter than the typical 30-90 day window.

Ordering this to register in another state?

A certificate of good standing from North Carolina is what the new state asks for when your North Carolina 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 North Carolina instead?

Related guides

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