Secretary of State, Business and Licensing Division
Colorado Business Entity Search: Reading Status and Records
A Colorado business entity search checks a business registration through one box on the Secretary of State’s Business Database Search, which takes a company name, a trade name, a trademark or the 11-digit ID number. Every filed document, certified copy and certificate of good standing opens there as a PDF at no charge, and no login is asked.
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Looking Up a Colorado Corporation or LLC: Names, IDs, Trade Names
For a Colorado corporation or limited liability company (LLC) search, type one or two key words of the name, or better, the 11-digit ID number, which the Secretary of State’s search tips call faster and more precise. Leave out punctuation, and group initials into one word: A.C.E. Computers, Inc. is found as ACE Computers.
Official site: Business Database Search
Step 1: Enter a Name or the 11-Digit ID Number
Enter one or two key words, or the ID number, in the single field, “Search by business name, trademark, trade name, ID or document number”, and click Search. An ID number opens the Summary page directly. Names starting with A, An or The are listed under that letter, and the Advanced search (by registered agent, trade name registrant or filing dates) sits behind a reCAPTCHA check.
Step 2: Sort Out Old Names and Trade Names in the Results
Results come 20 per page with the ID Number, Document Number, Name, Event, Status, Form and Formation Date. One company can fill several rows: a former name keeps the company’s ID number and reads Name Changed, while a trade name gets its own ID and reads Effective. The Event column names the filing behind each row, such as Articles of Incorporation or Statement of Trade Name.
Step 3: Read the Summary, Then the Filing History
Clicking an ID number opens the Summary: name, status, formation date, form, periodic report month, jurisdiction, principal office and registered agent. Filing history and documents holds the corporate records themselves: it lists every filing, and each document number opens the filed document to view as a PDF, from the articles that created the company to the latest periodic report.
Certified copies are free as well, from Get certified copies of documents. The search page carries its own warning: the Secretary of State “acts as a filing registry for businesses” and “lacks the authority to certify if a business is operating legally.”
Delinquent, Noncompliant, Good Standing: Reading a Colorado Status
Delinquent is the most common status in Colorado’s registry: 1,141,053 entities in the state’s open data on September 28, 2026, against 1,036,252 in Good Standing. It means a required filing or a registered agent is missing, “not necessarily that the business is no longer operating,” in the words of the Secretary of State.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Good Standing | Statutory filings are met. The office doesn’t verify what the filings say. |
| Noncompliant | The periodic report is late (a $50 late fee applies), or no new registered agent was named within 30 days of a resignation. |
| Delinquent | Still no report or agent 60 days later. The name stays with the entity for 400 days; after that it’s changed to include “delinquent” and the original name can be taken. |
| Voluntarily Dissolved | Dissolution documents were filed; the name gains “Dissolved” and its date. |
| Administratively Dissolved | An older status: under earlier rules, a missed report or a missing agent led to administrative dissolution. |
| Withdrawn | An out-of-state entity gave up its authority to do business in Colorado. |
The $25 Periodic Report Window
Each reporting entity (LLCs, corporations, nonprofits, foreign entities) files a periodic report every year, online only, for $25. The Periodic report month on the Summary page sets the window: from two months before that month to the end of the second month after. With a January month, the report is due by March 31; after that the entity turns Noncompliant with a $50 late fee, and Delinquent if nothing is filed by May 31; filing the periodic report on time walks through each date.
Curing Delinquency or Reinstating: $100
A Delinquent entity files a Statement Curing Delinquency ($100) and returns to Good Standing as soon as the online filing goes through. A dissolved one files Articles of Reinstatement ($100), though its trade names don’t come back. After five years of delinquency, or two years of dissolution, an affidavit and a government photo ID go with the filing and staff review it first. A judicially dissolved entity can’t reinstate.
Records Marked Unauthorized or Fraudulent
Delinquent can also follow a finding that a company was created without authorization or for fraud, and the Filing history can then mark the disputed filings as unauthorized. Under House Bill 26-1088, in force since August 12, 2026, the office marked 12,693 entities as fraudulent and removed 10,214 more from the registry in its first month, according to its September 14, 2026 release.
The Colorado Certificate of Good Standing Is Free
On the Summary page of an entity in Good Standing, select Get a certificate of good standing: a one-page PDF titled Certificate of Fact of Good Standing opens, free and with no account. Any other status gets no certificate.
