Indiana Secretary of State Business Search (Step-By-Step)

Are you forming a corporation, LLC, or business entity in Indiana?

How do you do an Indiana Secretary of State Business Search?

Looking for an awesome step-by-step guide?

We are super excited to begin!

Let’s search in the Indiana Secretary of State Business Search database!

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Indiana Business Search Registry

In Indiana, the state offers an online database (called INBiz) to the public allowing anyone to perform a search to locate any business entity registered in the state.

To search for a business entity, you’ll need to access the Indiana Secretary of State Business Search registry.

It looks like this:

Once you access the online business database, proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Database Search Methods

You can search for different types of business registered with the state, such as:

• Domestic Profit Corporation
• Domestic Professional Corporation
• Domestic Benefit Corporation
• Domestic Public Benefit Corporation
• Domestic Religious Corporation
• Domestic Mutual Benefit Corporation
• Foreign Profit Corporation
• Foreign Non-Profit Corporation
• Foreign Public Benefit Corporation
• Foreign Religious Corporation
• Foreign Mutual Benefit Corporation
• Domestic Limited Liability Company
• Foreign Limited Liability Company
• Domestic Limited Partnership
• Domestic Limited Liability Partnership
• Foreign Limited Partnership
• Foreign Limited Liability Partnership

Also, there are different methods that you can use to search for business entities, such as:

• Search by Business Name
• Search by Business ID
• Search by Filing Number
• Search by Registered Agent Name
• Search by Incorporator or Principal Name

Let’s look at each of these search methods one by one.

Method 1: Search by Business Name

The search by Entity Name is a widely used type of business entity lookup.

All you have to do is to enter the name of the business entity you are searching for to see if there is a match in the database or not.

As you enter a business or company name, you can select the radio button indicating that business entity “Contains”, “Starts With” or is an “Exact Match” with the keyword or your search terms. 

To further narrow your search, you have a section for “Advanced Search” allowing you to include additional filters.

You can use the following filters to make a more targeted business entity search:

• Search by Business Type
• Search by Business Status
• Search by Name Type
• Search by Street Address
• Search by City
• Search by Zip Code

Once you have entered the required fields, click the button “Search”.

Method 2: Search by Business ID

The business ID represents a unique reference number or identification number assigned to the business by the Indiana Secretary of State.

If you have a unique INBiz ID number, you can use that to perform your search.

Once you’re done, you hit the “Search” button.

Method 3: Search by Filing Number

Similar to the unique Business ID, a Filing Number is a unique number assigned by the State of Indiana to a specific document that has been filed with the Secretary of State.

If you have this unique File Number, you can use it to retrieve the exact entity associated with this document.

Method 4: Search by Registered Agent Name

The next option is to search for an entity using the business entity’s registered agent as declared with the Indiana Secretary of State.

A registered agent can be an individual or a company who is appointed to receive service of legal process on behalf of the company.

Method 5: Search by Incorporator or Principal Name

The final business entity search option is to do a search using the name of the person or entity that had acted as the company’s incorporator or the name of the entity’s principal.

A principal could be a director or officer of the company.

Step 3: Business Entity Search Results Page

Once you’ve performed your desired search, you will then be presented with the business entity search results.

If you did a search using a corporation, LLC, partnership, or entity name, you will see the following search results page:

The search results page presents to you the following information:

• Business ID
• Business Name
• Name Type
• Entity Type
• Principal Office Address
• Registered Agent Address
• Status

If there is a company or business having a name that matches your search query, you will see it on the search results page.

Step 4: Select entity 

If you have found a business entity matching your query or a company that you would like to get further information on, you should click on the hyperlinked business entity number from the search results page.

Step 5: Business entity information

To complete your business entity search in Indiana, you’ll end up getting the business entity records or information made available publicly by the state.

The entity information page looks like this:

The business entity information provides some valuable information about the business entity selected.

Here is a quick overview:

Business Details

• Business Name
• Entity Type
• Creation Date
• Principal Office Address
• Jurisdiction of Formation
• Business ID
• Business Status
• Inactive Date
• Expiration Date
• Business Entity Report Due Date
• Years Due

Incorporators Information

• Incorporator Name
• Incorporator Address 

Principal Information

• Principal Name
• Principal Address 

Registered Agent Information

• Registered AgentType
• Registered Agent Name
• Registered Agent Address 

At the bottom of the entity information page, you have a few buttons allowing you do take additional steps or actions:

• Get the company’s filing history
• Get the company’s name history
• Get the company’s assumed name history 
• Request certified copies of documents

Takeaways 

There you have it!

You have now performed an Indiana Secretary of State Business Search?

Let’s look at a summary of the process.

Indiana Secretary of State Business Search

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