Corporations Division, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Massachusetts Business Entity Search: ID Number, EIN and LLC Lookup
Massachusetts keeps its records of entities registered in the state at the Corporations Division of the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the office other states call the Secretary of State. Look up a Massachusetts LLC or corporation here by name, by its 9-character ID Number (043284048, for one) or by an officer, manager or agent.
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One Database for Massachusetts LLCs and Corporations
The Massachusetts business search is free on the Corporations Division’s Search for a Business Entity page, and one database holds corporations, LLCs, LPs and LLPs. It searches by Entity Name, Individual Name (“Officer, Director, etc.”), Identification Number or Filing Number. A Massachusetts LLC search by name runs as Begins with, Exact match, Full text or Soundex, a phonetic match.
Begins with, the default, misses a company whose name starts with “The” or another word, so Full text is safer for one distinctive word. Name reservations, state trademarks, UCC filings and rejected filings sit in separate databases. To see a company’s documents, the Division’s own steps are to open the entity, highlight ALL FILINGS in the white box at the bottom and click view filings; certified copies are ordered from the same list.
A Massachusetts ID Number Is Often the Company’s EIN
For a Massachusetts EIN lookup, start with the state registry: an LLC’s certificate asks for “the federal employer identification number, if available,” and record links even carry the number in a parameter named FEIN. Boston Beer’s ID Number, 043284048, is the EIN the company reports to the SEC.
| ID Number | Record |
|---|---|
043284048 | The Boston Beer Company, Inc., domestic profit corporation, Active |
000973546 | Wayfair LLC, foreign LLC, Active (most likely a state number, not an EIN) |
L86001030 | Boston Beer Company Limited Partnership, Cancelled |
An ID Number starting with 000 or 001 is usually a number the state assigned, not an EIN, and limited partnerships carry an L followed by eight digits. An EIN typed as 04-3284048 is read here as 043284048, but zeros can’t be dropped: one digit off can open another, real company. The IRS has no public EIN lookup for companies; other ways to find a company’s EIN fill the gap.
Each result from the entity search tool above gives the entity type (domestic profit corporation, foreign LLC and so on), the status (Active, Dissolved, Withdrawn for a foreign company that left, Cancelled for an LP or LLC ended by a certificate of cancellation), the date of organization, an address, the agent, and the officers of a corporation.
Massachusetts Annual Reports: $500 for LLCs, $125 for Corporations
“Every limited liability company must file an annual report with the Corporations Division on or before the anniversary date” of its certificate of organization, and the fee is $500 every year. A corporation files within 2.5 months after its fiscal year ends (March 15 for a calendar year) for $125, $100 online or $150 late; a nonprofit pays $15 by November 1.
Two consecutive years of missed reports (for a corporation, also of unfiled returns or unpaid state taxes) let the state start an administrative dissolution, as can inactivity, with 90 days’ notice to fix it. An LLC can seek reinstatement “at any time,” paying $100 plus every report owed; a corporation also needs a Department of Revenue certificate and the reports for the last ten fiscal years. Deadlines and forms are in the Massachusetts LLC annual report guide.
Mail Asking for $125 in Minutes Fees
The Division has warned about mailings titled “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” that quote a $125 “Annual Fee” and the company’s number: “Massachusetts corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Secretary of State.” Its e-mail subscription service sends a notice whenever anything is filed on a watched entity.
Who a Massachusetts Record Names: Officers, Managers, Signers
A corporation’s annual report lists “the names and business addresses of its directors” and required officers, plus its CEO and CFO. An LLC’s certificate names each manager, if it has any, and anyone else authorized to sign filings (at least one such person when there’s no manager); Chapter 156C doesn’t require members to be listed, so the owners of a Massachusetts LLC may not appear at all.
The state’s Individual Name search finds officers and directors free, with Soundex for uncertain spellings; the Person tab above covers the same names plus registered agents. A corporation keeps a registered agent, while an LLC’s resident agent must be an individual living in Massachusetts or a corporation authorized to do business there. A wrong name or address is corrected by the company itself: the next annual report restates the certificate with any changes, and an agent change is free online ($25 on paper).
Corporations Division or Revenue: Which Good Standing?
The Corporations Division sells a Certificate of Good Standing for $12 for a corporation, which the fee schedule labels “(This is not a Tax Good Standing),” and $25 for an LLC; “LLC good standing certificates are not available electronically,” so they come by mail. The Department of Revenue issues a separate Certificate of Good Standing and/or Tax Compliance through MassTaxConnect, and “There is no fee.”
Certificates paid by card before 7 p.m. may issue the next business day. Those sent by e-mail carry a certificate number that anyone can check in the Division’s Validate a Certificate Number page; a certificate with a gold embossed seal can’t be validated online.
Massachusetts DBA Search Happens Town by Town
A Massachusetts DBA is a business certificate, required when a business “operates under any name other than its legal name,” sworn and filed with the clerk in each Massachusetts town or city hosting one of the business’s offices, not with the state: “This certificate is not a business license.” It lasts four years, and operating without one risks a fine of up to $300 for each month.
So a Massachusetts DBA search runs in each town’s records, such as Boston’s DBA Database Search; Boston charges $65, plus $35 for a filer living outside Massachusetts, with no online filing. An LLC or corporation trading under its registered name needs no certificate.
No statewide business license exists, so a Massachusetts business license search means asking the licensing board of the city or town; occupational licenses are on Check a License, and tax registration goes through MassTaxConnect.
Name Checks Need Both the Corporate and Reservation Databases
“A preliminary search of both the corporate database and the name reservation database may check name availability.” The name of an LLC carries LLC, L.L.C., LC, L.C., or the words limited liability company or limited company, and must not duplicate an entity or a trademark filed with the Division, or come deceptively close to one.
A name checked by phone “should not be relied upon.” Reserving costs $30 for 60 days, renewable once for another $30, and anyone in business in the state can protest a new corporation’s name within 90 days. State trademarks cost $50 per class for five years. Filing the certificate of organization costs $500 (see how to form a Massachusetts LLC); a fuller LLC name check adds federal marks and domains.