If you recently formed a business in Maryland, you may have started receiving mail from companies offering to send you a copy of the Articles of Incorporation (for a corporation) or Articles of Organization (for an LLC). These companies may also offer to send you a copy of a Certificate of Good Standing.
Do you need to order these documents? The answer is “maybe,” but if you do need these documents, you do not need to order them through a third-party company that will charge you a premium for copies of your business filings!

You may need a copy of the Articles of Incorporation/Articles of Organization or a Certificate of Good Standing when you try to open a business bank account, apply for business grants or loans, or take other actions on behalf of the business. You may even need a certified copy of the Certificate of Good Standing. Certified copies are official, state-approved documents that bear the seal and signature of the director of the Maryland SDAT. Suppose you need a Certificate of Good Standing or a certified copy of a document filed with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (“SDAT”). In that case, you can order a copy of the Certificate of Good Standing and a copy of the Articles of Incorporation/Articles of Organization directly from the Maryland SDAT Business Express website. The state does impose a fee for these documents, but it is much less than the amount that private companies often charge to go online and order the copies
for you.

If, for example, the bank at which you would like to open a business bank account requires a certified copy of the Certificate of Good Standing, it will cost a bit more to obtain a certified copy than a non-certified one. The good news is that you don't have to order from a company that will impose an additional charge just to order state documents for you! Skip the extra charges, and order copies of the documents that your business has filed with the SDAT by visiting the Maryland SDAT Business Express website (see the link below), search for the name of your business, and click on the business name. This will take you to the “General Information” page for your business. You can then hover over the “Options for this Business” drop down menu and click “Order Documents.”
If you have further questions about which mailings may be important or which documents your business will need, give us a call.

SDAT Business Express website