Iowa Secretary of State Business Search (Guide: All You Need To Know)

Looking for Iowa Secretary of State Business Search?

How do you do a search for an IA business entity?

What is essential to know?

Keep reading as I have gathered exactly the information that you need!

Let me explain to you the Iowa Business Search in simple terms!

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

Iowa Business Search Overview

Anyone looking to find information on a corporation or business entity in Iowa can do so by performing a search on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website.

Iowa Secretary of State offers an online tool called the IA Business Entities Search allowing you to search for corporations and business entities registered in the Iowa state.

In the Iowa Business Entity Search database, you can find information on for-profit corporations, not-for-profit corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, and other miscellaneous businesses.

Keep reading as I will now break down the IA business search.

Iowa Business Search Registry

You can access the IA Secretary of State business search tool by going to the State of Iowa business search tool.

In this database, you can find information on any business entity registered in the state of Iowa.

You can do the following types of searches:

• Search by Business Name
• Search by Business Number

The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office maintains a database relating to all businesses that were incorporated in the state of Iowa.

There are over 200,000 business entities in the Iowa SOS business entity database and over 500,000 officer information.

The state of Iowa receives over one million business entity filings every year.

Iowa Secretary of State Contact Information

Here is the main contact information that you will need:

• Address: First Floor, Lucas Building, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319
• Telephone: (515) 281-5204
• Fax: (515) 242-5953
• E-Mail: [email protected] 
• Iowa Secretary of State: https://sos.iowa.gov/ 
• IA Business Search: https://sos.iowa.gov/search/business/search.aspx 
• IA Business Search Help: https://sos.iowa.gov/search/business/help.html 

Here are some other relevant links that you may need:

• IRS – Starting a Business
• Small Business Administration
• IRS – Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center
• Iowa Economic Development Authority 
• Business licensing resource

How To Do A Iowa Business Search

Performing a business search in Iowa is quite simple.

Here is how it’s done in a step-by-step fashion!

Step 1: Go To Iowa Secretary of State Business Search

The first step is to access the Iowa Business Search tool on the Iowa SOS website.

To do a business search in Iowa, you’ll need to have a business name or business number for your search.

Step 2: Perform A Search

The next step is to perform a search on the IA Sec of State business search tool.

You can perform a search using the business name or business number.

If you do a search using the business name, the Iowa sec of state business search tool will strip offer words like “the” and “an” from the beginning of the key terms and words like “corporation” or “inc” from the end of the key terms.

When you enter a key term, the database can return up to a maximum of 1,000 results that are the most relevant to your search.

If you do a search using a business number, you will be able to ensure greater accuracy in your search by retrieving precisely the business entity information associated with that business number.

Step 3: Select Business Entity

Once you have clicked on the Search button, you will be presented with the business entities that are the most relevant to your search.

If there are many business entities that are located, you’ll need to skim through the business search results page to find the business entity that corresponds to your search.

Once you have found the business entity you were looking for or think is the right one, click on the business entity hyperlink so you can access the business entity summary page.

Step 4: Retrieve Business Entity Information

Once you have clicked on the business entity of your choice, you will be directed to the business entity summary page providing more information about the entity in question.

On the business entity summary page, you will have the following information:

• Business number
• Business type
• Business entity expiration date
• Business entity incorporation chapter
• Business entity legal name
• State of incorporation 
• Effective date 
• Status 
• Modified status
• Filing date 
• Business entity name information (type, status, modified, and name)
• Registered agent or reserving party information (full name, address, city, state, zip)
• Home office information (full name, address, city, state, zip)

Steps To Starting A New Business Entity

In case you’re interested, here is a quick overview of the steps you need to take to form a new business entity in Iowa.

Here it goes!

Step 1: Start by doing a business name availability search to ensure the company name you’re looking for is available (this article provides you all the information you need to use the Iowa Secretary of State business entity search tool online).

Step 2: Once you have found the name you want to register, do a domain name search to see if you can also purchase the domain name that matches your business entity name.

Step 3: It’s good to search on social media platforms to see if other people are using the same company name that you have in mind to make sure that your business entity name will be accepted by the IA Secretary of State.

Step 4: Once you have validated that your business entity name can be used, you should then choose the right business entity type suitable for you (such as C-Corp, S-Corp, LLC, Partnership, Non-Profit Organization, or other).

Step 5: Start preparing your business entity formation papers like articles of incorporation for corporations or LLC articles of organizations, identify your registered agent, company officers, and directors, and consider other requirements required when forming a business entity in Iowa.

Step 6: Register your business entity with the state of Iowa by filing the proper paperwork required by the state of Iowa and paying the applicable fees.

Step 7: Once your company is registered, you should then apply for your Employer Identification Number with the IRS.

Step 8: Determine if you need to apply for federal, state, or local business licenses.

Step 9: Determine what are your federal, state, and local tax filing requirements.

Step 10: Get your business operations going by creating a logo, writing a business plan, opening a business bank account, establishing a business website, creating your email addresses, setting your physical or mailing address, and so on.

Search For Business Entity In Another State

Iowa Business Search Takeaways 

So there you have it folks!

How To Do An Iowa SOS Business Search

In the state of Iowa, you can perform an online Iowa SOS business entity search to find more information about a business entity registered with the Iowa Secretary of State.

You can find a lot of information about a business entity such as Legal Name, Status, Type, State of Incorporation, Formation Date, Effective Date, Principal Office Address, Registered Agent Name & Address, Number of Shares, and all the Officers.

Now that you know how the Secretary of State of Iowa business search works, all the steps in performing a business search Iowa, and the type of information that you can find, good luck with your investigation!

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By the way, on this blog, I focus on topics related to starting a business, business contracts, and investing, making money geared to beginners, entrepreneurs, business owners, or anyone eager to learn. 

I started this blog out of my passion to share my knowledge with you in the areas of finance, investing, business, and law, topics that I truly love and have spent decades perfecting.

You may find useful nuggets of wisdom to help you in your entrepreneurship journey and as an investor.

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