Reinstate a Business

The Clerk’s Information System, or CIS, is a new tool that makes it faster and easier to do business in Virginia. You can file papers, make payments, and manage business activities online at CIS.SCC.virginia.gov

Let's take a look at how you can reinstate an inactive business within the CIS. Start by logging into the system. Navigate to the online services page and choose existing businesses to get started.

You will then need to select if you are reinstating a Virginia or foreign business and the business type. Once you have made those selections, choose reinstatement as the filing type and continue to the next step. 

You will then need to locate your business. Please note, that only businesses which have been inactive for less than five years are eligible to be reinstated. Once you locate your business, click on the button next to the business name to select it.

Enter email address and contact information. This is where the electronic receipt will be sent. You may see additional filings that will need to be completed prior to processing your reinstatement. Don't worry, the CIS will walk you through those filings later in the process. 

You are only required to upload attachments with your filing if you are a foreign business and have filed amendments, mergers, or other pertinent documents in your home state while the business was inactive in Virginia. Please note that adding attachments will slow down the processing time of your filing as they will need to be reviewed by the Clerk's Office. 

Enter signature information for the filing either as an individual or on behalf of the business. Click Add to electronically sign the document and continue to the next step. 

At this point you may have additional filings required to complete the reinstatement such as outstanding fees or annual reports. To complete these filings, click the Start Filing button. The system will walk you through the required filing and return you to this page to complete your reinstatement. 

Once you have completed all additional filings, click Next to review the reinstatement. 

Review all information shown on the review screen. If you need to edit a specific section of the reinstatement, click Edit to make any necessary changes, otherwise you can add the filing to your shopping cart. 

You can now proceed to checkout and pay for your reinstatement filing. If you have not uploaded any attachments to your filing, your business will now be listed with an active status and your reinstatement verification documents can be found under the Correspondence tab of your dashboard. 

If your reinstatement has been sent to the Clerk's Office for review, you can check on the status anytime under Business Entity Submissions on your dashboard.