Maryland Business Entity Search and SDAT Charter Records

Business Express Entity Search: SDAT by Name or Department ID

SDAT’s Charter Division keeps the records of Maryland corporations, LLCs and partnerships, so a Maryland business search, an MD charter search or an SDAT entity search all lead to the same Business Entity Search. The Maryland Secretary of State (SOS) registers trademarks and charities, not companies, and SDAT’s Charter Division handles what other states give a Division of Corporations or a state corporation commission. The search takes a business name or a Department ID and nothing else, no owner, officer, agent or address.

Step 1: Type the Name, or Switch to Department ID

Business Name is selected by default under Search by. The Department ID option takes one letter and eight digits, such as D04444345 for Under Armour, Inc., and a Department ID lookup returns that one company. The ID is on the confirmation letter sent after formation and on any Certificate of Status. A common name can fill the list to 200 rows with no next page, so more of the name narrows it.

Step 2: Read the Letter Before Each Number

The list has three columns, Department ID, Business Name and Status, and mixes several kinds of records. The letter tells them apart: D or F for a Maryland or foreign corporation, W or Z for a Maryland or foreign LLC, M or P for a limited partnership. A sole proprietorship or general partnership appears under its owner’s name with an L number. Rows numbered with a T, such as UNDER ARMOUR ATHLETIC APPAREL, have no company ending; SDAT lists T among its Department ID letters without defining it. A row marked Old Name repeats the Department ID of the company that changed its name.

Step 3: General Information, Filing History, Annual Report

General Information gives the Principal Office, Resident Agent, Status, Good Standing, Business Type, Business Code and Date of Formation/ Registration. Filing History lists each filing with its date. One with an eye icon opens as a free PDF, and Order Documents, at the bottom of the record, sells certified copies ($20 online) of those that don’t. Annual Report/Personal Property shows each year’s Form 1. The record opens at the same web address for every company, so it can’t be bookmarked or shared; the Department ID can.

Forfeited or in Good Standing: Reading SDAT’s Record

An active corporation shows Incorporated on the Status line, an active LLC or partnership shows Active. The Good Standing line below it reads THIS BUSINESS IS IN GOOD STANDING or NOT IN GOOD STANDING, and a business is usually not in good standing for a while before its status turns Forfeited. Good standing means SDAT has every document and fee the law requires and no other agency has reported the business as delinquent in tax payments. Only legal entities such as corporations and LLCs can be in good standing; a sole proprietorship or general partnership is only Active or Inactive.

SDAT lists six causes for losing it: a missing Form 1, an unpaid late-filing penalty, a dishonored payment, no active resident agent, or an issue with the Comptroller or with the Department of Labor. Left unfixed, it ends in forfeiture, which SDAT defines as the entity giving up its right to do business in Maryland and to use its name; a forfeited Maryland corporation also ceases to exist under state law (Corps. & Ass’ns § 3-503). A forfeited LLC loses its right to do business and to its name (§ 4A-911), without that same effect.

For Maryland entities, a Potential Forfeiture list runs online from July through September, a final notice goes out in early October, and forfeiture follows in December. The reason is on the record: in Filing History, the line DEPT. ACTION - FORFEITURE has a comment icon, and for Under Armour Retail of North Carolina, LLC it reads “THE ENTITY WAS FORFEITED FOR FAILURE TO FILE PROPERTY RETURN FOR 2022.”

The $300 Form 1: Annual Report and Property Return in One

Maryland combines the annual report and the business personal property return in one filing, the Form 1, due to SDAT by April 15 from every corporation, LLC, limited partnership and LLP that existed on January 1, whether or not it owns property or earned anything. A business formed at any time in 2026 files its first one by April 15, 2027.

The property part has to be completed when the business owns, leases or uses personal property in Maryland (licensed vehicles aside) with a total original cost of $20,000 or more. The $300 is for the annual report, and the personal property tax return itself has no fee. A request made online by April 15 moves the deadline to June 15. Filing late costs at least $30, $40 or $50 depending on the delay and at most $500, plus 2% of that penalty per 30 days (Tax-Prop. § 14-704); an unpaid penalty goes to the Central Collection Unit, which adds 17%.

