Business Services, North Dakota Secretary of State
North Dakota Business Entity Search: FirstStop, Status and Standing
A North Dakota record answers two questions in separate columns: whether the business still exists (Status) and whether it is up to date with the Secretary of State (Standing). Look up a North Dakota corporation or LLC below by name, by 10-digit SOS Control ID such as 0000005396, or by registered agent; Standing and trade names are on FirstStop only.
Search North Dakota businesses
North Dakota onlyOne distinctive word finds more than the full legal name.
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ND SOS Business Search on the FirstStop Portal
The North Dakota Secretary of State’s Business Search sits in the FirstStop Portal, and searching needs no account. The ND Login is for filing and for buying the business database as Excel lists ($40 per entity type for active records, $1,440 a month for all business and trademark records); UCC and lien searches use a separate system, the North Dakota Central Indexing System (NDCIS).
One field accepts either a name or a number; its hint, “(###-#####)”, doesn’t match the ten digits North Dakota actually shows. Advanced offers Contains or Starts with and an Active entities only box, which is unchecked, so dissolved companies appear too. Trade names and fictitious partnership names come up in the same list: a search for “bobcat” returned 108 rows, 72 of them names rather than companies.
To look up an LLC in North Dakota, click its row. The panel shows the Filing Type, Status, three Standing lines (AR, RA and Other), where it was formed, addresses, the AR Due Date and the registered agent, but no owners or managers. This page’s tool shows Status but not Standing, leaves out trade names and fictitious partnership names, and misses some closed companies; FirstStop has all three. The old Archived Business Records Search is frozen and out of date.
Status Says It Exists, Standing Says It Is Current
Status says whether the business still exists: Active, or Inactive when it merged, closed itself, was terminated by the state or, for a trade name, expired. Standing says whether it is current: “If a business fails to file its annual report it will be placed into Not Good Standing status,” and lenders often ask for a Certificate of Good Standing.
Read both columns together: “Good Standing” beside an Inactive status does not mean the company still exists, and an LLC that skips its report for six months after the deadline “ceases to exist and is considered involuntarily terminated by operation of law.” On a closed company’s record, the agent line reads “ND Secretary of State (N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-13)”: that is the law naming the Secretary of State to receive legal papers, not a hired agent.
The SOS Control ID Has Ten Digits
FirstStop shows every SOS Control ID as ten digits padded with zeros, with no letters or dashes, trade names included. The Secretary of State assigns it, and it is not a federal EIN.
| SOS Control ID | Record |
|---|---|
0000005396 | Scheels All Sports, Inc., domestic corporation, Active, Good Standing |
0000013709 | Doosan Bobcat North America, Inc., foreign corporation, Active, Good Standing |
0002963583 | Doosan Bobcat Global Collaboration Center, Inc., foreign corporation, Inactive (Voluntary); on FirstStop only, the search above doesn’t return it |
0005375726 | Bobcat Company, a trade name owned by Doosan Bobcat North America, Inc.; on FirstStop only |
In the search above, 5396 is completed to 0000005396; a dash makes it fail. The IRS issues EINs, no North Dakota record shows one, and the state offers no EIN search; for other routes, see ways to trace a company’s EIN.
Five Annual Report Deadlines, Set by Entity Type
North Dakota limited liability companies file their annual report by November 15 for $50; domestic corporations by August 1 and foreign ones by May 15, for $25; limited partnerships, LLPs and cooperatives by March 31; farming and ranching entities by April 15. A new business skips the year it registers and files its first report the following calendar year.
A late LLC report costs $50 more, and a corporation pays $20 within 90 days, then $60. Reinstating within a year of termination adds $135 to the report and penalty; after a year, an LLC can only be reinstated by the district court for Burleigh County. The AR Due Date on each record gives the exact day, and filing is covered in the North Dakota LLC annual report guide.
Letters Charging More Than $90 for a $50 Report
On April 15, 2025, the Secretary of State warned that “Third parties offering to do filings are charging fees in excess of $90 to file,” in letters that “may look like a bill,” and added that “Most annual reports submitted directly to the North Dakota Secretary of State are filed as soon as they are received.”
Owners Are Not on a North Dakota Company Record
A business registration “does not document the ownership of a business”: the Secretary of State says filings list incorporators, organizers or general partners, “but these individuals may not necessarily be the owners.” An LLC’s annual report names its managers, governors or managing members, and a corporation’s its officers and directors; the record itself shows none of them. Sole proprietors trading under their own names need not register with the Secretary of State at all.
Every corporation, LLC and partnership other than a general partnership needs a registered agent with a North Dakota street address, and “A business may not serve as its own registered agent.” Commercial registered agents pay $1,000 to be listed on FirstStop’s public list; the Person tab above finds a company through its agent.
North Dakota DBA: A Trade Name Before Doing Business
“A person or organization may not engage in business in this state under a trade name until the trade name is registered with the secretary of state.” Registration on FirstStop costs $25 and lasts five years, and even “an acronym, shortened, or abbreviated version of the name” counts as a trade name.
A trade name’s record shows the Owner Name, Owner Address, Nature of Business and Expiration Date. It is the only record in the search that names an owner, though a company listed as owner “may not reflect the ultimate owner.” Partnerships file fictitious partnership names instead.
North Dakota Business Name Rules Changed in 2026
Under rules in force from January 1, 2026, a name is available if it is distinguishable in the records: one different keyword, a plural, a different spelling or a different word order is enough, while letter case and spacing are not. Names of inactive entities are free to use again.
A name that doesn’t appear in the search still isn’t cleared: “a party’s verification that a proposed name does not exist […] is not a determination that the proposed name is available.” Trade names and state trademarks count in the comparison, so check FirstStop’s Trademark tab too (a state trademark costs $30 per class for ten years). A reservation costs $10 for 12 months. An LLC name needs LLC, L.L.C. or limited liability company, and forming a North Dakota LLC costs $135. Bank or trust in a name needs the Department of Financial Institutions’ written consent, and insurance terms are reserved too. A wider LLC name check also covers federal marks and domains.
Good Standing Certificates, Contractors and Sales Tax Permits
A Certificate of Good Standing costs $20 through a Request Certificate form on FirstStop, and it requires every annual report to be filed. North Dakota has no general business license; a job worth more than $4,000 requires a contractor license, searchable on FirstStop’s Contractor tab.
Sellers of taxable goods should apply for a sales tax permit “30 days prior to opening for business,” and permits don’t transfer to a buyer of the business. The North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner’s Sales and Use Permit Inquiry confirms a permit number against a business name.