{"id":194837,"date":"2025-04-06T13:54:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T12:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/?p=194837"},"modified":"2025-04-10T15:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:27:42","slug":"certificate-of-good-standing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Certificate Of Good Standing &#038; How Do I Get One?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'><\/div><p><strong>Converting a business to a company comes with a host of advantages, and many of those advantages come in the form of stability, regulatory compliance and trust. A certificate of good standing is an official document that acts as a full-blown mark of approval in these areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But what is a certificate of good standing, and how do you get one? In RealBusiness, we will outline exactly this, as well as what it can do for your company, who may need it and more.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-684fdb379149a\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-684fdb379149a\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#Understanding_What_A_Certificate_Of_Good_Standing_Is\" >Understanding What A Certificate Of Good Standing Is<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#What_can_a_certificate_of_good_standing_do\" >What can a certificate of good standing do?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#What_optional_details_can_you_include_in_a_certificate_of_good_standing\" >What optional details can you include in a certificate of good standing?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#How_does_a_certificate_of_good_standing_help_with_international_trade\" >How does a certificate of good standing help with international trade?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#What_is_the_Hague_Convention_and_its_countries\" >What is the Hague Convention and its countries?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/certificate-of-good-standing\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_What_A_Certificate_Of_Good_Standing_Is\"><\/span>Understanding What A Certificate Of Good Standing Is<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A certificate of good standing is an official document issued by Companies House to prove that a company legitimately exists and has become eligible for this status. To achieve this, the company needs to have done the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Become incorporated &#8211; <\/strong>This means your company has completed the incorporation process and become a UK company.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Directors &#8211; <\/strong>It has the correct number of company directors (a PLC requires at least two directors).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Completed filing &#8211; <\/strong>It has all annual accounts and confirmation statements filed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Office address &#8211; <\/strong>It has a registered office address that is valid and active.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A certificate of good standing is made up of the following company details:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Company name &#8211; <\/strong>The name that you&#8217;ve chosen for your company.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Company number &#8211; <\/strong>A unique identification number issued during incorporation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Date of incorporation &#8211; <\/strong>This confirms how long the company has had a continuous unbroken existence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Statement of good standing &#8211; <\/strong>It confirms all of the points in the previous section.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can get a certificate of good standing by doing the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Submit request &#8211; <\/strong>Submit a request online via companies house&#8217;s website. You can also request by post, but it&#8217;s much slower.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pay the fee &#8211; <\/strong>Prices are as follows:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Standard &#8211; <\/strong>A standard costs \u00a315 and takes five working days to arrive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Express service &#8211; <\/strong>Express service costs \u00a350, and you can get the certificate of good standing the same day if ordered before 11AM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Receive the certification &#8211; <\/strong>You will get it as a paper document.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_can_a_certificate_of_good_standing_do\"><\/span>What can a certificate of good standing do?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The document proves several things about your company:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Validity &#8211; <\/strong>It is legally valid.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Uninterrupted existence &#8211; <\/strong>This proves the company is healthy enough &#8211; having never been dissolved, failed to meet statutory filing requirements and legal obligations, and is not entered liquidation\/administration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compliant &#8211; <\/strong>The company is fully compliant with UK regulations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Complete filing &#8211; <\/strong>It has filed both confirmation statements and annual accounts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Directors &#8211; <\/strong>It has the correct number of directors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Address &#8211; <\/strong>It has a registered office address.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>All of these traits give confidence to business partners, banks and regulators.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-194843 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-3.jpg\" alt=\"LLC\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-194843 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-3.jpg\" alt=\"LLC\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-3.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_optional_details_can_you_include_in_a_certificate_of_good_standing\"><\/span>What optional details can you include in a certificate of good standing?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When you request a certificate of good standing from companies house, you can choose whether or not to include specific details within for various reasons. The more company information you include, the more informed anyone who verifies the certificate of good standing will be. But this may require keeping said information updated, or it could clue them in to an element they dislike (such as certain shareholders being too powerful).<\/p>\n<p>These details are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Company&#8217;s registered office address &#8211; <\/strong> The official address on public record, and where the company is legally based.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Directors names &#8211; <\/strong>You can choose whether or not to make the director names public. When trading overseas, authorities may want to confirm a natural person holds dictatorship.