{2 minutes to read}  Are you a business owner in Maryland who has just gone to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation website and found that your LLC or corporation is not in good standing? This article will explain to you why you might see that message and what you can do about it. 

First, why are you seeing the message on the website that your entity is not in good standing? Most likely, it's because you failed to either file a personal property tax return or file an annual report with the State of Maryland. It could be that you filed the personal property tax return, but you didn't pay the tax. Either of those situations will end up with the State Department stating that your company is not in good standing.

Fortunately, if the status is only 'not in good standing,' you can still correct it easily. What you need to do is go back and file the personal property tax returns or annual reports that have not yet been filed, and pay the tax that has not yet been paid. After you take those steps, you'll be able to convince the State Department that your company should now be in good standing and the 'not in good standing' message should be removed. If you don't correct it, the next step is 'charter forfeited,' which is a harder problem to resolve. 

Again, if you find out that your company is not in good standing, don't freak out. Make sure that you do those things that you should have done, pay any tax that you need to pay, and everything should be fine.

I'm Katherine Taylor, the lawyer for business owners. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tips on running your business.  

KATHERINE L. TAYLOR, ATTORNEY AND CPA

5850 Waterloo Rd

Suite 140

Columbia, MD21045

443-420-4075

443-420-4075 (fax)