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How to Get a Certificate of Good Standing in North Dakota

North Dakota calls it the Certificate of Good Standing and charges $20. Here is how to order it and what must be current first.

At a glance

Document name
Certificate of Good Standing
State fee
$20
Online ordering
Yes
Typical turnaround
North Dakota publishes no turnaround for this certificate. The Secretary of State says only to submit a Request Certificate form in the FirstStop portal and pay $20. No mail channel is published either
Issuing office
North Dakota SOS ↗

How to order it

  1. Clear any past-due filings first. Check your entity status with the North Dakota SOS and resolve the requirements below. Tax clearance may be a separate document.
  2. Order it online. Search your LLC in the North Dakota portal, request the certificate, and download it. Link in the table above.
  3. Pay the $20 fee. Confirm payment methods and the total in the official portal; extra fees may apply.
  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 Dakota 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 North Dakota

North Dakota offers the Certificate of Good Standing for $20 total (statutorily $15 for the certificate under NDCC 54-09-11 plus a $5 records search fee under NDCC 54-09-04. Both sit in the Secretary of State chapter rather than in the LLC act, which is where a reader would look for them, and the $5 is mandatory rather than optional. North Dakota uses one document name for domestic and foreign LLCs and publishes no turnaround). Order through the FirstStop portal or contact the SOS directly for a Certificate of Fact. A separate Letter of Good Standing from the Office of State Tax Commissioner addresses tax compliance.

Important to know about North Dakota

  • The ND LLC Annual Report ($50, due November 15) must be current. Filing late adds a $50 late fee under N.D.C.C. 10-32.1-92, doubling the cost of the report. One year to reinstate before involuntary dissolution.
  • North Dakota certificates contain a raised seal embossed into the paper. Some foreign states require the physical raised-seal version - online PDF will not suffice.
  • The FirstStop portal replaced the older ND SOS filing system; older third-party guides still reference deprecated URLs. Always go through firststop.sos.nd.gov.

Ordering this to register in another state?

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

Related guides

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