In the United States, all corporations are registered with the individual states where they do business. There is no registration at the national level.
The most common type of corporations include: Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs), Partnerships, S-Corps, C-Corps, Professional Corporations (used for doctors, lawyers, and accountants), Non Profit Corporations and Benefit corporations.
Most states use a Secretary of State or a similar state-level agency to register and maintain corporate records such as formations, amendments, annual reports, and dissolutions. The Secretary of State or similar division may also oversee other business-related functions, such as registering trademarks and managing the state’s business database. Some state allow you to search by the name of the officers and/or owners which is a great way to search if you do not know the name of the business/corporation. However, the following states have laws that allow for some level of anonymity for corporate owners: Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming.
NOTE: There are several commercial search services, such as D&B Hoovers, LexisNexis, and Experian, that offer comprehensive databases of registered businesses across all 50 states. These services often require a subscription or fee to access the full database.
Here is a list of each state’s database for corporate and business records.
