LLC reinstatement · North Carolina

How to Reinstate a North Carolina LLC

The short answer. If your North Carolina LLC has been administratively dissolved, you restore it by filing an application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution with the North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division. The reinstatement fee is $100.

North Carolina LLC Reinstatement at a Glance

What North Carolina calls the statusAdministratively dissolved or suspended
What you fileApplication for Reinstatement Following Administrative Dissolution
Filed withNorth Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division
How to fileOnline or paper
Reinstatement fee$100
Time limit to reinstateNot confirmed
Tax clearanceNot confirmed
RetroactiveYes (see What reinstatement does)

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Why North Carolina Would Dissolve an LLC

The Secretary of State may dissolve an LLC that is 60 days late paying fees or penalties or delivering its annual report, has been 60 days without a registered agent or office or without reporting a change to them, or knowingly fails to answer the Secretary's interrogatories. Separately, an LLC that goes 90 days without filing a required tax report or return or paying a tax or fee is suspended at the Department of Revenue's request.

The LLC has 60 days to fix the problem before it can be administratively dissolved. The 60 days are counted after the Secretary of State mails notice of its determination that a ground exists.

How Long You Have to Reinstate

We have not confirmed whether North Carolina sets a deadline for reinstatement, so do not assume there is time to wait; check with the North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division as soon as you can.

How to File

You file an application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution with the North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division. You can file it online or on paper. Go to North Carolina's filing page.

What It Costs

The reinstatement fee is $100.

The LLC must correct every ground for its dissolution, which includes filing each missing annual report and paying the fee for each one.

We have not confirmed whether North Carolina requires a tax clearance to reinstate; check with the North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration Division.

Registered Agent Options

If your LLC's registered agent has changed, resigned or lapsed, ask the filing office named above whether North Carolinawants that updated as part of reinstatement. You do not have to buy a service for it: in most states the LLC's owner, or another individual who qualifies, may serve as its registered agent themselves, generally subject to that state's rules on keeping a street address in the state and being available there during normal business hours. A paid service is one option and not the only one. The North Carolina registered agent requirements set out what North Carolina itself asks.

Registered agent services for North Carolina LLCs

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This list is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and every claim below is about the services listed here rather than the whole market.

  • Best for: Privacy-focused owners and anyone who just needs an agent, not a formation bundle

  • Bizee$149/yr renewal

    Best for: A free first year on every plan, renewing at $149/yr, if you're comfortable with the BBB caveat

  • ZenBusiness$199/yr renewal

    Best for: First-time founders forming a new LLC who want phone, email and chat support

  • LegalZoom$249/yr renewal

    Best for: Complex structures that want attorney consultations, which come with LegalZoom's Pro and Premium formation plans rather than this renewal price

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Annual renewal is each provider's own standard published rate. Check the current terms at each provider before you buy. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is in our full formation services review →

What Reinstatement Does

Under North Carolina's law, a reinstated LLC continues as if it had never been administratively dissolved. Reinstatement is subject to the rights of anyone who reasonably relied, to their prejudice, on the certificate of dissolution.

If another business has taken the LLC's name in the meantime, the LLC needs a name that is still available to reinstate.

Worth Knowing in North Carolina

A Department of Revenue suspension is lifted through the Department of Revenue, not by the Secretary of State's application. The LLC files what is required, pays all state taxes, fees and penalties due, and pays the Secretary of Revenue a $25 reinstatement fee, and the reinstatement relates back to the date of suspension, subject to the rights of anyone who reasonably relied on the suspension to their prejudice.

More for North Carolina LLCs

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and filing office say about bringing back an LLC the state has dissolved, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you where your own LLC stands: that turns on why and when it was dissolved, what it still owes, and whether anyone has since taken its name, and fees and deadlines change between our reviews. Confirm your LLC's status and the current requirements with the filing office or tax agency named on this page, and ask a lawyer about anything the LLC did while it was dissolved. In many states a missed deadline ends the right to reinstate, so do not wait.

Related guides

LLC late fees by stateWhat a late annual report costs before it comes to dissolution →Annual report complianceDeadlines and fees for all 50 states, so it does not happen again →Annual report deadline finderEnter your formation date for your next due date →Certificate of good standingProve the LLC is active again once it is reinstated →Dissolving an LLCIf you would rather close the LLC properly than bring it back →
← All LLC guides

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified North Carolina sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

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Edmond Hui

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.