The certificate doesn’t expire, but it only reflects the status on the day it was printed, so whoever asks for it may want one dated within the last 30 or 60 days. Each carries a confirmation number that anyone can check on Validate a Certificate. A trade name gets a Certificate of Fact of Trade Name instead, as long as it reads Effective.
Letters Selling a Certificate or a Filing
The Secretary of State has warned about letters that look official, sometimes quote the company’s real ID number, and charge a processing fee to obtain a certificate of good standing or file a periodic report or a Statement Curing Delinquency. The office doesn’t mail business filing forms. Such letters can be reported to sos.business@coloradosos.gov.
Why ABC LLC and A‑B‑C LLC Can Both Exist in Colorado
A new Colorado business name only has to be distinguishable from names on record, and the Secretary of State’s name FAQ sets aside only periods, commas, underscores, apostrophes and capitalization. Spaces, hyphens, parentheses, articles and the entity ending all count.
Name test
Distinguishable under Colorado's name rules?
Applies the Secretary of State's rules, which set aside only periods, commas, underscores, apostrophes and capital letters. The state makes the final call.
By the same FAQ, ABC Inc, A.B.C. Inc and ABC, Inc. count as one name. The business search shows similar names but can’t say whether one is free; the separate Name availability search takes the exact name with its ending and answers yes or no. Colorado’s name reservation lasts 120 days, costs $25 and can be renewed. For the trademark side, see how an LLC name is screened against registered marks.
Trade Names (DBAs) Are Filed Here, and They Aren’t Unique
A company or a person doing business under another name (a DBA) files a Statement of Trade Name online with the Secretary of State, for $20. Trade names aren’t checked for uniqueness, so several businesses can hold the same one, and the Name availability search ignores them. A person’s trade name lasts one year unless renewed ($5); a company’s lasts while it stays in Good Standing or Noncompliant, and one more year after it turns Delinquent or dissolves.
EIN Search in Colorado: The Registry Has No Tax Numbers
No Colorado search shows a company’s EIN (or FEIN, the same federal number). The Secretary of State doesn’t issue EINs, and its FAQ warns that the 11-digit ID number “is not the same as your tax ID number”; neither the Summary page nor the state’s open data carries one.
The Department of Revenue’s Colorado Account Number (CAN) is private too: its lookup guidance only helps a business find its own, in Revenue Online, on letters from the Department, or as the first eight digits of the Use Account Number on a sales tax license. An EIN never appears on a Colorado record; getting a lost EIN back from the IRS is the route for a company that lost its own.
Who Owns a Colorado Company? The Record Names Only the Agent
A Colorado business search by owner finds nothing: entities don’t report owners, officers, directors, members or managers to the Secretary of State, whose FAQ sends anyone looking for them to the company itself. The record names the registered agent, with a street address in Colorado, and the Person tab turns up every company that agent represents.
Since July 1, 2025, an individual agent must hold a Colorado driver’s license or ID, or pass the office’s residency check, and no post office box can serve as the agent’s street address. An entity left without an agent for 30 days after a resignation turns Noncompliant.
Checking Which Businesses List an Address
For business owners worried that their address was used on someone else’s filing, the Secretary of State points to Business Entities in Colorado on data.colorado.gov, the state’s open data portal, updated daily: filter the principal address or the agent’s address with contains. On September 28, 2026 the file held 3,115,003 entities with their status, addresses and agent, but no owners and no EIN. Complaints about fraudulent filings go to BusinessFraud@coloradosos.gov.
Licenses, Filing Times and Missing Records in Colorado
Does the Secretary of State issue business licenses?
No. Licenses come from the city or county, from the Department of Regulatory Agencies for regulated professions (its Division of Professions and Occupations has a Verify a License search), and a sales tax license from the Department of Revenue. Denver publishes its active business licenses on data.colorado.gov.
Does a paper filing take longer than an online one?
Yes. Online filings post in real time, once the payment goes through. The few paper filings take 7 to 10 business days, or 3 with the $150 expedited service, and the search form shows the date through which paper documents have been processed.
Why can’t an old company be found?
Some older dissolved entities were taken out of the searchable database. The Secretary of State can look for them in its records on request.