The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it had brought the charges against Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
It said there were four allegations of health and safety breaches relating to patients who died between October 2005 and May last year.
The trust is due to appear before Stafford Magistrates on 4 November.
A new trust began to run the hospital on 1 November 2014.
The HSE said the charges related to the deaths of:
Wayne Owen, of the HSE, said it had decided there was "sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to bring criminal proceedings in this case".
The trust, which remains in place as a legal entity but no longer provides patient services, was dissolved last November after a report concluded it was not "clinically or financially sustainable".
It is due to appear before Stafford Magistrates' Court on 4 November.
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust took over the running of Stafford Hospital, now named the County Hospital, and Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Mid-Staffs Trust special administrator Tim Rideout said the remaining "shell organisation" would oversee any "potential criminal liabilities".
"I am committed to bringing matters to a conclusion as efficiently and effectively as possible in the best interests of the families concerned," he said.
The trust which ran Stafford Hospital is to face criminal charges in connection with the deaths of four patients, the BBC has learned.