As you probably know by now, I started Company Alarm after a holding company I controlled was hijacked by an identity thief using the Nevada Secretary of State’s online business portal SilverFlume.
After that experience, I came to learn a great deal about business identity theft, including that state agencies like the Nevada Secretary of State inadvertently help cybercriminals by posting identifying information about registered businesses online and making it easy to file business registration documents using their portals.
In short, the policies are a mess – but that’s another story. We’re here to talk about the mechanics of registering businesses in America.
In the United States, business registration is handled at the state level – and each state does it a little differently. Generally speaking, business registration is overseen by your local Secretary of State. But that’s not true in every state.
In Arizona, business registration is handled by the Arizona Corporation Commission. In Florida, it’s the Division of Corporations. In Hawaii, it’s the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. In Idaho, it’s the State Tax Commission.
To figure out what agency to contact in your state (or the state in which you want to register a business), you need to Google the state name and the words “business registration.” Or you can let us look it up for you.
Below is a list of all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.), with a link to the agency in each state responsible for registering businesses.
Think of it as a one-stop list for business registration agencies in the United States.
- Alabama – Alabama Secretary of State
- Alaska – Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing within the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
- Arizona – Arizona Corporation Commission
- Arkansas – Arkansas Secretary of State
- California – California Secretary of State
- Colorado – Colorado Secretary of State
- Connecticut – Connecticut Secretary of State
- Delaware – Delaware Division of Corporations
- Florida – Florida Division of Corporations
- Georgia – Georgia Secretary of State
- Hawaii – Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
- Idaho – Idaho Secretary of State
- Illinois – Illinois Secretary of State
- Indiana – Indiana Secretary of State
- Iowa – Iowa Secretary of State
- Kansas – Kansas Secretary of State
- Kentucky – Kentucky Secretary of State
- Louisiana – Louisiana Secretary of State
- Maine – Maine Secretary of State
- Maryland – Maryland Department of Assessments & Taxation
- Massachusetts – Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Michigan – Michigan Secretary of State
- Minnesota – Minnesota Secretary of State
- Mississippi – Mississippi Secretary of State
- Missouri – Missouri Secretary of State
- Montana – Montana Secretary of State
- Nebraska – Nebraska Secretary of State
- Nevada – Nevada Secretary of State
- New Hampshire – New Hampshire Secretary of State
- New Jersey – New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services
- New Mexico – New Mexico Secretary of State
- New York – New York Department of State
- North Carolina – North Carolina Secretary of State
- North Dakota – North Dakota Secretary of State
- Ohio – Ohio Secretary of State
- Oklahoma – Oklahoma Secretary of State
- Oregon – Oregon Secretary of State
- Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Department of State
- Rhode Island – Rhode Island Secretary of State
- South Carolina – South Carolina Secretary of State
- South Dakota – South Dakota Secretary of State
- Tennessee – Tennessee Secretary of State
- Texas – Texas Secretary of State
- Utah – Division of Corporations and Commercial Code within the Utah Department of Commerce
- Vermont – Vermont Secretary of State
- Virginia – Virginia State Corporation Commission
- Washington – Washington Secretary of State
- Washington, D.C. – Washington, D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
- West Virginia – West Virginia Secretary of State
- Wisconsin – Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions
- Wyoming – Wyoming Secretary of State
Company Alarm is dedicated to helping business owners protect what they have worked so hard to build. Our monitoring software is designed to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting loopholes to hijack your company and assets. To sign up for this low-cost, value-added protection, click here.
