Connecticut company search begins with the Business Records Search run by the Secretary of the State, Business Services Division. That single database holds every domestic entity formed in Connecticut and every foreign entity registered to do business there, including limited liability companies, stock corporations, non-stock corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and statutory trusts. Each record returns the legal name, the business ALEI, the filing number, the entity type, the current status, the formation date, the registered agent, the principal office, and the filing history.
This page covers the records the state keeps, how to query them by name or identifier, what each field means, and which office holds the documents the business registry does not carry. It is written for buyers checking a supplier, landlords screening a tenant, founders verifying their own filing, and researchers working through public business information. Every state fee appears in the table rather than in the body text.
How to search Connecticut business records
The Business Records Search is free and needs no account. It accepts a business name, a business ALEI, or a filing number, and it returns a list of matching entities with a status for each one. Results are drawn from the same registry that processes filings, so a record appears as soon as the office posts the document rather than when the business starts trading.
Search by business name
Enter the most distinctive word in the legal name and leave out punctuation. Connecticut stores names with suffixes such as LLC, Inc., and Corp., but the search handles them unevenly, so a first pass without the suffix usually returns more matches. The engine matches on words rather than exact strings, which means a query for a single unusual word is often the fastest route to the right record.
Expect several results for a generic word. Compare the ALEI, the formation date, and the principal office before you settle on one, because two companies can carry similar names and still be unrelated businesses with different owners. A near match is not proof of a relationship, and a missing match is not proof that a business does not exist.
Search by business ALEI
The ALEI is the identifier Connecticut assigns to each entity, and it is the cleanest way to reach a single record. Copy it from a filing confirmation, a certificate, or a prior search rather than retyping it, and enter it without spaces or dashes. One wrong digit returns an empty page that looks exactly like a dissolved company.
Search by filing number
The filing number identifies a specific document rather than the entity as a whole. Use it when you already know which filing you need, such as a certificate of organization or an annual report, and use the ALEI when you need the entity record. Keeping both numbers in the same file saves a second search the next time a form asks for one of them.
Search trade names and trademarks separately
A trade name is not an entity, and it does not appear in the business records search. Connecticut keeps trade name certificates with the town clerk where the business is located, and it keeps trademarks and service marks in a separate state search. If a sign, an invoice, or a website carries a name that returns nothing in the entity database, check the trade name search before you conclude the business is unregistered.
Connecticut Secretary of the State, Business Records Search:
https://service.ct.gov/business/s/onlinebusinesssearch
What a Connecticut company search covers
A Connecticut company search is a lookup of the state’s central business registry, which the Secretary of the State maintains through the Business Services Division. The registry covers entities formed inside the state and entities formed elsewhere that filed a foreign registration to transact business in Connecticut. It also covers nonprofit corporations, limited partnerships, and statutory trusts, which are easy to miss when a search is limited to LLCs and corporations.
The registry is a filing system, not a credit bureau. It confirms that an entity exists, who accepted service for it, and what documents it has submitted. It says nothing about revenue, payment behavior, lawsuits, or the quality of the work, and those questions need a different source.
Who holds Connecticut business records
Connecticut spreads business records across four offices, and a complete check usually touches more than one. The Secretary of the State holds entity filings and UCC liens. Town clerks hold trade name certificates. The Department of Revenue Services holds tax registrations. The Department of Consumer Protection and the other licensing agencies hold occupational and professional licenses. A search that stops at the entity record confirms the company, not its trade name, its tax account, or its license.
| Record | Office | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Entity formation and status | Secretary of the State | The business is registered as an LLC, corporation, partnership, or trust |
| Trade name certificate | Town clerk | A person or entity is conducting business under a name other than its legal name |
| UCC financing statement | Secretary of the State | A lender claims a security interest in business assets |
| Tax registration | Department of Revenue Services | The business holds a sales and use tax or withholding account |
| Professional or occupational license | Licensing agency, often DCP | The business or its people hold a license for regulated work |
The Secretary of the State
The Secretary of the State is the primary registry. The Business Services Division accepts certificates of organization, certificates of incorporation, amendments, annual reports, agent changes, mergers, conversions, and dissolutions. It issues certificates of legal existence and plain or certified copies of filed documents. When you need the legal existence of a Connecticut business, this is the office that answers the question.
