Texas splits the question of whether a company is in order between two agencies, and a researcher needs both. The Corporations Section of the Secretary of State holds the formation and registration record, and its business services pages carry the news that changes how the lookup is done: SOSPortal launched on September 29, 2026 and replaces both SOSDirect and SOSUpload, bringing filing, ordering and searching into one platform. Online services were unavailable from midday on September 25 until eight in the morning on September 29 during the switch.
The second half of the answer sits with the Comptroller of Public Accounts, whose franchise tax account status search, formerly called good standing, shows whether an entity has the right to transact business in Texas. The two are different documents and the Secretary of State says so plainly, because a certificate of account status from the comptroller is routinely confused with a certificate of fact as to status from the Secretary of State. For Texas businesses by place, see the Texas county pages.
- SOSPortal since September 29, 2026: it replaces SOSDirect and SOSUpload, with filing, ordering and searching in one place.
- Two statuses, two agencies: the Secretary of State certifies existence and authority, the Comptroller certifies the tax account.
- Three ways to search the tax status: by taxpayer number or federal identification number, by entity name, or by Secretary of State file number.
- Forty five days before forfeiture: an entity gets at least that long after a pending forfeiture notice to cure the deficiency.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Texas's own systems: the Texas Secretary of State business services pages, the Secretary of State copies and certificates page, the Secretary of State tracking and other searches page, the Secretary of State fees, legal and other page, the Comptroller franchise tax account status instructions, the Comptroller franchise tax account status search, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What changed with SOSPortal
The new system is more than a new address. The Secretary of State lists what it brings: a modern, user friendly design; enhanced security through multi factor authentication; the ability to file all documents through the portal, including mergers and conversions, which previously could not be filed online; the option to save filings as drafts; the ability to check status and retrieve filings from a My Submissions page; a shopping cart; and expedited submission options.
Two changes affect regular users in particular. Client accounts, the prepaid arrangement many law firms and filing agents used on the old system, are not available in the new one. And the accepted payment methods in the portal are bank transfer and credit card. Anyone who has bookmarked the old system or kept a client account number should expect to set up access afresh.
Certificate of fact as to status, and what it proves
The Secretary of State issues a certificate of fact as to status, and describes it carefully because of the confusion with the comptroller document. It serves as official evidence of an entity existence or authority to transact business in Texas, and it provides a statement of the entity status together with its current legal name and its date of formation or registration. That is the document to ask for when a contract, a lender or an out of state registration requires proof that a Texas entity exists and is authorised.
Copies of documents on file and certificates of all kinds may be ordered through SOSPortal, by email to the certifying team, or by post to the certifying team at its box in Austin, and the section also provides records information by telephone and email.
Certificate of account status, the former good standing
The comptroller holds the other half. Its franchise tax account status, formerly called good standing, shows whether an entity has the right to transact business in Texas, and the comptroller notes that some real estate and financial transactions require it. The online status is a summary for everyday business needs, and it is explicitly not a substitute for the certificate a person needs when reinstating or terminating a business with the Secretary of State, which is requested separately for that purpose.
The Secretary of State adds that although the comptroller no longer uses the phrase, certificate of good standing is still used informally to mean this document, and publishes the comptroller telephone number for anyone who needs help getting one.
Searching the tax status
The comptroller search takes any one of three identifiers, which makes it forgiving for a researcher working from partial information. The eleven digit comptroller taxpayer number, or the nine digit federal employer identification number, will find an entity. So will an entity name of between two and fifty characters. So will the Texas Secretary of State file number, of six to ten digits, which ties the tax record back to the formation record.
The results can be printed, and the comptroller adds the caveat that they reflect its records at the moment the query is made, so a status printed today is evidence of today rather than of next month.
What forfeiture actually costs a company
The reason the tax status matters so much in Texas is the consequence of losing it. The comptroller must forfeit an entity right to transact business where the entity misses the franchise tax filing requirements of chapter 171 of the Tax Code. Before that happens, the entity is given at least forty five days after a pending forfeiture notice is mailed to cure the deficiencies. If the forfeiture takes effect, two things follow that matter to anyone dealing with the company: the entity cannot sue or defend itself in a Texas court, and its directors and officers can become liable for its debts.
For a researcher checking a counterparty, a forfeited status is therefore not a technicality, it changes who can be pursued and whether the company can enforce its own contracts.
Verifying a certificate somebody has handed you
Texas publishes a service for the opposite problem: not finding a record, but checking a document. The online certificate verification service lets anyone verify that a certificate of filing or a certificate of fact regarding a business organization has in fact been issued by the Corporations Section of the Texas Secretary of State. For a lender, a title company or a buyer presented with a certificate as part of a transaction, that turns a piece of paper into something checkable in a minute, and it is the obvious first step where the document itself looks unfamiliar or the circumstances are unusual.
The other registers the Secretary of State keeps
Several smaller free searches sit beside the main business lookup, and they cover the kinds of businesses the legislature has decided need extra visibility. There is a business opportunity search, a credit services organizations search, a debt collector bonds search, a health spas search, a service of process search and a veterans solicitations search, alongside a filing tracker that shows the progress of a submitted document.
The section also reviews state trade and service mark applications under chapter 16 of the Business and Commerce Code, and it publishes its fee schedule and a payment form for filings and orders. One limit it states twice: the division cannot provide legal advice or legal referrals, and anyone with a legal question is pointed to a private attorney.
Questions about looking up a Texas business
Related Texas records
Texas's other records guides on this site are the Texas public records law guide for the Public Information Act, the Texas court records guide for the district and county clerks, the Texas property records guide for the county clerks and appraisal districts, and the Texas county pages for every county office.