Every Indiana business search starts at INBiz, the portal the Secretary of State runs in partnership with the Department of Revenue and the Department of Workforce Development. Its record search menu reaches further than an entity lookup. Beside business entities and business name availability it lists trademarks, notaries public, a paid UCC search certificate by debtor name or file number, and a free UCC browse of lien records with their filed images, which makes INBiz the place to see whether a company has pledged its equipment or receivables as well as whether it exists.
The record that comes back is treated as the official truth. The division fraud checklist says so in those words, explaining that filers confirm their information as true under penalties of perjury, and that a fraudster who changes the record can use it as the first step toward opening bank accounts, taking out loans or selling company assets. That is the reason the division has started counting such changes in public. For Indiana businesses by place, see the Indiana county pages.
- Free certified copies: INBiz generates certified copies of business entity filings at no charge, which few states offer.
- Two prices for one certificate: the office 2022 alert gives 21.42 dollars online, the paper request form charges thirty.
- 554 transactions blocked: between August 1, 2025 and February 12, 2026, with 226 submitter accounts shut out.
- January 1, 2026: filers acting for someone else must take reasonable steps to identify that person, and mailbox store addresses need disclosures.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Indiana's own systems: the INBiz record search, the INBiz information requests page, the Secretary of State Information Request Form, the Business Services Division fraud alerts page, the certificate of status alert, the Business Fraud Statistics sheet, the business fraud prevention checklist, the page on the HB 1593 and HB 1666 filing changes, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Certified copies cost nothing
Indiana takes the unusual position that a certified copy of a public business filing should be free. The office says so on its information requests page and on the INBiz home page: search the business, open the record and choose Certified Copies Request, and the portal generates the copies without a fee. For a lawyer who needs a certified set of articles for a court filing, or a lender confirming who signed a formation document, that removes the usual mail order wait and charge.
The same page links an authenticity check where anyone handed a Certificate of Existence, a Certificate of Fact or a long form certificate can confirm the office issued it.
The Certificate of Existence and its two prices
What used to be called a Certificate of Good Standing is now a Certificate of Existence. It states the date of incorporation or qualification, whether the most recent report has been filed, and that no notice of withdrawal, dissolution or expiration has been received, under the seal of the Secretary of State. The long form adds a list of every document filed for the business. Ordered online, the office 2022 alert puts the fee at 21.42 dollars and says certificates are emailed within a matter of minutes.
The paper Information Request Form, mailed with a check or money order to the certification clerk at 302 West Washington Street, Room E-018, Indianapolis, lists thirty dollars for either version. The online route is both cheaper and faster.
Searching the records that are not online
When the database search returns nothing, Indiana offers a step most states do not advertise. A due and diligent search, requested on the same form for fifteen dollars, sends staff into the office microfilm and historic records, and if they still cannot find the entity, into the State Archives. The office allows ten to fifteen business days. It suits old corporations dissolved long before the online index, family businesses researched for an estate, and title work that turns on a company that existed decades ago.
A Certificate of Fact, also fifteen dollars, certifies whatever specific fact about a business on record the requester states on the form.
The certificate of status mailing
The 2022 alert followed warnings from other Secretaries of State about a mailing that made it appear businesses had to order a certificate of status for 72.50 dollars. The office answer is blunt on three points. The only Indiana certificate about a business status is the Certificate of Existence. No business is required to order one, though a bank or lender may ask for it at an account opening or a closing. And only the Secretary of State can issue it, so services that offer to order one are passing on the office fee with a premium added.
The office asks recipients of such letters to report them to INBiz@sos.in.gov. The division alerts page also lists warnings about workplace compliance notices, corporate compliance center notices and misleading annual report compliance solicitations.
The fraud numbers
The division now publishes business fraud statistics for the period from August 1, 2025 to February 12, 2026. Of 91 complaints, 46 concerned an address used without consent, 22 a name used without consent, 17 unauthorized amendments, 10 stolen financial information and 7 internal business disputes. In 35 cases the filing was administratively removed from the public record, 28 were still pending and in 22 no action was taken. Working ahead of complaints, staff blocked 226 submitter accounts and 554 transactions, and removed 168 filings over rejected e-checks and 97 over chargebacks. For a researcher this means a filing seen once on INBiz can later disappear for cause.
The companion checklist tells owners that businesses with stale contact details or missed filings are prime targets, recommends a quarterly look at their own record, and points to a free email alert the division sends whenever a change is filed for a company with a valid email on file. Reports to the state are biennial, called business entity reports.
What changed on January 1, 2026
Two 2026 laws, HB 1593 and HB 1666, altered what the public record shows. A business run entirely remotely that would otherwise have to list a home address can keep that residential address off the public record. Anyone submitting a business entity report for another person must take reasonable steps to identify that person, and keep the method ready to describe on request. Commercial mail receiving agencies, the mailbox stores, face new requirements before filing on INBiz, and a filing that lists such an address carries required disclosures.
Health care entities that accept commercial insurance must now report certain ownership information on their business entity report, though that information is not public. An entity dissolved more than five years can now be reinstated with an extra notarized affidavit giving its reason.
Questions about looking up a Indiana business
Related Indiana records
Indiana's other records guides on this site are the Indiana public records law guide, the Indiana court records guide for lawsuits and judgments against a business, the Indiana licenses guide for professional licensing, the Indiana recorded documents guide for the county recorders, and the Indiana county pages for every county office.