Town clerks
Connecticut does not file trade names at the state level. A person or entity using a fictitious business name files a trade name certificate with the town clerk in the town where business is principally transacted. The certificate is a local record, valid for five years, and it must be renewed before it lapses. A trade name does not create an entity and does not appear in the state entity database.
The Department of Revenue Services
The Department of Revenue Services issues the sales and use tax permit and the withholding account. A business can hold a tax permit without being registered with the Secretary of the State, and the reverse is also true. Check both when a tax question matters, because neither office confirms the other’s record. Connecticut repealed the business entity tax, so an LLC no longer pays a separate annual entity tax, but it still files an annual report.
Licensing agencies
Connecticut has no single general business license. Regulated trades hold licenses from the agency that governs them, and most of those licenses sit with the Department of Consumer Protection. Contractors, electricians, plumbers, health care providers, and liquor establishments each follow a different process. A state entity record confirms registration, not permission to operate in a regulated field.
What a Connecticut business record shows
A record is short, and each field answers a different question. Reading the fields in order prevents the most frequent error, which is treating a name match as an identity match. Two entities can share a similar name, sit in different towns, and carry different members, so the ALEI and the formation date are what separate them.
Legal name and entity type
The legal name is the name on the formation document, not the sign above the door. A Connecticut LLC name must contain “Limited Liability Company”, “L.L.C.”, or “LLC”, and a corporation name must contain “Corporation”, “Incorporated”, “Corp.”, or “Inc.”. The type matters because an LLC, a stock corporation, and a non-stock corporation carry different governance rules, different annual report fees, and different tax treatment.
Business ALEI and filing number
The ALEI is the state’s identifier for the entity, and the filing number identifies a specific document. The ALEI stays with the entity through name changes and address changes, and it never transfers to another company. The filing number changes with each document, which is why the two are not interchangeable on a form.
Status
Status tells you whether the state still recognizes the entity. Active means it exists and is current. Forfeited means the state administratively closed it, usually after a missed annual report. Dissolved means the owners filed to close it. Withdrawn applies to a foreign entity that left the state. Revoked and cancelled appear on older records and on entities closed by administrative action.
Formation date and business start date
The formation date is when the Secretary of the State accepted the certificate. The business start date is when the owners say operations began, which can be later or earlier. The two dates rarely match, and a claim about a company’s age is usually checked against the formation date because that is the date the state can prove.
Registered agent and principal office
The registered agent accepts service of process and official mail, and the agent must have a Connecticut street address. The principal office is the business address on file, which can lag the real office by months. A stale agent is a frequent reason a company misses a lawsuit notice, so treat either field as a lead rather than a current fact. The Connecticut registered agent page covers that role in detail.
Principals, members, and officers
Depending on the entity type, the record may list members, managers, officers, or directors. A manager-managed LLC may show only the managers, and a corporation may show officers without listing shareholders. Ask the business for its operating agreement or bylaws when signing authority matters, because the public record rarely settles who can bind the company.
NAICS code
Connecticut now asks businesses to report a North American Industry Classification System code, and the code appears on many records. It describes the industry, not the specific services, so a code for “administrative management” can cover very different businesses. Use it as a first filter and confirm the actual work with the company.
Filing history
The filing history lists the documents the entity has submitted: formation, annual reports, amendments, agent changes, mergers, conversions, and dissolution. A gap often describes a status change or a missing document. A thin history on an old company deserves a second look, since filings may be missing or made under a different entity name.
What the ALEI number is
ALEI stands for Authoritative Legal Entity Identifier. It is the business ID Connecticut prints on filings and shows on every search result, and it is the number to quote on any call or form about the entity. The state adopted the term to distinguish the entity identifier from the filing number and from federal tax numbers, which look similar but serve different purposes.
ALEI versus EIN
The EIN comes from the Internal Revenue Service and identifies the business for federal tax. The ALEI comes from the Secretary of the State and identifies the entity in the state registry. A vendor form may ask for both, and swapping them delays payment or a contract. Keep both numbers in the same file so the next form is easy to complete.
Active, forfeited, and dissolved in Connecticut
Active and in good standing are not the same thing. Active means the entity exists in the registry and has met its filing obligations. A business can be active and still be late on a payment or a license renewal, because the registry tracks filings rather than bills. Good standing is a dated statement that the entity is current, and it comes from a certificate of legal existence rather than a search page.
