PA Corporation Search (Guide: All You Need To Know)

Looking for PA Corporation Search?

Want to search for a business registered in Pennsylvania?

How does it work?

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

Let’s dig into the Pennsylvania business search and see how it works!

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

What Is PA Corporation Search

In Pennsylvania, just like in any other US state, you can perform a PA corporation search on any company or business entity to find out more information about them.

The PA Registry has business records and information on many types of business entities such as:

• Corporations
• Limited liability companies
• Limited companies
• Limited partnerships
• Limited liability partnerships 

All companies registered in the state of Pennsylvania and doing business there must disclose certain information about the business entity to the public.

As a result, by doing a State Pennsylvania business search, you can obtain the information that the State of Pennsylvania requires that companies disclose publicly.

In some cases, you want to do a State of PA corporation search to find out more information about a registered company or you may want to perform a corporation name availability check before filing your articles of incorporation.

In this article, I will walk you through the process of doing a PA company search in case you are looking to do it yourself.

Note, I am not affiliated with the State of Pennsylvania or any US government entity and I have written this blog to help entrepreneurs, founders, and others looking to learn the process of searching for a business entity in Pennsylvania.

Where To Start For A PA Corporation Search 

In Pennsylvania, the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations has an online database where you can search for registered corporations and businesses.

You can access the PA company search database at: www.corporations.pa.gov/search/corpsearch 

In some states, it’s the Secretary of State managing the businesses searches and so many people do Secretary of State Pennsylvania business search although it’s the Department of State through its Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations handling registered entities.

How To Do Pennsylvania Business Search

To actually perform an SOS Pennsylvania business search, you’ll need to perform the following steps.

Step 1: Go To PA Company Database

The first step is to go to the SOS business search PA database to begin searching the database.

In fact, there is an online tool offered to the general public looking to perform a State of Pennsylvania corporation search or any other type of business entity search.

The database is free to use and can give you basic information about a Pennsylvania corporation or business entity.

Step 2: Perform A Search

The next step is for you to perform your business entity search.

You’ll be able to look up any type of business entity registered before the Pennsylvania state such as a corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, or others.

To do a search by name, you’ll need to enter keywords or terms that describe the company’s name as much as possible.

You can also do a search with the company’s ID number.

You can narrow your search by either looking at the “active” businesses or choosing the option “Type of Search” on the drop-down menu.

For example, you can choose to narrow your search by doing a “starting with”, “all words”, “any words”, or “exact match” search criteria.

Step 3: Select Your Entity

Once you’ve done your search, you will then see the search results page.

On the business entity search results page, look for the company name that matches what you are looking for.

If you find the company that matches your search, you can click on the hyperlink under the Business Entity Name column or Entity Number column to access the company information.

If you can’t find a direct match, you can click on different business entities to get more information about them to see if that’s the business entity you were looking for.

If you could not find the company you are searching for, you can revisit your search words and key phrases.

Step 4: Access The Business Entity Information Page

Once you have found the company that matches your search criteria, you can then click on the hyperlink available to you so you can access the company’s publicly available information.

On the business entity information page, you will find information related to the company, such as:

• Company name
• Company number
• Company type (corporation, LLC, LLP, or other)
• Incorporation date
• Status (active, good standing, inactive, dissolved or other)
• Effective date 
• State of formation
• Principal office address
• Officer information 
• Registered agent information 

You can also click on the Business Filing Entity History for more information on the company.

Forming A New Corporation In Pennsylvania

If you are looking to form a new corporation in Pennsylvania, you can either hire a business lawyer to help you, retain the services of a company incorporation service provider, or do it yourself.

In general, here are the steps in registering a new corporation in Pennsylvania:

• Think of your business name 
• Do an SOS business search Pennsylvania to ensure your business name is available
• Choose your business entity (like c-corporation, s-corporation, LLC, partnership etc)
• Create your Articles of incorporation PA
• Create your company bylaws
• See if you need to get any federal, state, or local Pennsylvania business licenses 
• File your articles of incorporation with the Departement of State Pennsylvania and pay the necessary fees
• File and obtain an IRS EIN number

Although this is a simplified step by step process of starting a new corporation in PA, it gives you a high-level overview of the main steps.  

Pennsylvania Bureau of Corporations Contact

If you are looking to contact the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations for a State of Pennsylvania business search or other reasons, here are the relevant pieces of information you need:

Its operational hours are generally from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and the Bureau also has a Public Records Room that is available between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as well.

Courrier or personally delivery address is the following:

The Bureau’s customer service lines are as follows:

You can access Pennsylvania’s Department of State website at dos.pa.gov/BusinessCharities and their email is [email protected]. 

For those looking to start a new business or register a new business in Pennsylvania, you can access the PA Business One-Stop-Shop for an online platform allowing you to get started!

PA Business Search Takeaways 

So there you have it folks!

Wondering how you perform a corporation search for a Pennsylvania corporation or how you can look up a company registered with the PA Department of State?

In a nutshell, the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations of the Pennsylvania Department of state is the formal repository of business entities authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

You can apply to the Secretary of the Commonwealth to obtain the authorization to do business in the state of Pennsylvania, incorporate a company, organize an entity, or file for an assumed or fictitious name.

You can also perform a Secretary of State PA business search to find out which business entity is registered in the state of Pennsylvania and obtain some basic information about them.

I hope I was able to provide you with the essential information you need to do an SOS PA business search and find the information you need about other Pennsylvania corporations and business entities.

Good luck!

My Investing, Business, and Law Blog

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.

I’d love to share the insider knowledge that I’ve acquired over the years helping you achieve your business and financial goals.

Now, let’s look at a summary of our findings.

PA SOS Business Search Overview (Business Records Search)

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