Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: a dissolved Ohio corporation reinstates by filing Reinstatement and Appointment of Agent (Form 525A) under Ohio Rev. Code § 1701.07 (reinstatement procedure); § 1701.922 (rights restored / name reservation); fee under § 111.16(Q) for $25, but only within 2 years of dissolution.
If you’d rather have the reinstatement filed for you
Bizee can prepare and file the Ohio 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 Ohio calls it
A domestic for-profit corporation whose articles were cancelled (most commonly for failure to maintain a statutory agent) may be reinstated by filing an application for reinstatement together with the required statutory-agent appointment/statement with the Secretary of State, and paying the statutory filing fee.
How long you have to reinstate
Ohio does not let a dissolved corporation reinstate forever. You have just 2 years from the dissolution or revocation date; miss it and the only path back is forming a new entity from scratch, losing the original formation date and history. Reinstatement must be filed within 2 years of cancellation (enacted by Senate Bill 98); after 2 years the cancellation becomes permanent and the entity cannot be reinstated; a new entity must be formed. (Ohio Rev. Code § 1701.07)
What you must pay before it goes through
Ohio will not reinstate the corporation until every year it sat delinquent is paid for. Statutory filing fee of $25 for reinstatement of an entity cancelled by operation of law. If cancellation was for nonpayment of taxes, the corporation must first clear its obligation with the Ohio Department of Taxation and obtain a Certificate of Tax Clearance before the Secretary of State will reinstate it. (Ohio Rev. Code §§ 111.16(Q), 1701.07, 5703.93)
Whether your name is still yours
Your original name is not guaranteed to still be yours. A cancelled corporation’s name is reserved for only 1 year after cancellation. If reinstatement is not completed within that year and another entity has since filed a non-distinguishable name, the Secretary of State requires the applicant to amend its articles to change its name as a condition of reinstatement. Check Ohio’s business-name database before assuming the reinstatement filing will go through under the old name. (Ohio Rev. Code § 1701.922)
What the filing costs
Ohio’s Reinstatement and Appointment of Agent (Form 525A) carries a $25 filing fee. $25 statutory reinstatement fee; additional back taxes and a Certificate of Tax Clearance are required if cancellation was tax-related, amount varies.
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 Ohio’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 Ohio instead, the filing, fee and statute are different: see reinstating an LLC in Ohio.
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.
- Ohio Laws (official LSC code site): ORC 1701.07: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1701.07
- Ohio Laws: ORC 1701.922, rights restored and 1-year name reservation: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1701.922
- Ohio Laws: ORC 111.16(Q), $25 reinstatement fee: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-111.16