Oregon Business Registry Search: Business Entity Lookup by Name or Number

One Database, Seven Search Methods: Oregon’s SOS Business Search

The Oregon SOS business search is the Secretary of State’s Business Name Search, at sos.oregon.gov/bizsearch. It opens without an account and searches active and inactive businesses together unless a filter says otherwise. Registry numbers display with a dash before the last two digits, as in 087399-14.

Step 1: Key Part of the Name, or the Registry Number

The form, titled Search for a Business Name in the Business Registry Database, asks for a Business Name or a Registry Number, then a search method. Seven methods run from most to least restrictive, from Business Name Availability Check to Extended Search, which adds synonyms and returns the most names. For an Oregon LLC lookup or corporation search, the default, Exact words in any word order, is enough: it finds NIKE, INC. from the single word nike. A sound-alike method helps when the spelling is uncertain.

Step 2: Scan the Result Line

Each line gives an entity type, an entity status, a registry number, a name status and the name. A search for nike mixes active corporations, inactive LLCs and an assumed business name, NIKE GOLF. One company can take several lines: NIKE HOLDING, INC. and NIKE HOLDING, LLC share registry number 579627-80, because the earlier name stays listed as PRE next to the current one, CUR.

Step 3: Open the Business Entity Data

Clicking a registry number or a name opens the record. The top block, Business Entity Data, shows the registry date, the jurisdiction of formation, the Next Renewal Date and a Renewal Due? column. Below come the Associated Names (principal place of business, registered agent, mailing address and the people on file), the Name History, then the Summary History of every filing. Many filed documents open there as free images to print; older ones are ordered with a Request for Copy form.

DLLC, FBC, ABN, INA: Decoding an Oregon Registry Record

Oregon’s result list shows short codes rather than words. The entity type tells a domestic Oregon company from one formed in another state, and the status column reads ACT or INA, so an inactive business looks the same whether it dissolved itself or was dissolved by the state.

For an inactive record, the reason is in the Summary History, for example an ADMINISTRATIVE DISSOLUTION line. An inactive registration doesn’t affect name availability, according to the Secretary of State.

Members, Managers and Officers Appear With Their Addresses

An Oregon record names people, not just the agent. Under ORS 63.787, an LLC’s annual report lists the managers of a manager-managed LLC, or at least one member of a member-managed one, with an address; business and professional corporations list a president and a secretary. What is filed becomes public record unless the law exempts it, and the Secretary of State notes that businesses can be searched by individual name as well as by business name.

The search form’s Associated Business Search, By Individual, runs that search by person, and the Person tab above does the same across members, officers and registered agents. A home address can be kept off the record through a free Request for Nondisclosure, available when disclosure would put someone’s safety at risk (ORS 192.368). The registered agent sits in the same Associated Names block, at an Oregon street address that can’t be a mail drop or virtual office (ORS 63.111); a business can’t be its own agent, and changing the agent is free.

The Anniversary Renewal and the 45-Day Dissolution Notice

Oregon has no single annual report deadline. Each LLC and corporation renews every year on the anniversary of its registration, which is why the record shows a Next Renewal Date: NIKE, INC., registered September 8, 1969, renews by September 8, 2027. The fee is $100 for an Oregon LLC or business corporation, $275 for a foreign one and $50 for a nonprofit.

The Corporation Division mails a renewal notice about 45 days before the due date, but not receiving it doesn’t excuse a late report (ORS 63.787). Online, the renewal is done within minutes; when a renewal is due, the record itself shows a link to print a paper annual report.

A missed renewal is grounds for administrative dissolution (ORS 63.647): if the LLC doesn’t correct it within 45 days after notice, the Secretary of State dissolves it (ORS 63.651), and the record turns INA. Reinstatement is possible within five years, online or on paper, by paying a reinstatement fee plus the missed annual fees, as long as the name is still available. The anniversary renewal is covered step by step in Oregon’s LLC annual report guide.

Mailers titled “State Annual Report Renewal Notice” or “Annual Report Instruction Form” from Workplace Compliance Services or Business Compliance Services are not from the State of Oregon, according to the Secretary of State’s business alerts. The Next Renewal Date on the record is the way to check.

Certificate of Existence, Oregon’s Name for Good Standing

Oregon’s version of a good standing certificate is the Certificate of Existence, ordered in the Oregon Business Registry portal for $10 by card and received in minutes. Paper certificates take about 5 to 10 business days, and a certified copy of a document file costs $15. The Secretary of State warns about third-party mailings that charge more for the same certificate.

Oregon Business Name Search Before Registering: What Counts as Different

A new Oregon name has to be distinguishable upon the records of the Secretary of State from every active name, whatever the entity type. Under the rule quoted on the Division’s name availability page (OAR 160-010-0012), entity words such as LLC or Inc., punctuation, an added s, spacing, capitals and small words like the, and, for or with don’t make a name different.

The search form’s Business Name Availability Check compares the main words with active businesses and, if nothing is close, suggests the name can be registered; the final decision is made when the filing is reviewed. Names with banking words such as bank, loan, savings or trust need a Certificate of Name Compliance from the Division of Financial Regulation first. Oregon charges $100 to reserve a name for 120 days. Once a name clears, forming an Oregon LLC means filing articles of organization, $100, online or on paper. Registering a name doesn’t mean it can legally be used, Oregon warns: “Starbucks Coffee and Tea” might get through, and the real Starbucks could still sue. Running the name through trademark records avoids that.

Assumed Business Names: One State Registry, Filed County by County

An Oregon assumed business name search happens in the Business Name Search too: each assumed business name, Oregon’s DBA, has its own registry number and the code ABN on the result line. It’s filed with the Corporation Division, not a county, but lists each county where the business operates, so identical names can coexist in different counties. It costs $50 and renews every two years.

A business needs one when its name doesn’t disclose the real and true name of each owner, a surname with given names or initials, and an LLC or corporation needs one only to trade under a name other than its registered one. An assumed business name can’t be reserved, and a business trading under an unregistered one can’t bring a lawsuit in Oregon courts for that business (ORS 648.135).

Licenses Live in the Business Xpress Directory, Not the Registry

An Oregon business license search doesn’t run in the registry: the state has no general business license, and no license appears on a registry record. The state issues licenses by profession or industry, and some cities and a few counties issue their own; the Oregon Business Xpress License Directory lists them and offers a License Holder Lookup.

Contractors are checked separately in the Construction Contractors Board’s Contractor License Search, most reliably by the CCB number, which contractors must print on their advertising. In Portland, the business license is a net income tax, and a business operating in the city or in Multnomah County registers for a Revenue Division tax account within 60 days.

Downloads, Inactive Records and EINs