North Carolina Business Entity Search

Official agency: North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Business Registration Division

Open Official Government SearchOpens www.sosnc.gov in a new tab. This is the official government site, not EntityLocator.

Direct links on the official site

Search methods offered

Company By NameEnter an organizational name and choose a Words option.
Company by Secretary of State Identification Number (SOSID)Look up an entity by its SOSID.
Company OfficialsChoose Organization or Individual. Individual searches use Last, First and Middle name fields.
Registered AgentsChoose Organization or Individual. Individual searches use Last, First and Middle name fields.
Words optionsStarting With (selected at first for the company-name search), All, Any or Exact Match.
New companies and changesA separate form with Dissolutions/Withdrawals, Name Reservations, New Businesses or Suspensions, plus From and To dates. We looked at the form but did not submit it.
Assumed names (DBAs)A separate statewide search linked from the entity search form.

How to search

Open the official North Carolina Search Business Registration page using the button above.
Leave Search for set to Company By Name, or choose SOSID, Company Officials or Registered Agents.
Choose a Words option, such as Starting With or Exact Match, then enter the organizational name.
Select Search and review the expandable results.
Select an entity’s result heading to expand its summary, then select More information to open the full profile.
Select View Filings from the profile or summary to see filing history.

What you can expect to find

Results appear as expandable entries, not a table. A Starting With search for “Lincoln” showed 675 records found, 40 entries on the first page and page links running to 17. We saw no page-size selector, sorting control or export control.
Each collapsed result shows the organization name, SOSID when present, status and organization type. Some show a filing shortcut depending on status.
Statuses we saw included Current - Active, Dissolved, Admin. Dissolved, Revoked, Withdrawn, Merged, Multiple and Reserved Name. That is not necessarily a complete list.
An expanded summary showed legal name, previous legal name where applicable, SOSID, date formed where present, status, citizenship, state of incorporation on foreign records and business type.
Actions in the expanded summary varied by record. They included More information, View filings, annual report and reinstatement links, Order a document and Add to My Email Notification list. Seeing an action does not mean it is free or available without signing in.
The LLC profile we opened showed legal name, SOSID, status, citizenship, date formed, registered agent (linked), mailing, principal office, registered office and registered mailing addresses, and company officials with titles and addresses (linked). It also had a note referring to N.C.G.S. 57D-3-20 on LLC management. There were no record-specific tabs.
The profile’s Actions section listed File an Annual Report/Amend an Annual Report, Online Filing, Order a Document Online, Add Entity to My Email Notification List, View Filings, and links to print a pre-populated or amended annual report form. We did not use any of them.
Filing history opened on a separate page. Each entry showed a filing category, filing date, document identifier, description and a View Filing(PDF) link. The LLC’s history ran from its creation filing through annual reports, and we saw no filing-history pagination, filter or sorting.

Limitations, fees and notices

Searching the registry does not approve or reserve a name. It returns existing entries, including inactive entities and reserved names. The state’s guidance says names are compared under distinguishability rules that can disregard entity endings, punctuation, spaces and certain other differences, so a search with no exact match is not approval of a proposed name.
A name reservation is a separate application. Under G.S. 55D-23, an accepted reservation lasts a nonrenewable 120 days. The reservation fee is not the same across sources, with the business corporation statute listing $30 and the LLC statute listing $10, so check the current fee for your entity type before applying.
Filing history entries had PDF links, but when we tested one, the browser blocked the document request. We can’t say whether the document would have opened, cost anything or downloaded. Official guidance says plain copies are available online to download and print, and that missing images may require a request to the Business Service Center.
Certificates and certified copies are separate services, and online certified-document orders require an account per official guidance. The statutes list these base fees for business corporations and LLCs: electronic certificate of existence or authorization $10, paper certificate $15, copying filed documents $1 per page, electronic certification of a filed-document copy $10 and paper certification $15. These are separate components, not verified checkout totals, and an older official page describes certificates as $10 or $15 plus $1 per page. We did not place an order.
Annual-report filing fees are separate from viewing an annual report that has already been filed.
The entity registry is not a complete directory of North Carolina businesses. Sole proprietorships and ordinary general partnerships are directed to assumed name filing where applicable.
Assumed names are filed with the county Register of Deeds and uploaded to the Secretary of State’s statewide database, which covers filings made on or after December 1, 2017. Earlier records may require the applicable Register of Deeds, and certified assumed-name copies come from the Register of Deeds where filed.
No verification prompt appeared during our research. That describes our session only, and one could appear at other times.
The state describes its search tools as intended for interactive, real-time use and prohibits automated or scripted searches. Bulk-data users are directed to its Data Subscription Services.
The profile and filing-history addresses used a number that differs from the displayed SOSID, so you can’t build a link from a SOSID. We did not confirm that those addresses are durable.

Sources and research notes

Sources reviewed: November 7, 2026. Official sites change; always confirm current details on the government site.

This guide is based on a browser research report on the official North Carolina sites, documenting a completed “Lincoln” search, one inspected LLC profile and its filing history. Searching, the profile and the filing history opened without login or payment. The one PDF request tested was blocked by the browser, so document viewing was not confirmed. No orders, filings or payments were made.