Keeping the company in good standing · A term for founders abroad
What is a certificate of authority?
The document a state issues when a company formed elsewhere registers to do business there; the result of foreign qualification.
Checked against the IRS's instructions and the states' own rules. Reviewed by Saais Patel, compliance reviewer.
Term 16 of 105 in the glossary, filed under C.California Secretary of State: Form LLC-5, foreign LLC registration
Certificate of authority, for a founder abroad.
A Wyoming LLC that opens premises in Florida applies to Florida for authority to do business there, with a certificate of good standing from Wyoming and a Florida registered agent. Once Florida issues a certificate of authority, the company files Florida's annual report and pays its fees alongside Wyoming's. Some states call the same thing a registration.
It's the document that comes out of foreign qualification. Doing business in a state without one can bar the company from that state's courts and bring back fees and penalties.
Sources: California Secretary of State: Form LLC-5, foreign LLC registration; Texas Secretary of State: Form 304, foreign LLC registration.
Read next · guide · 2 minForeign qualification: when a Wyoming company has to register in another state, and howWhat founders ask next.
- Do I need a certificate of authority to sell online into a state?
- Not usually. It's for doing business in the state: an office, staff, stock or property there.
- What does a certificate of authority cost?
- The other state's fee, from $70 in California to $750 in Texas, plus its yearly filings.
03 · See also
- Keeping the company in good standingForeign qualificationRegistering a company in a second state where it does business; "foreign" here means from another state, not another country.Read the term
- Keeping the company in good standingGood standingThe status of a company that has filed and paid everything its state requires; lost by missing a report or tax, and proved by a certificate.Read the term
- Keeping the company in good standingAnnual reportThe yearly filing a state requires to keep a company in good standing: $60 in Wyoming; a Delaware LLC files none and pays a yearly tax instead.Read the term
- Keeping the company in good standingWyoming annual report licence taxWyoming's yearly charge on an LLC: $60, or $0.0002 per dollar of Wyoming assets if more, due on the first day of the month it was formed in.Read the term
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