Forfeited is the status Connecticut assigns when an entity fails to file its annual report. The business loses its legal existence, cannot sign new contracts in its own name, and may still owe reports and fees for prior years. Reinstatement is possible, but it usually means filing the missing reports and paying the fees that were due. The Connecticut business status page covers each value and the reinstatement route.
Connecticut entity types
Connecticut registers several entity types, and the type changes the formation document, the fee, and the ongoing obligations. The record shows the type, so check it before you assume how the company is governed. A non-stock corporation and an LLC can share a name pattern and still follow very different rules.
Limited liability companies
An LLC is formed by filing a Certificate of Organization with the Secretary of the State and by appointing a registered agent in the same filing. It can be member-managed or manager-managed, and it files an annual report every year. Connecticut adopted a modern LLC act in 2017, and the current statute is Chapter 613a of the General Statutes.
Stock corporations
A stock corporation files a Certificate of Incorporation, issues shares, elects a board, and files an annual report. It is taxed as a separate entity by default. The annual report is the recurring filing that keeps the corporation in good standing, and a missed report leads to forfeiture rather than a warning that lasts indefinitely.
Non-stock corporations
A non-stock corporation files a Certificate of Incorporation that states a nonprofit purpose and does not issue shares. It files a smaller annual report than a stock corporation, and it may need federal tax-exempt status, which is a separate application to the Internal Revenue Service. Board rules and membership rights differ from a stock corporation.
Partnerships
Connecticut registers limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships. A limited partnership has at least one general partner and one limited partner, while an LLP shields partners from certain liabilities. Both have their own formation documents, annual reports, and fees, and both appear in the same business records search.
Statutory trusts
A statutory trust is a separate entity type formed under Connecticut law, often used for investment and holding structures. It files its own certificate, keeps a registered agent, and files an annual report. The record looks similar to a corporation record, but the governance rules and the fee schedule are different.
Annual report and good standing
Connecticut requires an annual report from LLCs, corporations, LLPs, limited partnerships, and statutory trusts. The filing window runs from January 1 to March 31, and the report is filed online through the business portal. A missed report leads to forfeiture, and reinstatement requires the missing reports plus the fees that should have been paid.
Certificate of legal existence
A certificate of legal existence is Connecticut’s version of a good standing certificate. It is dated, it carries the state seal, and it states that the entity is registered and current with its filing obligations. Banks, landlords, and procurement offices usually ask for this certificate rather than a search printout, and the short form reflects all name changes.
Connecticut business filing fees
The fees below come from the Secretary of the State fee schedule and from the town clerk trade name fee. Expedited handling costs extra and is billed for each request rather than each document. Rates change from time to time, so check the published schedule before sending payment.
| Filing | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LLC Certificate of Organization | $120.00 | Includes appointment of registered agent |
| Stock corporation Certificate of Incorporation | $250.00 | Domestic stock corporation |
| Non-stock corporation Certificate of Incorporation | $50.00 | Domestic non-stock corporation |
| Foreign LLC registration statement | $120.00 | LLC formed outside Connecticut |
| Foreign stock corporation certificate of authority | $385.00 | Includes the $285 license fee |
| Annual report, LLC | $80.00 | January 1 to March 31 |
| Annual report, stock corporation | $150.00 | Domestic or foreign |
| Annual report, non-stock corporation | $50.00 | Domestic or foreign |
| Annual report, foreign stock corporation | $435.00 | Includes the license fee |
| Reservation of name | $60.00 | Held 120 days |
| LLC certificate of amendment | $120.00 | Name or other change |
| Corporation certificate of amendment | $100.00 | Name or other change |
| Change of registered agent or address | $50.00 | Each change |
| Certificate of dissolution | $0.00 | No state fee |
| Certificate of legal existence, LLC short form | $50.00 | Express service also $50 |
| Certificate of legal existence, corporation short form | $80.00 | Express service $50 |
| UCC-1 financing statement | $50.00 | Each filing |
| UCC information request | $50.00 | Each request |
| Trade name certificate | $20.00 | Paid to the town clerk |
| Expedited service | $50.00 | Per transaction, 24-hour handling |
UCC liens and business licenses
UCC financing statements sit in a separate Connecticut search, even though the Secretary of the State holds them. A lender files a UCC-1 to record a security interest in a debtor’s assets, and the record names the debtor, the secured party, and the collateral. A search returns the filing and its amendments, which show whether the lien was continued, assigned, or released. The Connecticut UCC records page covers the identifiers and the amendment chain.
