Reinstatement

Most states require entities to pay annual fees and/or taxes, and maintain valid Registered Agent with physical address in the state. Failure to make the necessary payments or maintain a registered agent often leads to the company being suspended, forfeited, or administratively dissolved.

When that happens most of the time it’s possible to bring the company back to good standing by making all the necessary payments, or making other changes necessary, and filing for company reinstatement with the state.

Could It Be Too Late?

The answer to this question would depend on the state and the period of time your company was not in good standing. Some states have grace period during which the company can be reinstated, while other states allow indefinite reinstatement. Alabama is the only state that does not have reinstatement procedures, so once your company is administratively dissolved you need to file a new one.

What Is the Process of Reinstatement?

The answer to this question would again depend on the state and the current status of the company. Typically, we would first research the situation with the state to establish if the company can in fact be reinstated.

If the answer is positive we would inquire about the necessary fees, besides the actual fee for the reinstatement. Those would usually be the missing annual fees or taxes, plus whatever late fees added on top of them.

After that, if our client still wants to go ahead with the reinstatement we would prepare and file the necessary documents (in some states those would be Articles of Reinstatement or an equivalent document) and file with the state.