Posted on: October 18th, 2014
You log on to the California Secretary of State’s website and discover that your business entity has been suspended. Now what? Hopefully this won’t be a surprise to you but if so, there are a couple of reasons why this could have happened:
1) the California Franchise Tax Board suspended your business for failing to file a tax return or failing to pay taxes; and/or
2) the Secretary of State suspended the business for failing to file the required Statement of Information.
If your business was suspended for failing to file tax returns, the business can apply in writing to the Franchise Tax Board for a Certificate of Revivor. Once received, the Franchise Tax Board will send you information of what is required to bring the business back into compliance. To obtain the Certificate of Revivor, the business must file all delinquent tax returns and pay all unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest which caused the suspension, plus any other amounts owed. The Franchise Tax Board may revive an entity to good standing without full payment of the taxes if it determines that the revivor will improve the prospects for collection of taxes owed (i.e., they are going to get paid).
Once the entity is in compliance, the Franchise Tax Board will send an Entity Status Letter that indicates the business is now in good standing.
If your business was suspended for failing to file a Statement of Information, a current Statement of Information will need to be filed. Once the Secretary of State receives this required form, the entity will be returned to “good standing.”
If your business was suspended by both the Franchise Tax Board and the Secretary of State, you should file the Statement of Information first and then apply for the Certificate of Revivor once the letter of relief from suspension is received.