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, the department page on the certificate of status, the department page on biennial statements, the certificate of assumed name form, 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.
Assumed names: the county clerk or Albany
Which office holds a trading name depends on who trades under it. Section 130 of the General Business Law sends an individual or a partnership using any name other than its own to the clerk of each county where the business is conducted, with a certificate giving the business name, the address and the names and home addresses of every owner or partner, signed and acknowledged by all of them. A corporation, limited liability company or limited partnership instead files its certificate of assumed name with the Department of State, and those are the assumed names the free database carries.
The department certificate form prices the state filing: twenty five dollars for a limited liability company or a limited partnership, and for a corporation twenty five dollars plus a county fee for each county listed, one hundred dollars for each of the five New York City counties and twenty five dollars for any other county, with checks over five hundred dollars required to be certified. So a plumber trading as a named business in Nassau County is found at the Nassau County clerk, while a corporation trading under that name is found in the state database.
The certificate of status
The document that proves a New York entity exists and is current is the certificate of status, and its ordering page is firm about the route: it cannot be ordered online or over the telephone. The fee is twenty five dollars, paid with a written request by post or hand delivery to the Division of Corporations in Albany, or by email with the signed card authorization form attached when paying by card. The same expedited handling charges as for copies apply per document, twenty five dollars for twenty four hours, seventy five for the same day and one hundred fifty for two hours.
A past due biennial statement is reflected on the certificate, so a company that has let its statements lapse will hand a counterparty a certificate that says so.
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 limited liability companies file a biennial statement every two years, for a fee of nine dollars, during the calendar month in which the original certificate of incorporation, articles of organization or application for authority was filed, so every entity has its own window. A corporation reports the name and business address of its chief executive officer, the street address of its principal executive office, the address to which the Secretary of State forwards process, and the number of directors on its board and how many of them are women.
A limited liability company reports only the address for forwarding process. The department states the consequence plainly: a company that does not file is shown in its records as past due, the past due status can appear on a certificate of status, and it may prevent the 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.