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In Pennsylvania the company register sits with the Department of State's Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. Its lookup is the Business Search inside Business Filing Services. You can search by entity name or entity number only. No fee is listed for looking a company up online, and the Bureau also answers phone queries without charge. A written record search printout costs $15 per entity. People often type "Pennsylvania secretary of state business search", and this Bureau at the Department of State is the right place for it.
Limits of the Pennsylvania LLC and corporation search
The Bureau is clear about what the database will not do. Its record searches page says records are not indexed by officer or owner name, type, tax or federal ID number, purpose or business address. Plan around that:
- Start with the name. Use the exact legal name if you have it, then shorten it if nothing comes back.
- Use the entity number when you can. Every annual report carries it, and it points to one record.
- Expect officer names, not shareholders. When officers, general partners or fictitious name owners are on file, the record shows them. Stockholders and business phone numbers are never on the record.
If you are trying to find the people behind a company, our business owner lookup guide covers other routes. Fictitious names (DBAs) are filed with the same Department, so a trading name can also turn up.
Status words and annual report compliance
Pennsylvania status labels come in two families. "Active", or a variation of it, means the entity must file annual reports. "Inactive" is followed by a reason, for example Dissolved, Terminated, Merged Out, Withdrawn or Cancelled. An entity in any Inactive status does not need to file.
The Bureau treats a corporation, LP or LLC as in good standing when it has not been dissolved, canceled, merged, withdrawn, changed its name or reached the end of a fixed term. The public search also shows the annual report information and whether the company is compliant with annual reporting. That last flag is worth checking before you sign with a supplier. Our business entity status guide explains what these labels mean in practice.
Naming a Pennsylvania LLC
An LLC name must contain "company", "limited" or "limited liability company", or an abbreviation of one of them such as LLC. A company formed elsewhere may use words of like import from its home jurisdiction. The name may not suggest a business corporation, so "corporation", "incorporated" and their abbreviations are out. Words tied to professions, education, banking, insurance or public utilities may need the consent of the agency that regulates them.
Name availability is governed by 15 Pa.C.S. § 202(b): the name must be distinguishable on the Department's records from names already in use, reserved or registered. The Business Guide warns that an online check is only preliminary and not a guarantee. One local quirk matters here. Many old companies still show as active even though they stopped filing long ago, and their names stay blocked. To use one, you need the old company's written consent or a Name Availability Certificate from the Department. You request it by email and get an answer in 7 to 10 days. The name availability page has the details, and our guide on checking LLC name availability covers the basics.
A name reservation costs $70 and holds the name for 120 days. It is one time only. Reservations are checked in full and do guarantee use of the name.
Annual reports and good standing in Pennsylvania
The Annual Report, form DSCB:15-146, replaced the old decennial report. It costs $7, or nothing for nonprofits. LLCs file by September 30, corporations by June 30 and other entity types by December 31. The Department mails a postcard to the registered office at least two months before the deadline. Filed online, the report is approved within minutes, so there is no expedited option. The annual report page has the full rules.
No late fee is listed. Once the transition period set by Act 122 of 2022 ends, a company that misses its report faces administrative dissolution six months after the due date. A foreign company has its registration terminated instead. Either way, the name becomes free for others to take.
Pennsylvania's version of a good standing certificate is the subsistence certificate for domestic entities and the Certificate of Registration for foreign ones. Each costs $40. Formation fees on the fees page are $125 for a Certificate of Organization or Articles of Incorporation and $250 for a foreign registration. Paid speed tiers are $100 for same day, $300 for 3 hours and $1,000 for 1 hour. See our certificate of good standing guide for when you need one.
Bulk data from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania offers a free option. The PA Open Data Portal publishes a listing of registered businesses from the Department of State. It is updated monthly and released into the public domain, with business name, filing number, address, registration type and county. The Bureau also sells business lists at 25 cents per name.
Starting a company here? Read our guide on how to start an LLC in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania registered agent rules and a Pennsylvania operating agreement guide.
Also see our guides to the Pennsylvania DBA and Pennsylvania business license.