The New York State Department of State, Division of Corporations operates one of the largest state-level company registries in the United States. It holds records on roughly three million business entities — from one-person LLCs in Brooklyn to Fortune 500 subsidiaries headquartered in Manhattan.
Who runs the New York business registry?
In New York, the registry is not run by a "Secretary of State" office in the way Delaware or California does it. It sits inside the New York State Department of State (NYSDOS), Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code, based at One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12231. The Division's call center is reachable at (518) 473-2492, Monday to Friday, 8:45 AM to 4:30 PM Eastern.
The Division is the statutory home for every formation, amendment, merger, and dissolution filed in the state. It also maintains the public-facing search tool known as the Corporation and Business Entity Database, accessible at apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry/. The portal is free, requires no account, and lets you search by entity name, DOS ID, assumed name, or assumed name ID, with filters for entity status and entity type.
One important caveat from NY DOS itself: the public database "should not be used to determine the acceptability of an Entity Name." If you're forming a company and need to confirm a name is available, you have to submit a formal name availability inquiry — which costs $5 per name searched.
How many companies are registered in New York?
Public datasets published through New York's open data portal and the Department of State indicate the database contains records on approximately 3 million business entities, both active and historical. The breakdown skews heavily toward limited liability companies and standard business corporations.
| Entity Type | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Limited Liability Company | ~1,260,000 | ~42% |
| Domestic Business Corporation | ~1,170,000 | ~39% |
| Domestic Not-for-Profit Corporation | ~180,000 | ~6% |
| Foreign Limited Liability Company | ~120,000 | ~4% |
| Foreign Business Corporation | ~120,000 | ~4% |
| Domestic Professional Service Corporation | ~45,000 | ~1.5% |
| Domestic Professional Service LLC | ~30,000 | ~1% |
On the officer side, New York is unusual: the state does not publish a clean directors and officers list for every entity. For business corporations, the public record typically includes the Chief Executive Officer's name and address as disclosed on the Biennial Statement — and that's it. For LLCs, members and managers are not publicly disclosed at all in the standard filing.
What information is available — for free
The public Corporation and Business Entity Database is free to use. No login, no API key, no per-search cost. For each entity, you can pull the following fields directly from the search results screen:
- Current entity name and any prior names from amendments
- DOS ID — the unique numeric identifier assigned by the Division of Corporations
- Entity type (Domestic LLC, Foreign Business Corp, PLLC, LP, LLP, Not-for-Profit)
- Date of organization — the formation or authorization date
- Jurisdiction of formation (New York or another state/country)
- County of principal location
- Service of process address — where the Secretary of State forwards legal papers
- Registered agent, if one has been designated
- Current status (Active, Inactive, Dissolved, Suspended)
- Filing history — full chronological list of certificates filed
- For business corporations only: CEO name, CEO address, and principal business location, as last reported on the Biennial Statement
- Assumed names (DBAs) filed by corporations, LLCs, and limited partnerships
The database is updated daily, and you can search by entity name, DOS ID, assumed name, or assumed name ID.
What information is NOT available
This is the part most analysts get wrong. The New York registry is intentionally thin on the data points that matter most for KYB, AML, and credit risk:
- No financial statements. New York does not require corporations or LLCs to file annual accounts. There is no balance sheet, no profit and loss, and no turnover data on the public record.
- No shareholder or member list. Owners of NY corporations and LLCs are not disclosed publicly in standard filings.
- No beneficial ownership — with one new exception, see the callout below.
- No directors for corporations beyond the CEO, and no managers or members for LLCs.
- No EIN or federal tax ID.
- No NAICS or industry classification.
- No employee count, no website, no phone number.
- No corporate group structure or parent/subsidiary linkage.
- No free document images. The portal references filings in the entity's history, but the actual scanned PDFs are not freely downloadable. You have to order copies — see the fee schedule below.