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Statement of capital &#8211; <\/strong>This outlines and confirms the capital structure, giving people an idea of the scale of ownership, verification of financial structure and more. It breaks things down into the following:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Class of shares &#8211; <\/strong>This refers to the types of shares issued by the company, such as:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ordinary shares &#8211; <\/strong>Standard shares with equal voting rights and dividends.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Preference shares &#8211; <\/strong>Often feature fixed dividends and are given higher priority in the event of liquidation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Redeemable shares &#8211; <\/strong>These can be bought back by the company at a future date. Each class may have different rights attached &#8211; voting, dividend or return of capital.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Number of shares issued &#8211; <\/strong>Total shares that have been allocated to shareholders.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nominal value per share &#8211; <\/strong>The face value of each share (e.g. \u00a31 per share).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total nominal value &#8211; <\/strong>Aggregate value of all issued shares (e.g 100 shares at \u00a31 = \u00a3100).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Currency &#8211; <\/strong>GBP, typically.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shareholder information &#8211; <\/strong>Names of shareholders can be added if required, but it will remain valid only as a snapshot of the date, meaning it may need to be brought up to date in the event of shareholders leaving.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Company&#8217;s objects &#8211; <\/strong>The stated business purposes from the memorandum of association.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Statement of significant control (PSC) &#8211;<\/strong> Identifies the individuals, or entities, that have major influence over the company. This will give a full window into the powers of the company itself.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_does_a_certificate_of_good_standing_help_with_international_trade\"><\/span>How does a certificate of good standing help with international trade?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t. A certificate of good standing only denotes that the UK government recognises a company, and in most cases, it won&#8217;t be enough for most cases with foreign jurisdictions &#8211; although private companies may make an exception.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, there is a way around this &#8211; making your document an apostilled certificate. You can do so by sending your certificate of good standing to the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office<\/a> and submit your apostille application online.<\/p>\n<p>This will give your certificate the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Widened recognition &#8211; <\/strong>An apostilled certificate of good standing doesn&#8217;t change the contents, it serves as a government-level stamp of approval.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Allows trade overseas &#8211; <\/strong>Foreign authorities in Hague Convention countries accept it fully.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prevents forgery &#8211; <\/strong>Apostillisation means that the government has checked and authorised it, reducing fraud risk significantly.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Foreign companies and overseas regulators in the Hague Convention view an apostilled certificate of good standing favourably, as it confirms your company has the valid pre-requisites to do business.<\/p>\n<p>It enables the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Open overseas business bank account &#8211; <\/strong>Foreign banks often demand a certificate of good standing to confirm your company is legally registered and active in the UK.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Register with foreign authorities &#8211; <\/strong>Some countries require a certificate before allowing local branch establishments, applications for trading licenses and tax registration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enter contracts with foreign companies &#8211; <\/strong>Overseas partners may ask for it to prove your legal status.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Foreign regulatory obligations &#8211; <\/strong>Overseas regulators use it during the due diligence process for easy confirmation of the company&#8217;s existence, governance and compliance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meet customs and compliance &#8211; <\/strong>When declaring goods, applying for import\/export permits or verifying ownership, a certificate of good standing does half the work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_Hague_Convention_and_its_countries\"><\/span>What is the Hague Convention and its countries?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Hague Convention refers to the 5th of October 1961 convention that took place in Hague, where the 120 country-wide international treaty simplified their overseas trade verification process via the &#8220;Abolishment Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The simplification was the government-level mark of approval known as apostillisation. Although there are too many countries to go through, the top ten countries in GDP that signed this convention are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>United States<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>China<\/strong><em>(Mainland China joined in 2023)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Japan<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Germany<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>United Kingdom<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>France<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Italy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>South Korea<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Canada<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-194839 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hague Apostatised\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-194839 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hague Apostatised\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Certificate-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In the end, a certificate of good standing is a mark of honour amongst UK businesses, but requires apostillation if the company&#8217;s operations ever expand overseas. Once you have it, though, you&#8217;ll find that Hague Convention countries will simplify most of your foreign business dealings and streamline your company&#8217;s growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Converting a business to a company comes with a host of advantages, and many of those advantages come in the form of stability, regulatory compliance and trust. A certificate of good standing is an official document that acts as a full-blown mark of approval in these areas. But what is a certificate of good standing, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26234,"featured_media":194838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11974],"tags":[12219,2417,12218,12211],"class_list":["post-194837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-certificate-of-good-standing","tag-international-trade","tag-p-march","tag-p2025"],"views":161,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}