Coming Back From Forfeiture: Every Missing Form 1, Then $100

A forfeited LLC files Articles of Reinstatement and a forfeited corporation files Articles of Revival, $100 each, after filing every past-due annual report and paying the penalties. An LLC forfeited with three reports missing pays $900 in report fees and the $100 filing, before penalties. The corporation’s old name may have gone to another business in the meantime. Each missing report is filed the same way as a current one, as shown in the Form 1 filing steps for a Maryland LLC.

Owner Names at SDAT: Only a Corporation’s Form 1 Has Them

An SDAT record names no owner, member, manager or officer. A corporation lists its president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and directors on its Form 1, and SDAT’s answer to finding them is to send $1 with a request for the most recent Form 1 ($20 more for expedited service). The Form 1 of an LLC asks for no member or manager names, and the LLC’s record shows none.

On SDAT’s side, names of people show up in three places: a sole proprietorship listed under its owner’s name, a trade name filing, which has to give the owner’s name and address, and the resident agent line. A trader’s license issued by a Circuit Court clerk also lists the owner’s name (licenses below).

Maryland Resident Agent Search by Name, Outside SDAT

Maryland calls the registered agent a resident agent: a Maryland resident aged 18 or older, a Maryland corporation or a Maryland LLC that has consented in writing. SDAT has no agent search. Typing CSC-Lawyers Incorporating Service in the Person tab here lists companies it represents. Without an active resident agent, a business loses good standing and can’t get a Certificate of Status. Changing the agent or the principal office takes a Resolution, $25.

Ordering a Maryland Certificate of Status, and Checking One

Maryland’s good standing certificate is officially a Certificate of Status: $20, plus $20 for expedited service and a 3% fee when ordered online from Order Certificate(s) of Status on the record. It isn’t issued to a business without a resident agent, with missing returns or with unpaid penalties, nor to a trade name, a sole proprietorship or a general partnership.

Each certificate or certified copy bought through Maryland Business Express carries an authentication code at the bottom, which anyone can check on the certified copy verification page.

Checking a Maryland Business Name, and Registering a Trade Name

Section 1-504 requires a name that SDAT’s records can tell apart from the names of entities organized or registered in Maryland, reserved names and the assumed names of foreign entities. There is no separate availability tool: a Maryland business name search runs in the same Business Entity Search, and SDAT’s name line, 410-767-1330, gives no guarantee over the phone.

LLC, L.L.C., LC or the full words end an LLC name; Corporation, Incorporated, Limited or Company (not after “and”) end a corporation’s. SDAT holds a name 30 days for a $25 reservation. The company itself is formed with SDAT on Maryland Business Express, with Articles of Organization for an LLC, and forming a Maryland LLC covers the filing. Registering a name with SDAT settles nothing about trademarks, a separate question covered in how a new name is checked against federal trademarks.

A Maryland Trade Name Lasts Five Years

A DBA is called a trade name in Maryland and is filed with SDAT, not a county: $25, effective for 5 years and renewable in the last six months (§ 1-406). The filing gives the owner’s full legal name and address and the Department ID of the business using it, and SDAT checks the name only against other trade names. A trade name that isn’t renewed turns Forfeited in the search.

Maryland Business License Search: Circuit Court Clerks and Labor Boards

SDAT issues no business licenses. A business that sells goods needs a trader’s license from the Clerk of the Circuit Court, unless it grows or manufactures them, and issued licenses can be searched on Maryland Judiciary Business Licenses Online, with the owner’s name, trade name, addresses, license number and type. The clerk can’t issue one to a business behind on its SDAT filings, and the license year runs from May 1 to April 30 (Comptroller’s License Bureau).

Electricians, home improvement contractors, plumbers, real estate agents and other regulated trades are checked in the Maryland Department of Labor’s license search, by profession.

Department IDs and New Filings