Request for Letter of Good Standing

A request for a Letter of Good Standing may be made by a business or individual to document they are considered to be in compliance with state tax laws by the West Virginia State Tax Department.

Good standing letters are issued as a prerequisite to obtaining certain licensing or other business privileges.

A few examples would be:

• Licensing Requirements. In order to obtain many types of licenses, it is necessary that the applicant be in good standing with the West Virginia State Tax Department. Examples: ABCA, DMV, Contractors.
• Banking. In order to obtain financing, many banks require proof of good standing with the Tax Department.
• Secretary of State. A business is required to obtain a letter of good standing before dissolution or withdrawal from the State of West Virginia.
• Bidding Requirement. A vendor is required to be in good standing in order to be able to bid and be awarded contracts by the State of West Virginia. Examples: Department of Highways, Alcohol Beverage Control Administration.

If, at the time of the request, the business or individual is considered not in good standing, a denial will be issued. This denial will have a detailed list of missing returns, unpaid balances and other non-compliant issues. After all issues are resolved, a letter of good standing may then be issued.

A letter of good standing expires 90-days after the issue date. If compliance status changes within the 90-days, the West Virginia State Tax Department may rescind the letter of good standing.

A letter of good standing is requested by completing a GSR-01 form.

If you have a MyTaxes account, you may complete this form from your My Taxes account. The form is found under the "I Want To" section. This option allows the response to the Good Standing Request to be viewed and printed next business day following the completion of the account review.

If you are not currently registered for MyTaxes, you may register now by visiting our MyTaxes website, and then selecting the "Don't have a logon? Register here" link. Please note: A GSR-01 request via a MyTaxes account offers the quickest turnaround time.

A second option is to complete the GSR-01 from our website. Please note that the response will be sent via US Mail to the address on file.

If you are authorizing a release of information to an unauthorized third party, this form must be notarized. Therefore, you must submit a GSR-01 by completing a paper version and submitting it via US Postal Service. Please note that, for all mail-in forms, the turnaround time is 2-3 weeks.

No. There is not a fee for a letter of good standing.

In most cases, a taxpayer is considered to be in good standing even with outstanding tax liabilities if they have a payment plan in place to address their outstanding liabilities and are not in default on the payment plan. However, this is not true for taxpayers who are obtaining letters of good standings to be used at the Department of Highways.

Taxpayers are not considered to be in good standing for purposes of obtaining a letter of good standing for obtaining a contract from the Department of Highways if they are in a payment plan agreement for outstanding liabilities. To obtain a letter of good standing to use for the Department of Highways, a taxpayer must have filed all returns and be current on all liabilities including interest and penalties.

A payment plan agreement may be set up with our Compliance Division once all outstanding returns have been filed and finalized liability has been established.

For more information about payment plans, or to request a payment plan online, please visit Payment Plans.

No. All missing returns must be filed.