The Kentucky business entity search finds an organization by name or by its identification number, and the office says the system lets customers review all documents on file with it. One setting catches people out. The box labeled show active entities only is ticked by default, and the page itself tells users to untick it to find inactive entities, which is exactly where a dissolved company that stopped filing reports will be sitting.
The same screen carries a validation tool for a certificate of existence or authorization bought and printed online, so a certificate handed over in a deal can be checked against the office record. Once an entity is found, certain filings and documents attached to it can be viewed and printed. For Kentucky businesses by place, see the Kentucky county pages.
- June 30: the yearly deadline for every entity doing business in Kentucky to file its annual report.
- Fifteen dollars: the annual report fee, with the report window opening on January 1.
- Ten dollars: a certificate of existence or authorization, or a certified copy of up to five pages.
- One hundred dollars: the reinstatement penalty after administrative dissolution, on top of the reports owed.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Kentucky's own systems: the Kentucky Secretary of State business entity search, the Secretary of State annual reports page, the business filing fees page, the business records division page, the bulk data service page, the business filings frequently asked questions, the business filings information page, the local occupational license tax forms index, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Certificates and copies from the business records division
The business records division issues certificates of existence for domestic corporations and LLCs, certificates of authorization for foreign ones, and other certificates of fact. The office states that a certificate of existence may be relied on as conclusive evidence that the domestic company is in existence, and a certificate of authorization as conclusive evidence that the foreign company may transact business in Kentucky. Anyone may buy one, online or by mail or fax, for ten dollars.
Plain copies of filed documents cost five dollars for up to five pages and fifty cents for each page after that. A certified copy, which carries the Secretary signature and the state seal and is conclusive evidence that the original is on file, costs ten dollars for up to five pages plus the same fifty cents a page. Requests go on the request for corporate documents form, by email to sosbusinessrecords@ky.gov or by mail to the office at 700 Capital Avenue, Suite 158, and the records office answers on (502) 564-3490.
The annual report and the June 30 cliff
Every entity conducting business in the Commonwealth must file an annual report by June 30 each year after the year it was formed, and the annual reports page opens the window on January 1. The report must be signed, dated and accompanied by fifteen dollars, and it confirms the principal office and the registered agent and office, while a new entity submits, and an established one confirms, the names and addresses of its officers, directors, members, managers or trustees. The mailed postcard version cannot change the principal office or the agent, which takes a separate ten dollar statement of change.
The office FAQ makes a point that matters to anyone hoping to learn about a company finances from its report. The Kentucky annual report merely updates company information such as its address, members, managers, partners and officers, and it does not require the disclosure of any financial information. Miss June 30 and the consequences split by origin. A domestic entity is administratively dissolved and stays inactive and in bad standing until it reinstates. A foreign entity has its certificate of authority revoked and must apply again for a new one.
The reinstatement packet
Coming back from dissolution is a paper exercise in Kentucky. According to the FAQ, a reinstatement packet made up of an application for reinstatement, a reinstatement annual report and, where addresses change, a statement of change of principal office and registered office must be mailed to the office. It will not be processed until a letter of good standing from the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet accompanies it, although the Secretary of State can request that letter on the filer behalf.
For profit corporations must also include a letter from the Division of Unemployment Insurance. The fee schedule adds a one hundred dollar reinstatement penalty after administrative dissolution for corporations, nonprofits and LLCs alike. For a researcher, a company record that shows a dissolution followed months later by a reinstatement usually reflects that sequence of tax clearances.
Where the posted price is not the whole price
The fee page lists forty dollars for articles of incorporation and forty for articles of organization of an LLC, but profit corporations must add the organization tax under KRS 136.060, which is charged on the number of shares the articles authorize: a cent a share up to 20,000 shares, half a cent for the next 180,000 and a fifth of a cent on the rest, with a ten dollar minimum for 1,000 shares or fewer. An amendment that increases the shares triggers the tax again.
Nonprofit corporations pay far less, eight dollars for articles of incorporation and five to dissolve. A foreign corporation or LLC pays ninety dollars for a certificate of authority, a certificate of assumed name costs twenty, and a name can be reserved for one hundred twenty days for fifteen dollars, though the FAQ says a reservation cannot be made over the phone. A change of registered agent costs ten dollars per entity, capped at two thousand dollars when an agent moves many clients at once.
Fees can be paid in cash, by check to the Kentucky State Treasurer, by card or from a prepaid account opened with at least two hundred fifty dollars.
Buying the whole register
Kentucky sells its records in bulk through a bulk data service with tab delimited files. Subscribers can download the full corporate database, initial officers and current officers and principals monthly, new filings and new officers daily or weekly, and changes to corporate records and officers daily, plus the full UCC filings, collateral and secured parties and debtors. Commercial users pay two thousand dollars a month for business records, fifteen hundred for UCC filings and three hundred for UCC filing images.
Non-commercial users, such as people using the data for research, pay no monthly fee, though the charge applies if the purpose turns commercial. Subscriptions run through Kentucky.gov, reachable at (502) 875-3733.
Local occupational license taxes
A company found in the state register may still owe money to a city or county, and Kentucky publishes the forms for that too. Under KRS 67.766, the occupational license tax index on the Secretary of State site lists every Kentucky taxing district that imposes such a tax, from fiscal courts to school districts, with each district form available online. The business filings information page lists the steps after formation as well, among them a certificate of assumed name for any name other than the exact legal name, state tax accounts with the Department of Revenue, reserve accounts with the Office of Unemployment Insurance and proof of workers compensation coverage.
That page also explains why the registered agent matters to anyone suing a company. Service on the registered agent counts as service on the entity, whether or not the agent passes the papers along, and all correspondence from the office goes to the principal office on file. It urges owners to put an email address on their filings so the office can tell them when anything is filed against their record, as a guard against business identity theft.
Questions about looking up a Kentucky business
Related Kentucky records
Other Kentucky guides worth opening next are the Kentucky open records law guide, the Kentucky court records guide for lawsuits naming a company, the Kentucky property records guide for the county clerks, and the Kentucky county pages for local offices.