The Corporations Division sits in the Corporations, Securities and Commercial Licensing Bureau of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, and its division pages lead with the change that matters: as of June 23, 2025 the MiBusiness Registry Portal is live, and filings, searches and requests for certificates and copies all run through it. The division strongly encourages business to be conducted online rather than by post or courier, and one rule is now absolute: all annual reports and annual statements must be submitted online, with no paper filings accepted for them.
Four searches sit side by side. The business entity search is the main index. A mark and insignia search covers trademarks, service marks and insignia. A certificate verification search confirms that a certificate was in fact issued by the division. And a historic card file search reaches the older records that predate the modern database, which is the one to use when a Michigan company is too old to appear in the ordinary index. For Michigan businesses by place, see the Michigan county pages.
- A new portal since June 2025: filings, searches and orders for certificates and copies all run through the MiBusiness Registry Portal.
- A historic card file search: a separate index for the older records that are not in the modern database.
- Annual reports online only: the division no longer accepts paper filings for any annual report or annual statement.
- Fifty to a thousand dollars: the six expedited service tiers, each charged on top of the filing fee for the document.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Michigan's own systems: the Michigan Corporations Division pages, the division page on the waiver of fees for veterans, the division corporation pages, the division filing fee schedule, the state business entity search, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The four searches, and when to use each
The business entity search answers the ordinary question of whether a company exists and what its record says. The mark and insignia search is separate, covering trademarks, service marks and insignia registered with the state rather than federally. The certificate verification search works backwards from a document: it takes a certificate issued by the division and confirms that it is genuine, which is the tool to reach for when a certificate arrives as part of a transaction.
And the historic card file search covers the records kept before the current database, so a researcher tracing a Michigan company that existed decades ago, or tracing what became of one, should try it before concluding that nothing was ever filed.
What expedited service costs
Michigan prices urgency in six steps, each charged in addition to the filing fee for the document itself. A one hour same day service costs a thousand dollars. A two hour same day service costs five hundred. Same day service costs two hundred dollars for documents relating to an existing entity, or a hundred dollars for formation and qualification documents. Twenty four hour service costs a hundred dollars for existing entity documents, or fifty dollars for formation and qualification documents.
The pattern rewards forming a new company quickly and charges more for rushing a change to an existing one, which is worth knowing when a closing date depends on an amendment rather than an incorporation.
Veterans and profit corporations
The fee waiver for veterans is among the broadest in the country, and it is set out by entity type. For a profit corporation, fees may be waived for all documents except the initial articles of incorporation, and that includes annual reports, although on an annual report the waiver covers only the twenty five dollar filing fee and does not extend to a late filing penalty. The test is ownership: a majority of the shares of the domestic or foreign corporation responsible for paying the fee must be held by one or more honorably discharged veterans of the armed forces, and the corporation must provide proof satisfactory to the administrator.
The paperwork is a signed and dated statement by the shareholders detailing the veterans who hold the majority interests and the percentage each holds, together with evidence of veteran status.
Veterans, limited liability companies and nonprofits
For a limited liability company the waiver is wider still, covering all documents including annual statements, with the same carve out for penalties: on a professional limited liability company annual report or statement the waiver covers the seventy five dollar filing fee but not the fifty dollar late filing penalty. The test is again a majority of the membership interests held by veterans, and for articles of organization it is a majority of the initial membership interests that will be held by veterans.
Nonprofit corporations get the narrowest version: the fee is waived only for the initial articles of incorporation, where a majority of the initial members, directors or shareholders served in the armed forces and were separated with an honorable, or general under honorable conditions, character of service.
The waiver that covers a search order
One detail is easy to miss and useful to a researcher who is also an owner. Among the published waiver forms are two specifically for orders, one for a profit corporation and one for a limited liability company, covering certificate and copy fees rather than filing fees. So a veteran owned Michigan company ordering a certified copy or a certificate from the division can have that charge waived too, on the same signed and dated statement of majority interests and the same evidence of veteran status.
Each document on which a waiver is requested needs its own form, so the statement is submitted with the order rather than held on file.
Filing fees around the edges
Several small fees shape what a Michigan record looks like. Reserving a name costs ten dollars, as does a certificate of assumed name and a certificate of renewal of an assumed name, which is where a Michigan trading name is registered. A certificate of change of registered office or resident agent costs five dollars, as does a certificate of appointment of a resident agent, so the agent details on a record are cheap to keep current and a stale agent address is a sign of neglect rather than of cost.
A certificate of conversion costs fifty dollars. The division publishes the full schedule, which also covers the share based fees that apply when a corporation increases its authorised shares.
Help the division offers before you file
Michigan puts more support around its register than most states. It offers free virtual appointments for help with business filings or questions, which is unusual for a corporations office, and it schedules in person document payment appointments for those who need to attend. It publishes telephone services, hours and directions, its official holidays, and a business roadmap for new companies, and it links to free small business consulting through the state development centres and to tax clearance through the treasury.
The division also explains the filing procedures behind the record a researcher reads, including how a corporation is named, what its purpose statement must say, how shares, directors and incorporators are recorded, and what a resident agent and registered office mean.
Questions about looking up a Michigan business
Related Michigan records
Michigan's other records guides on this site are the Michigan public records law guide for the Freedom of Information Act, the Michigan court records guide for the trial court records, the Michigan property records guide for the county registers of deeds, and the Michigan county pages for every county office.