The Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code at the New York Department of State keeps the state register, and its Corporation and Business Entity Database is free to search. It covers business and not for profit corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships and other miscellaneous businesses, and it also carries the assumed name filings made by corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships, which is where a New York trading name is found.
The department attaches two warnings to its own search. The system should not be used to determine the acceptability of an entity name, since name availability is decided separately when a filing is made. And because the department relies on the information provided to it, the completeness or accuracy of what the database shows cannot be guaranteed. A telephone number is published for help with a search or its results, with the division open on weekdays from a quarter to nine in the morning until half past four eastern time. For New York businesses by place, see the New York county pages.
- Free to search, assumed names included: the database carries corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and their assumed name filings.
- Five dollars plain, ten certified: the fee for a copy of a filed document, with expedited handling priced separately.
- No faxes, no telephone orders: the division no longer accepts filings or requests by fax, and copies cannot be ordered by telephone.
- Not a name availability check: the department says the search must not be used to decide whether an entity name is acceptable.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New York's own systems: the New York Corporation and Business Entity Search Database page, the department page on copies of corporation or business entity documents, the page on forming a corporation or business, the page on existing corporations and businesses, the department frequently asked questions on corporations and business entities, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What a copy costs, and what speed costs
The register is free to search, but the documents behind it are priced. A plain copy of a document costs five dollars and a certified copy costs ten. Expedited handling is charged per document on top: twenty five dollars for processing within twenty four hours, seventy five dollars for processing the same day, and a hundred and fifty dollars for processing within two hours. Those figures make New York one of the cheaper states for an ordinary copy and one of the dearer ones for urgency, and since the fee is per document rather than per order, a request covering a formation certificate and three amendments multiplies the expedite charge as well as the copy fee.
Three ways to order, and two that no longer work
Copies can be ordered online, by post or hand delivery, or by email. The online service offers electronic copies for entities formed or authorized in New York on or after July 30, 1990, which is the practical cut off for a same day digital copy; anything older goes through a written request. A postal or hand delivered request goes to the division at 99 Washington Avenue in Albany with the fee. An email request is accepted, and where payment is by card the signed card authorization form must be sent with it.
Two routes are closed. The division no longer accepts filings or requests by fax, and it does not provide copies by fax either. And copies of documents cannot be ordered over the telephone, whatever the urgency.
Paying the department
The department takes cash, cheques, money orders and the major payment cards, with money orders payable to the Department of State. For an email request the card details go on the signed authorization form rather than in the body of the message, which is the department way of keeping card numbers out of ordinary correspondence. For anyone ordering several documents at once it is worth totalling the plain and certified copies first, since the expedite charge applies to each document and can quickly exceed the cost of the copies themselves.
The certificate of status
Alongside copies of filings, the department issues a certificate of status for entities on its register, which is the document another state, a bank or a counterparty asks for as evidence that a New York entity exists and is up to date. It is ordered through the same division as copies, and the department links it from both its formation and its existing business pages, since it is needed as often by established companies registering elsewhere as by new ones. A researcher checking an entity informally will get most of what they need from the free database; a transaction needs the certificate.
Beneficial ownership from January 2026
One rule is new enough to change what the register holds. Effective January 1, 2026, non exempt limited liability companies formed under the law of a foreign country and authorized to do business in New York are required to file with the department both initial and annual disclosure statements giving the names and other identifying information of the individuals who own or control the company. For a researcher that is a significant addition, because ownership information has traditionally been absent from state business registers, and New York now collects it for that class of foreign limited liability company.
The department publishes its own guidance on who is exempt and what the statements must contain.
Biennial statements, and what happens if one is missed
Domestic and foreign business corporations and domestic and foreign limited liability companies must file a biennial statement every two years. The filing period is not a fixed month for everyone: it is the calendar month in which the original certificate of incorporation, articles of organization or application for authority was filed, so each entity has its own window. The department states the consequence of neglect plainly, and it is the one a researcher should weigh: failure to file a biennial statement may prevent a corporation or limited liability company from completing certain business transactions.
A gap in the biennial statement history is therefore worth noticing on a record before relying on the entity.
The rest of what the division holds
The Division of Corporations is more than a company index. It maintains official records including local laws and oaths of office, receives and serves legal pleadings against certain business entities, and files uniform commercial code records. It takes the financial reports that certain not for profit corporations are required by law to file, and the condominium declarations that the state real property law requires to be filed with the department.
Certificates of designation for service of notice of claim may be filed online. And a limited liability company making political contributions must file a form with the State Board of Elections. The division publishes its fee schedules, its rules in title 19 chapter IV of the state codes, and a frequently asked questions page on corporations and business entities.
Questions about looking up a New York business
Related New York records
New York's other records guides on this site are the New York public records law guide for the Freedom of Information Law, the New York court records guide for the unified court system, the New York property records guide for the county clerks, and the New York county pages for every county office.