The New York LLC Transparency Act (NYLTA) took effect on January 1, 2026, but its scope is far narrower than originally promised. On December 19, 2025, Governor Hochul vetoed Senate Bill 8432, which would have extended the Act to all LLCs registered in New York. As a result, the NYLTA now applies only to LLCs formed under the laws of a foreign country that are authorized to do business in New York. Domestic US LLCs — including those formed in New York — are exempt entirely. And critically: even for the LLCs that do report, the beneficial ownership data sits in a non-public database accessible only to law enforcement and certain government agencies. None of it shows up on the public Corporation and Business Entity Database.
What costs money
Searching the database is free. Almost everything else carries a fee. Here are the headline numbers, sourced directly from the NYSDOS fee schedule:
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Plain copy of a filed document | $5 |
| Certified copy of a filed document | $10 |
| Certificate of Status (Good Standing) | $25 |
| Name availability search | $5 / name |
| Name reservation, 60 days | $20 |
| Certificate of Assumed Name (DBA) | $25 |
| Certificate of Incorporation (business corporation) | $125 |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $200 |
| Biennial Statement | $9 |
| Certificate of Publication (LLCs) | $50 |
| Expedited handling — 24 hours | +$25 |
| Expedited handling — same day | +$75 |
| Expedited handling — 2 hours | +$150 |
Payment is accepted by cash, check, money order, MasterCard, Visa, or American Express. Online copy orders are available for entities formed or authorized in New York on or after July 30, 1990.
How the data is made available
The Division of Corporations exposes the data through three channels, each suited to a different user.
1. Public Inquiry web tool
The free browser-based search at apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry/. Built for one entity at a time. No bulk export, no API key, no programmatic access. JavaScript is required.
2. NY Open Data Portal
This is where things get interesting. NY DOS publishes several open datasets through the state's Socrata-powered portal at data.ny.gov, all free, downloadable as CSV or JSON, and queryable via the Socrata Open Data API (SODA):
- Active Corporations: Beginning 1800 — every active corporation, LLC, LP, and LLP currently on file
- Corporations and Other Entities: All Filings — full filing history with DOS ID, Filing ID, filing dates, and entity names
- NYC Active Corporations — subset filtered to entities based in New York City
- DOS Corporations by Type — entity-type rollups for analytical use
These are the closest thing NY offers to a bulk feed. The catch: they refresh on a slower cadence than the live Public Inquiry tool, they don't include document images, and they cover the basic filing-level data only — no officers, no beneficial owners, no financials.
3. Paper, email, fax, and walk-in requests
For certified copies, status certificates, and historical documents not available online, the Division accepts written requests by mail, email, or fax. Turnaround is several business days unless you pay for expedited handling.
Where Global Database fits in
The free Public Inquiry tool is fine if you need to look up one company. It falls apart the moment you need to:
- Screen 50,000 vendors against entity status weekly
- Enrich a CRM with formation dates, DOS IDs, and registered agents
- Build corporate linkage between a New York entity and its parent in Delaware, Luxembourg, or Singapore
- Layer financials, sanctions, PEPs, or industry codes on top of the bare registry record
- Monitor filing changes in real time across every state simultaneously
Global Database sources New York entity data directly from the Division of Corporations and combines it with first-party records from 400+ government registries across 200+ jurisdictions. A single API call returns the complete NY DOS record, linked corporate structure across all jurisdictions where the parent or its subsidiaries are registered, beneficial ownership and UBO data from registries that publish it, financials from registries that require accounts filings, sanctions and PEPs screening, and continuous monitoring with change alerts.
For compliance, KYB, risk, and enterprise sales teams that need depth New York alone cannot provide, this is the difference between a name lookup and a complete intelligence picture. If you're working across multiple US jurisdictions, our Secretary of State Business Search guide covers the equivalent free lookup tools for all 50 states.
Practical tips when searching the NY registry
- The "Active" status is not a guarantee. A company can be Active on the DOS record while being delinquent on its Biennial Statement, behind on franchise tax, or under suspension by the Department of Taxation and Finance. Always cross-check.
- Use the DOS ID, not the name. Names change. DOS IDs don't. If you're integrating NY data into a CRM or compliance system, key on the DOS ID.
- Watch the assumed name field. Many New York businesses operate under a DBA that differs from the legal name. Searching only the legal name will miss the trading identity customers and counterparties actually use.
