Entity Search

Portal steps, file numbers, and status labels, with a request form if you want the record pulled.

Entity Search

Business entity search

Quick answer. A business entity search opens the state file for a corporation, LLC, or similar entity. A company name search on the web is not that file. An EIN search by company name is not public at the IRS. A DBA is often a different record from the legal entity.

Steps

  1. Write the legal name and the brand separately

    If they differ, you have two searches. Do not mash them into one string.

  2. Run the business entity search on the legal name

    Use the state index linked from the state page. Save the file number and status.

  3. Run the DBA search in the office that files trade names

    That may be the same agency or a county clerk. The DBA page on this site explains the split.

  4. Do not plan on an EIN from the public charter

    If the imaged filing shows one, record it. If it does not, say it was not on the public filing.

  5. Owner questions stop at the filed names

    If members or officers are not on the report, the business entity search did not fail. The state did not collect them.

Search the entity that was formed, not the brand

Start with the legal entity, the one that can be sued and that signed the formation document. Marketing sites and “search marketing company” pages will not be in a corporations index under the slogan on an ad. Company search in the sense that matters here is the state detail page: type, status, agent, file number.

An EIN is a federal tax identifier. The IRS does not offer a public EIN search by company name. An EIN appears in a state filing only when someone typed it onto a form the state posts. If it is not there, no honest entity search can supply it. Do not send a request asking us to “look up the EIN” as if it were on the charter by default.

A DBA, assumed name, or fictitious name is the name a person or an entity uses in trade. In many states the DBA is filed with a county or in a separate state database, and it points back to the legal entity or to an individual. Searching only the DBA can miss the LLC that owns it. Searching only the LLC can miss the brand printed on the invoice.

Common mistakes

  • Using a web company search and skipping the state file.
  • Promising an EIN lookup from public entity records.
  • Treating a DBA registrant as a corporation without opening the entity it names.
  • Searching a personal name and calling the first LLC a match.

Questions

Can I do an EIN search by company name?

Not in a public IRS index. Some state filings display an EIN if it was included. There is no general public EIN directory to query by name.

Does a business entity search show owners?

It shows the people the state required on a public form. Many LLCs show an agent and no members.

Is a DBA the same as the LLC?

No. The DBA is a trade name. The LLC is the entity. One LLC can own several DBAs, and a sole proprietor can own a DBA with no LLC at all.

Sources reviewed

Guides on this site