Maine Business Entity Search and Corporation Lookup

Maine Business Entity Search and LLC Lookup, Keyword to Summary

The Maine Secretary of State (SOS) corporate search belongs to the Division of Corporations, UCC & Commissions, part of the Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions; it is free, needs no account and covers all business entities that have filed with the Division.

Step 1: One Distinctive Word, or the Charter Number

The form has two fields, Keyword from name to be searched and Charter number. To look up a Maine LLC or corporation, a less common word from the name works best, and % works as a wildcard. The search matches spacing as typed: L.L. Bean doesn’t return the legal name L. L. BEAN, INC., written with a space between the initials, only its assumed name L.L. BEAN OUTLET.

Step 2: Read the Name Type, Then Open the Summary

Results list only the Entity and its Name Type: LEGAL, FORMER, ASSUMED or MARK. There is no status, number or date in the list, so several lines can lead to the same company: IDEXX returns 19 lines, including former names such as IDEXX CORPORATION and assumed names such as IDEXX BIOANALYTICS. A charter number search reads Found 3 names for charter number: 19840383 F.

Step 3: The Information Summary

The Information Summary gives the legal name, charter number, filing type, status, filing or qualification date, jurisdiction, other names (A for assumed, F for former), the principal home office and the clerk or registered agent, each with a physical and a mailing address. There is no fee to view or print it. A summary can’t be bookmarked: the page only opens from a search.

Step 4: View List of Filings

View list of filings shows each document, from the first filing (articles, or the foreign qualification for an out-of-state company) onward, with its description, date and whether an image is available. Filing images cost $3 each, and a certified order adds $5. The Secretary of State sends filers to this list to see whether a new filing has been processed.

Reading a Maine Charter Number: D, DC, F, FC

A Maine charter number is 8 digits followed by a one- or two-letter code, and the code tells what kind of entity it is before the record opens. 19340021 D is L. L. BEAN, INC., a Maine business corporation; 19840383 F is IDEXX LABORATORIES, INC., a Delaware corporation doing business in Maine.

A foreign entity is one first formed under the laws of another state or country, hence the F codes. With a one-letter code, the record displays a space before the letter; typing the number without it works too. The full key to abbreviations is on the Secretary of State’s search tips page.

Good Standing in Maine: the June 1 Annual Report

Every Maine LLC and corporation files an annual report between January 1 and June 1, from the year following its formation (or its registration, for an out-of-state company), to keep its GOOD STANDING status: $85 for a Maine business entity, $150 for one from another state, $35 for a nonprofit. A report filed late adds a $50 penalty, and the Secretary of State mails no reminder and no form.

The Secretary of State says good standing means statutory filings are met, but that it doesn’t review or verify the information submitted or investigate how a business operates. An LLC or corporation that doesn’t cure a missed report or unpaid penalty within 60 days of written notice is administratively dissolved (31 MRSA 1591-1592 for LLCs, 13-C 1421-1423 for corporations). It can reinstate within six years, retroactively; the reinstatement fee for missed reports is $150, capped at $600 whatever their number (31 MRSA 1680(17)), and the Division confirms the total at 207-624-7752. After six years an LLC’s certificate of formation is canceled, and a dissolved LLC’s name stays protected for three years.

Mailers asking $210 to file the annual report are not from the state, the Secretary of State warned on December 13, 2024 and again on October 10, 2025; Division staff write from @maine.gov addresses; the annual report reminder emails come from cec.corporations@informe.org, the state portal’s domain. The June 1 filing, step by step, is in the Maine LLC annual report guide.

Certificate of Existence: $30, Downloaded From the Summary

A Certificate of Existence (Good Standing), or a Certificate of Legal Existence, is downloaded as a PDF from the bottom of the Information Summary for $30, or $10 for a nonprofit, in a short form or, for a Maine entity, a long form listing amendments. Its document authentication number, printed at the lower left, can be checked in the Corporate Retrieval Authentication Service, and documents bought online can be downloaded again free for 15 days.

Officers, Members and the Clerk

The free Information Summary doesn’t name officers, directors or members. They are in the annual report: a corporation lists its principal officers and directors, and an LLC at least one member, manager or other authorized person, with an address. Buying the image of the latest annual report, $3, shows them.

The summary does name the clerk or registered agent. A Maine business corporation has a clerk; an LLC or a company from another state has a registered agent. Either one is commercial, listed with the Secretary of State under a public number such as P10068, or noncommercial, named with a full address. Appointing or changing one costs $35.

Maine Business Name Search: What Doesn’t Make a Name Different

Maine compares a new name with active corporations, LLCs and partnerships, assumed, fictitious, reserved and registered names, and marks registered in Maine, and it must be distinguishable from all of them. Under 31 MRSA 1508, words describing the entity (company, corporation, limited, LLC), the words “and” and “the”, and punctuation, capitals or special characters don’t count, so Pine Ridge LLC and The Pine Ridge Company are the same name.

The Corporate Name Search doubles as the availability check, since it covers legal, assumed and reserved names and marks, but the final decision comes at filing. A $20 reservation keeps a name for 120 days and can’t be renewed. An LLC’s name must include limited liability company, limited company, L.L.C., LLC, L.C. or LC. Only marks registered in Maine count against a new name, so federal trademarks call for an LLC name check that covers federal marks.

Assumed Names at the State, Trade Names at the Town Office

An LLC or corporation using another name, its DBA, files a statement of assumed name with the Secretary of State for $125, and it appears in the Corporate Name Search with the Name Type ASSUMED: L. L. BEAN, INC. has four. A sole proprietor or general partnership files its trade name with the clerk of the city or town where the business is located instead, so those names aren’t in the state search, and the Division doesn’t check them for availability.

Licenses, Sales Tax and the EIN in Maine

No license appears in the Corporate Name Search. For licenses and permits, the state’s Business Answers program, 1-800-872-3838, points each business to the agencies involved, and professional licenses are checked with the Find a Licensee search of the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

A business making regular sales of taxable goods or services registers with Maine Revenue Services and receives a Retailer Certificate, and any entity other than a sole proprietor needs a federal EIN to register. The Maine registry shows no EIN; a company applies to the IRS for its own, while tracing another company’s EIN means looking at other records.

Bulk data is sold, not published: lists of active LLCs or corporations run $75 to $150 from the Division, and full monthly database files come through InforME, the state’s portal operator.