How do I get a Certificate of Good Standing?

This is a document issued by the Registrar when a company meets the following criteria:

• the company is currently registered and is not in liquidation or receivership;
• the company complied with its annual return filing requirements; and
• the company has no removal action pending.

A Certificate of Good Standing (COGS) does not reflect the financial position of the company.

A Certificate of Good Standing is mainly used when a company is required to prove that it is incorporated in New Zealand and that the Registrar is not taking any action to remove the company from the Register.  For example, such a certificate may be required by an agency in another country.

Step by step instructions

Step 1 - Request a Certificate of Good Standing - NZ$25

1. Begin by searching for the company using either the Quick Search or Standard Search options.  Read more about conducting a Register Search.
2. Once you have located the company using one of these search options, you can then request a Certificate of Good Standing from the 'Company Details' screen. 
   • Select the Certificate of Good Standing button in the top right hand corner of the company details screen.
   • If the company meets the criteria for a Certificate of Good Standing, the 'Email Certificate of Good Standing' screen will be displayed.  Enter the email address to which you want the certificate to be sent.
3. Select the Send button. 
4. The 'Pay Now' screen will be displayed.  Enter a reference to be printed on your invoice (optional), then select either Pay By Card, or select Charge Account to pay by direct debit.
5. On completion of payment, the certificate will be emailed to the nominated email address and a confirmation message will be displayed on your screen.  Press the Ctrl and P keys simultaneously to print a copy of this onscreen message for your records.
6. Select OK to return to the 'Company Details' screen.

Step 2 - Validate the document - FREE

Each certificate of good standing is issued with a validation code.  Document validation enables the authenticity of a document to be validated against the original issued by the Registrar.  An exact copy of the original document issued by the Registrar is delivered by email for comparison.  This removes the need to have documents authenticated by a third party. 

Read more about validating a document.