Companies House Certificate of Good Standing
A certificate of good standing (also know as a certificate of compliance) is a status report provided by Companies House on a particular UK company and whether it is up-to-date with its present statutory filing and notification obligations.
The certificate of good standing given for a particular company will be affected by whether it has:
1. Statutory accounts which are overdue.
2. The company’s latest annual return has been filed at the appropriate time.
Whilst most companies generally do not require a certificate of good standing, those whose directors are largely based overseas and who wish to carry out business activities in those countries may be requested to produce one.
Foreign Branch of a UK Company
In cases where the directors wish to open a foreign branch of the UK company in their respective country, the Companies House equivalent in that country will want to ensure that the business entity in not in breach of any of the UK laws or regulations.
Once Companies House has issued the certificate of good standing is a valid for a period of three months from the date of issue.
The UK company obviously is required to be incorporated before a certificate of good standing can be issued for it.
Once the company has been incorporated however, there is no minimum period for which it has to be in existence before a certificate can be requested from Companies House.