- The CEO field is stale by design. Biennial Statements update every two years, not every two days. Treat the CEO field as a starting point, not the truth on the ground today.
- Entity name availability is not the same as trademark availability. The NYDOS database tells you whether a name is taken at the state level. It says nothing about USPTO trademarks.
- For NYC-based entities, check the city registry too. New York City maintains its own "Doing Business" database at
apps.nyc.gov/dbnyc, which captures entities and contractors doing business with the city. It's a separate dataset from NY DOS and often contains principal names that the state record doesn't disclose.
Frequently asked questions
Go to apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry/, select your search type (entity name, DOS ID, assumed name, or assumed name ID), enter the value, and click search. There is no fee and no account required.
The Corporation and Business Entity Database holds records on approximately 3 million business entities, including active, inactive, and dissolved companies. Domestic LLCs and domestic business corporations together make up over 80% of all entities on file.
No. New York does not require corporations or domestic LLCs to publicly disclose shareholders, members, or managers. The only public name on a business corporation record is typically the CEO, sourced from the Biennial Statement. The New York LLC Transparency Act took effect on January 1, 2026, but after Governor Hochul's December 19, 2025 veto of SB 8432, it now applies only to LLCs formed under the law of a foreign country that are authorized to do business in New York — domestic US LLCs are exempt. Even for the LLCs that do report, the beneficial ownership data is held in a non-public database accessible only to law enforcement.
The DOS ID is the unique numeric identifier assigned by the Division of Corporations when an entity is formed or authorized in New York. It is the most reliable key to identify a business in the state's records, because legal names and assumed names can change over time while the DOS ID does not.
No. New York does not require LLCs or corporations to file annual accounts with the Department of State. There is no public balance sheet, P&L, or revenue figure on the registry. For financial intelligence on a NY-registered company, you need either SEC filings (for public companies) or a third-party intelligence platform like Global Database.
Request a Certificate of Status from the Division of Corporations by mail, fax, or in person. The fee is $25. New York calls this document a Certificate of Status; "Good Standing" is the informal name. It confirms the entity exists, is current on its Biennial Statement, and is authorized to do business.
The state filing fee for Articles of Organization is $200. On top of that, LLCs must publish a notice of formation in two newspapers within 120 days, then file a Certificate of Publication for $50. A Biennial Statement of $9 is due every two years. Optional fees apply for name reservation, assumed names, and expedited processing.
Partially. New York publishes an Active Corporations dataset through the open data portal at data.ny.gov, refreshed periodically. It does not include full filing histories or document images, and it lags the live Public Inquiry tool. For continuously refreshed bulk access with linkage, monitoring, and enrichment, use a registry-direct provider like Global Database.
The Public Inquiry tool is updated daily with new filings processed by the Division of Corporations. Bulk open data files refresh on a slower cadence — usually weekly or monthly — so they should not be relied on for time-sensitive due diligence.
A domestic entity is one formed under New York law. A foreign entity is one formed under the law of another US state or country and authorized to transact business in New York. Both appear in the same database, both pay Biennial Statement fees, and both are searchable through the same Public Inquiry tool. Note: under the New York LLC Transparency Act (post-veto, effective January 1, 2026), only LLCs formed outside the United States face beneficial ownership disclosure requirements — and even those reports are non-public.
The bottom line
The New York Department of State Division of Corporations gives you a free, daily-updated way to look up roughly three million entities. It is excellent for confirming that a company exists, finding its DOS ID, and pulling its filing history. It is poor for everything else — ownership, financials, group structure, industry codes, and contact data are simply not on the public record.
For one-off lookups, the official tool is exactly what you need. For anything at scale — KYB onboarding, vendor screening, sales intelligence, corporate linkage, continuous monitoring — you need a registry-direct platform that combines New York with the other 49 states and 200+ countries in a single, structured feed.
Global Database streams primary, government-sourced intelligence on 600M+ companies — including every entity in the New York registry — through a single API. KYB, UBO, financials, linkage, monitoring.
Explore Global Database →