Business Services Division, New Mexico Secretary of State
New Mexico Business Search: NM SOS Business ID and LLC Lookup
The New Mexico Secretary of State’s business search runs on the SOS Enterprise portal, which the office opens to visitors in the United States and generally blocks from other countries. The search on this page queries those business entity records from any country, by business name, by Business ID such as 89680, or by the name of an officer, organizer or registered agent.
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New Mexico onlyOne distinctive word finds more than the full legal name.
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NM SOS Business Search on SOS Enterprise, Not the Old Commission
The New Mexico SOS business search portal is the Business Search of SOS Enterprise (enterprise.sos.nm.gov), run by the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division. The Public Regulation Commission no longer keeps corporate records: since July 1, 2013, the Secretary of State charters corporations, so a “corporation commission” search now means this portal.
Step 1: Name or File Number, Then Advanced
The single field reads “Search by name or file number.” The Advanced menu offers a Search Filter of Contains, Starts With or Name Availability, plus Entity Type, Status and a Registration Date range. The tabs beside Business open the Lien (UCC), Notary, Trademark and Service Of Process searches. Searching needs no account; filing does, and the filing forms sit under the Forms tab once logged in.
Step 2: The Side Drawer of a Record
To look up an LLC in New Mexico, click its row: a side drawer shows the Business Name, Status, Initial Filing Date, Entity Type, Record #, AR Due Date and Agent, then Directors, Officers or Organizers and Incorporators, and any Alternate Business Names. Owners abroad who need their own record can write to the helpdesk address given on the Secretary of State’s geo-blocking page. Statuses seen on records include Active, Pending Initial Report, Dissolved and Revoked Final; the Secretary of State publishes no glossary for them, and good standing is a separate test (see certificates below).
Business ID, Record # or File Number: Three Formats in New Mexico
New Mexico calls the number Business ID, Record # or file number, and three formats coexist: ten digits starting with 0008 for records created in the current portal, shorter numbers with no leading zeros for older ones, and a few foreign entities ending in F.
| Business ID | Record |
|---|---|
89680 | Public Service Company of New Mexico, domestic profit corporation, Active |
2070134 | TXNM Energy, Inc., domestic profit corporation, Active |
0008097466 | A domestic LLC formed in the current portal |
0002F | RSM US LLP, a foreign limited liability partnership |
In the search on this page, 89680 and 0008097466 open their records while 0000089680 and 8097466 return nothing, so add no zeros and remove none; a lowercase F is capitalized automatically.
Reports: Nothing for New Mexico LLCs, Every Two Years for Corporations
The New Mexico LLC Act sets no annual or periodic report, so an LLC’s only standing obligation at the Secretary of State is keeping a registered agent and registered office. A corporation files an initial report within 30 days of incorporating, then a biennial report due on the 15th day of the fourth month following its fiscal year end: $25 each, with a $200 penalty if late.
Nonprofits file every year for $10, and limited liability partnerships by June 1. A corporation revoked for a missed report or agent can reinstate within two years, for $200, “as if the administrative revocation had never occurred.” Why an LLC skips all this is covered in New Mexico’s no-annual-report rule for LLCs.
Why a New Mexico LLC Record Can Name No Owner
An LLC’s articles name its registered agent but no members or managers, and no report adds them later, so the record may show only the agent and the organizer, and the organizer can be a filing service. Corporations list their directors and officers in each report, and those names appear on the record.
Existence Means Not Registered: New Mexico Certificates Explained
The SOS Enterprise “Certificate of Existence Filing” is “to request a certificate verifying an entity being searched is in fact NOT a registered Business Entity.” Proof that a company is registered and current is the Certificate of Status, the certificate of good standing and compliance in New Mexico law.
By statute it costs $50 for a corporation, $25 for an LLC and $10 for a nonprofit, and it downloads from the account’s work queue, where it stays available for 90 days. A corporation must be in good standing to get one, and the Secretary of State defines losing it as “The failure to file reports, maintain a New Mexico registered agent with a physical address, or pay fees due.” Plain copies cost $10 ($5 for a nonprofit) and certified copies $25.
A Preliminary Check Only: New Mexico Name Availability
The Name Availability filter is only a first check: “The business search is only a preliminary search and not intended to serve as a formal name availability search,” which the Secretary of State completes when a filing or reservation comes in. An LLC name must be distinguishable from the LLCs, LPs and corporations on file and from reserved names, while a corporation’s name must contain corporation, company, incorporated or limited and is refused if “confusingly similar” to one on file.
An LLC name also needs LLC, L.L.C., LC, L.C., “limited liability company” or “limited company.” Reserving holds it for 120 days, $20 for an LLC with no renewal and $25 for a corporation. Name Availability compares a name only with what the Secretary of State has on file; a broader LLC name check covers the rest, and forming a New Mexico LLC then costs $50 in articles. State trademarks, searchable in the portal’s Trademark tab, start at $50 for one class.
DBAs Go to New Mexico County Clerks, Not the State
“In New Mexico, DBA names are filed through the county clerks’ office where the business is located,” so the state keeps no DBA registry to search. Since July 1, 2021, though, an LLC that trades under another name must state it in its articles, and the record has an Alternate Business Names field for it.
A “fictitious name” at the Secretary of State means something narrower: the name an out-of-state corporation adopts when its own is turned down. General partnerships and sole proprietorships don’t have to register with the Secretary of State at all, so they may be missing from the business search.
Business Tax ID and Licenses: No General State License
“Anyone who engages in business in New Mexico must register with the Taxation and Revenue Department,” which issues a New Mexico Business Tax Identification Number, formerly called the CRS number: “There is no fee to register or obtain a Business Tax Identification Number.” Beyond that registration, the state issues no all-purpose business license; some municipalities and counties require their own.
Professional, liquor, cannabis and construction licenses are checked through the Regulation and Licensing Department’s Verify a License page. No record shows an EIN, and the state tax ID on a corporate report “shall not be released unless in statistical form.” The IRS issues EINs free; for another company’s number, see where a company’s EIN can turn up.