Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: a dissolved Kentucky corporation reinstates by filing Reinstatement Application (filed together with a Reinstatement Annual Report) under KRS 14A.7-030 (Reinstatement following administrative dissolution) for $100, with no statutory deadline to do it.
If you’d rather have the reinstatement filed for you
Bizee can prepare and file the Kentucky reinstatement paperwork described above on your behalf. State filing fees and any back taxes owed are separate, and you pay those directly either way.
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The filing, and what Kentucky calls it
An entity administratively dissolved under KRS 14A.7-020 applies to the Secretary of State for reinstatement by filing an application stating the dissolution grounds no longer exist, that the entity’s name meets KRS 14A.3-010, and paying the reinstatement penalty plus delinquent annual report fees. The application must include a Kentucky Department of Revenue certificate that all taxes are paid, and, for business corporations specifically, an additional certificate from the Office of Unemployment Insurance confirming all employer contributions are paid.
How long you have to reinstate
Kentucky sets no deadline for reinstating a dissolved corporation. The statute allows application at any time after the effective date of dissolution; no deadline; except that an entity that has already completed winding-up/liquidation is barred from reinstatement. That does not mean waiting is free; back fees and penalties keep accruing the whole time the entity sits dissolved. (KRS 14A.7-030)
What you must pay before it goes through
Kentucky will not reinstate the corporation until every year it sat delinquent is paid for. Requires: a Kentucky Dept. of Revenue certificate that all taxes are paid, an Office of Unemployment Insurance certificate that employer contributions/fees are paid, and payment of the $100 reinstatement penalty plus $15 for each delinquent annual report. (KRS 14A.7-030)
Whether your name is still yours
Whether Kentucky protects a dissolved corporation’s name against a new filer during the dissolved period was not independently confirmed this session; Statute requires the name to satisfy KRS 14A.3-010 (general name-distinguishability rule) at time of reinstatement, implying risk of unavailability if taken during dissolution, but no dedicated reinstatement name-reservation period was found in the sources reviewed this session.. (KRS 14A.7-030 (references KRS 14A.3-010))
What the filing costs
Kentucky’s Reinstatement Application (filed together with a Reinstatement Annual Report) carries a $100 filing fee. $100 reinstatement penalty plus $15 per delinquent annual report.
What this page does not answer
Reinstating the entity at the state level and squaring things up with the IRS are two separate processes. Late federal returns, penalty abatement requests, and reinstating a lapsed EIN’s associated accounts are governed by federal law, not by Kentucky’s corporation statute, and this page does not source them. We have the state-filing answer at primary and the federal-cleanup answer not at all.
This page covers a for-profit business corporation. If you are reinstating an LLC in Kentucky instead, the filing, fee and statute are different: see reinstating an LLC in Kentucky.
Sources
Every citation on this page is statutory or the Secretary of State’s own official filing instructions. No formation service, no registered-agent marketing page and no aggregator is cited anywhere in this cluster as a source of law; those are the only publishers of the competing versions.
- Direct fetch of KRS 14A.7-030 statute text: https://codes.findlaw.com/ky/title-iii-executive-branch/ky-rev-st-sect-14a-7-030/
- Official SOS fees page: https://www.sos.ky.gov/bus/business-filings/Pages/Fees.aspx