Closing an AWS GovCloud (US) account

The following instructions describe the process to close an AWS GovCloud (US) account. Because AWS account management functions are not available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Management Console, closing an AWS GovCloud (US) account may require additional steps.

Note

There is no Close account option available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Management Console as there is in the standard AWS account Management Console.

Use the following AWS GovCloud (US) account closure procedure that is most applicable to your business needs.

Close an AWS GovCloud (US) standalone or member account

You can close an AWS GovCloud (US) standalone or member account by initiating closure of its associated standard account.

To close an AWS GovCloud (US) standalone or member account

1. Sign in to the AWS GovCloud (US) account.

2. Find and terminate all active resources currently running in the AWS GovCloud (US) account (both Regions if applicable).

   Important

   Before terminating your resources, back up your data where appropriate. After your account has been closed, you will no longer have access to the data or AWS services.

3. After you've terminated all active resources from your AWS GovCloud (US) account, delete all IAM users, and rotate and delete the access keys from the AWS GovCloud (US) account.

4. Close the standard AWS account using the Close account option available in the standard account Management Console. After the standard AWS account closure, your AWS GovCloud (US) account will close within the next billing cycle.

   If you run into issues with billing/access to the AWS GovCloud (US) Management Console after this time, please submit an AWS Support case using your standard AWS account, referencing the issue and the AWS GovCloud (US) account ID.

Notes

• Closing your standard AWS account will not automatically terminate all your active resources in the AWS GovCloud (US) account. You might continue to incur charges for usage of any active resources in the AWS GovCloud (US) account until it is closed within the next billing cycle after your standard AWS account closure. To prevent this, make sure that all the resources in your AWS GovCloud (US) account are terminated before closing the standard AWS account.

• Closed AWS GovCloud (US) member accounts are not automatically removed from the AWS GovCloud (US) organization after the post-closure period and they remain visible in the AWS GovCloud (US) organization in suspended status. You must remove the AWS GovCloud (US) member accounts from your AWS GovCloud (US) organization if you wish to delete your AWS GovCloud (US) organization.

Close an AWS GovCloud (US) management account

You can only close an AWS GovCloud (US) management account after you've deleted the organization associated with it. After deleting the organization, your management account will change to a standalone AWS GovCloud (US) account. At this point, you can initiate the closing of the standalone AWS GovCloud (US) account by closing its associated standard AWS account.

To close an AWS GovCloud (US) management account

1. Remove and close all the AWS GovCloud (US) member accounts from the AWS GovCloud (US) management account. For more information, see Removing a member account from your organization.

   Note

   Removing an AWS GovCloud (US) member account does not close the account, instead it removes the member account from the AWS GovCloud (US) organization and the member account becomes a standalone AWS account. If you wish to close the removed member accounts, follow the instructions in the previous section Close an AWS GovCloud (US) standalone or member account.

2. Sign in to the AWS GovCloud (US) management account and delete the AWS GovCloud (US) organization. For more information, see Deleting an organization.

3. Find and terminate all active resources, delete all IAM users, and rotate and delete the access keys of the AWS GovCloud (US) management account.

4. Close the standard management account associated with the AWS GovCloud (US) management account using the Close account option available in the standard account's Management Console. After the standard management account has been closed, your AWS GovCloud (US) management account will close within the next billing cycle. For more information, see Closing a member account in your organization.

Reopening an AWS GovCloud (US) account

Within the post-closure period, which are the 90 days after your account is closed, you can reopen your standard AWS account and AWS GovCloud (US) account by contacting AWS Support. For more information, see Accessing your AWS account during the post-closure period in the AWS Account Management Guide.

Important

Re-opening your AWS GovCloud (US) account will only restore data/resources that were not terminated. If you terminated resources to avoid incurring charges during the closure process, they will not be restored. To ensure access to important data that might be needed upon re-opening, it is recommended that you backup that data prior to terminating AWS GovCloud (US) resources.

After the post-closure period, you cannot reopen your standard AWS account or AWS GovCloud (US) account.