Business licenses are not part of the entity record. A license comes from the agency that regulates the activity, and most Connecticut licenses are issued through the eLicense system. A search of the entity database confirms registration; it does not confirm that the business may legally perform the work it advertises.
What the search cannot tell you
The registry confirms registration and status, and it stops there. It does not report revenue, credit, lawsuits, complaints, or payment history, and it does not confirm that the business pays its bills. It also does not show a trade name, a tax permit, or a professional license, because those records live in other offices. For those questions you need the other agency or a commercial report.
Connecticut compared with other states
Connecticut files entities with the Secretary of the State, which is the pattern most states follow, but the details differ in ways that matter. The state calls its good standing document a certificate of legal existence. Trade names sit with town clerks rather than a state office. Annual reports run on a calendar window rather than an anniversary date, and the fee depends on entity type. A guide written for another state can send you to the wrong office.
How current is the record
Records update as filings are processed, which can lag real events by days or weeks. A change of agent or address may not appear immediately, and an annual report can take time to post. For anything time-sensitive, confirm the status with the Secretary of the State rather than relying on a cached search page. A record that read active last month can read forfeited today, so the date on your copy matters as much as the status itself.
Records for a vendor check
A vendor check usually needs three records: the entity record from the Secretary of the State, a certificate of legal existence, and a trade name from the town clerk. A regulated trade adds a license from the relevant agency. Keep a dated copy of each, since a dispute can turn on what the record showed on the day you signed.
Keep the check short and repeatable. Note the ALEI, the status, the date, and the name of the person who confirmed it. A one-page checklist is easier to repeat before each renewal than a folder of screenshots, and it gives you a clear answer when a contract comes up for review.
Frequent Connecticut search mistakes
Most failed searches come from a handful of habits that are easy to correct. The registry matches on words, stores legal names rather than trade names, and treats the ALEI as a fixed string. A query that ignores those rules returns an empty page that looks like proof the company does not exist.
- Searching the full name. Long names return nothing when one word differs. Use the distinctive word.
- Including the suffix. LLC and Inc. are stored inconsistently. Drop them on the first pass.
- Typing a trade name. The state holds legal names. Check the town clerk for a trade name.
- Dropping a digit. The ALEI is a fixed string. Copy it rather than retyping it.
- Trusting the first result. Compare the ALEI and formation date before you decide.
What to do after you find a record
Once you have the right record, save a dated copy and note the ALEI. Ask the company for a certificate of legal existence if a contract is involved, and check the town clerk for a trade name. If the entity is a vendor, keep the record with the contract so a later dispute can be traced to what the state held on the day you signed.
Connecticut records are short, so a complete check takes minutes. The longer work is deciding what each field means for the decision in front of you. A current status settles registration. A certificate settles standing. A license settles permission to work. Keep those three answers separate and most vendor, landlord, and partner checks become straightforward.
Frequently asked questions
The questions below come up most often from people checking a supplier, a landlord, or their own registration. Each answer is short, and each one points to the office that holds the record. If your question is about a specific company, run the search first and then read the matching record.
Is the Connecticut business search free?
Yes. The Secretary of the State’s Business Records Search is free and does not require an account. You pay only for filings, certificates, and copies. Third-party sites sometimes charge for a lookup the state provides at no cost, so start with the official portal.
Does Connecticut use the Secretary of the State or the Department of Revenue?
Both, for different records. The Secretary of the State registers entities, holds UCC liens, and issues certificates of legal existence. The Department of Revenue Services issues tax permits and withholding accounts. A complete check of a business can touch both offices, plus a town clerk for a trade name.
What is an ALEI number in Connecticut?
It is the Authoritative Legal Entity Identifier, the business ID the state assigns when an entity is formed. It stays with the entity through name and address changes and never transfers to another company. Use it on every document request because it is the only field that cannot collide with another business.
Do Connecticut LLCs file an annual report?
Yes. Every Connecticut LLC files an annual report between January 1 and March 31 each year. A missed report leads to forfeiture, and reinstatement requires the missing reports and the fees that were due. The report is separate from the federal tax return.
How much does it cost to form an LLC in Connecticut?
Filing fees are listed in the table above. The Secretary of the State charges a state fee for the Certificate of Organization, and expedited handling costs more. The registered agent, any trade name, and any license are separate costs that do not appear on the state fee schedule.