North Carolina Business Filings
Form a business in North Carolina
North Carolina business filings take about 5-7 business days and unfortunately the state does not accept faxed North Carolina business filings or embrace the world wide web, so you have to mail your filing in. If you’re in a hurry, you can pay the state an extra $150 and they’ll file your request within 1 day.
The principal office address listed on the filing does not have to be a North Carolina address. If you don’t live in NC, you can list your address wherever you are from. If you’d like it to remain a little more private, you can just check the box stating that you do not have a principal office.
The signatures on North Carolina business filings do not need to be original inked signatures. Electronic copies are fine to submit.
North Carolina Application for Registration
If you want your out of state company to do business in North Carolina, you need to complete the North Carolina Application for Registration. The state would wants an original certificate of good standing dated within 6 months. Some states only produce these documents online, like Wyoming. If the state of your formation or incorporation only makes these certificates this way, it is fine to get them online still. The state maintains a list of states and what they do though. So if your home state has both options for an electronic or original certificate, the State of N Carolina knows about it and will deny your North Carolina application for registration if you send in a home state certificate in an electronic format. So in English that means, if your state allows you to get them online, BUT still has an option to get an original, you have to waste your time and money ordering an original certificate. But if your state ONLY produces the certificates online, then you can send in an electronically produced certificate.