Proof your US LLC is in good standing,
ordered for the week your bank needs it.
A Certificate of Good Standing is the state-issued document confirming your US LLC legally exists, is current on annual report and franchise tax, and is authorized in its state. Banks, Stripe and lenders reject stale ones. Monezzi orders fresh from the right Secretary of State.
Focus on your customers, we will handle the bureaucracy.
Sources: official state Secretary of State portals — Wyoming Secretary of State (wyobiz.wyo.gov), Delaware Division of Corporations (corp.delaware.gov), and Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations (sunbiz.org). Issue time, fee, and certificate format vary by state.
Why a Certificate of Good Standing matters
Four concrete moments where a fresh certificate is the difference between an approved application and a rejected one.
Bank account verification
Mercury, Relay, Chase and Bank of America ask for a recent Certificate of Good Standing at new-account onboarding and on the annual review cycle. Stale or missing certificates pause the account.
Stripe Connect reverification
Stripe reverifies the legal entity behind a Connect account periodically — typically every six months for non-US founders. A current state certificate is the document Stripe uses to confirm the LLC is still active.
State-to-state expansion (foreign qualification)
When your Wyoming or Delaware LLC opens operations in a second state, that state requires a Certificate of Good Standing from the home state, dated within 30 to 90 days, to register the foreign entity.
Lender and M&A due diligence
Loan applications, investor due diligence, contract counterparties, and any acquisition or licensing transaction will request a current certificate as evidence the entity is in legal standing on the closing date.
The state portals are built for in-state attorneys. Three places non-US founders lose money or time.
Delaware routes most filings through a registered agent login and does not offer an open-public ordering flow for entity certificates. Wyoming is online, but the search-by-name flow is state-specific UX that throws errors on non-US billing addresses. We already hold the access path for every state we file in.
Delaware offers same-day, 2-hour and 1-hour expedite tiers with very different fees. Wyoming usually does not need any. Buy the wrong tier and you either burn cash you did not need to or miss the deadline by a day. We pick the tier from the downstream deadline backward.
Order it five months before the bank review and the bank rejects it as stale. Order it the day before and the state has not issued it yet. Timing is the entire game — we order it to land inside the receiving institution's validity window, not yours.
"Good Standing certificates are time-bounded. Banks reject anything older than 90 days at submission, Stripe reverifies every 6 months. We schedule the order so it lands inside your downstream window — not when the founder happens to remember."
Certificate of Good Standing — Key Details
A Certificate of Good Standing is issued by the Secretary of State in your LLC's state of formation. Format, fee, issue time and certificate ID structure are set by the state, not by Monezzi.
Who issues it
The Secretary of State (or Division of Corporations) in the state where the LLC was formed — Wyoming, Delaware, Florida and the other 47 states each issue their own format.
What it confirms
That the LLC is legally formed, current on its annual report, current on state franchise tax, has a registered agent on file, and is authorized to transact business in that state on the issue date.
Issue time and fee
Typically 1 to 5 business days at the base tier; same-day or 1-hour expedite available in most states for an extra $25 to $200. Base certificate fee runs $5 to $50.
Validity at receiving institutions
The state does not stamp an expiration date. The receiving party does — banks typically accept 90 days, lenders sometimes require 30, Stripe reverifies on a roughly 6-month cycle.
How we assist — step by step
We back-time the order from your downstream deadline, fix any prerequisite standing problems first, then ship the certificate into your Documents vault.
Confirm the downstream deadline and the receiving institution
We start with the date the bank, Stripe, lender or second-state filing actually needs the certificate. That date dictates everything else — issue date, expedite tier, validity buffer.
Pre-check standing with the Secretary of State
We look up the LLC in the state portal to confirm annual report is filed, state franchise tax is paid, and RA is on file. If standing has lapsed we file the reinstatement first — otherwise the state will simply refuse to issue the certificate.
Order from the Secretary of State at the right tier
We submit the order through the state portal using the access path appropriate to that state (Wyoming open online, Delaware via RA login, Florida via sunbiz). We pick the expedite tier from your deadline backward — no expedite when you do not need it.
Receive, verify, store
When the state issues the certificate we verify the entity name, formation date and certificate ID, then store the PDF in your Documents vault and notify you with the file ready to forward.
Forward to the receiving institution inside its validity window
We hand the file to your bank, Stripe, lender or foreign-qualification filing on the day the validity window opens — not earlier, not later. If the institution comes back with a freshness objection later in the year, we re-order on the next cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about Certificates of Good Standing for non-US LLC founders.
A Certificate of Good Standing is an official document issued by the Secretary of State in your state of formation (Wyoming, Delaware, Florida, etc.). It confirms that your LLC legally exists, is current on its annual report and state franchise tax, and has the right to do business in that state on the date the certificate is issued.
The most common triggers are: a US bank account application or annual bank review (Mercury, Relay, Chase, Bank of America), Stripe Connect reverification, a lender or investor due-diligence request, foreign qualification when you expand operations into a second state, and any M&A or licensing transaction where the counterparty needs proof the LLC is in good standing.
The state itself does not stamp an expiration date — the receiving institution does. Most US banks reject certificates older than 90 days at submission, Stripe reverifies on a roughly 6-month cycle, and some lenders require a certificate dated within 30 days. Plan the order date around the downstream deadline, not the other way around.
Yes. Foreign qualification — registering your home-state LLC to do business in a second state — almost always requires a Certificate of Good Standing from the home state, dated within 30 to 90 days of the foreign-qualification filing. The receiving state uses it to confirm the entity actually exists where you say it does.
The base certificate fee ranges from about $5 to $50 depending on the state. Expedite fees vary widely — Delaware can add $25 to $200 for same-day or 1-hour service, Wyoming typically does not need an expedite. We only recommend expedite when the downstream deadline genuinely requires it, so you do not overspend out of habit.
No. Once the LLC has been dissolved or administratively cancelled by the state, the Secretary of State will not issue a Certificate of Good Standing. If you have missed an annual report and the entity has slipped into delinquent or forfeited status, we first file the reinstatement, pay the back fees, and only then order the certificate.
No. The certificate only confirms standing with the issuing state — annual report filed, state franchise tax paid, RA on file. Federal tax compliance (Form 5472, Pro-Forma 1120, payroll filings) is a separate matter handled by the IRS and is never reflected on the state certificate.