LLC verification can help you verify the owners of a business and determine its creditworthiness. Before you start doing business with a company, you will need to set it up in your company's records. You will treat limited liability companies differently than sole proprietorships or individuals, whether the businesses are clients, service providers, or suppliers. Verifying a company before making payments or sharing your information is essential, especially when shopping online.  

Searching for a Company

To see a File Detail Report on a corporation or an LLC or to get a Certificate of Good Standing on a business, you can search the corporation or LLC database by name or file number. You can use the same resource to find out if a name for your new company is available. Any name you use must be easily distinguishable from other corporation or LLC names. If the name is available but not registered, you won't find any records during your search. You can also call 217-782-6961 or email with a Corporate Name Availability Request. For an LLC, call 217-524-8008.

File Detail Reports

A File Detail Report on an LLC or a corporation includes:

  • The exact name
  • The date of formation or registration
  • The registered agent's name
  • The registered office's address

A File Detail Report for a corporation also contains the names and locations of the secretary and president. Such report for an LLC will let you know if the company is member- or manager-managed. Look for the last time an annual report was filed to find out if the company has good standing.

Certificates of Good Standing

A Certificate of Good Standing shows that a business has submitted all the required reports and paid all the taxes and fees due to your state's secretary of state office. After looking over the corporation or LLC's File Detail Report and seeing that it satisfies your requirements, you can purchase it. 

A Certificate of Good Standing for an LLC or a corporation costs $45, and $16 for a nonprofit organization. You can make a payment with Visa, Discover, MasterCard, or American Express. There's an additional 2.35 percent fee for credit card use, with a minimum purchase of $1. Make sure to print the report right after completing the purchase. 

Most lenders ask for a proof of good standing to approve your business for financing. It's a good idea to get the certificate for your business before you apply for a loan. You might also need a Certificate of Good Standing to do business in other states. Some states require that the certificate is not older than 90 days when applying to transact business in the state.

If you don't comply with the state regulations, you might have to pay a fine. Keeping your business in good standing also preserves its limited liability status, protecting your personal assets in lawsuits. Most states have search engines for checking the status of your business.

Name Reservation

To reserve a name for your corporation or LLC, submit a Name Reservation form:

  • BCA-4.10 for business corporations
  • NFP-104.10 for nonprofit organizations
  • LLC-1.15 for LLCs

Verifying LLC Status

In many states, the secretary of state's office maintains a searchable corporate database. To confirm a company's LLC status, call the secretary of state's office or visit the website. In states like Arizona, out-of-state companies must register with the state before they can do business there. If your state doesn't have a mandatory registration, contact the company's home state for more information.

If you can't find an LLC's location on the state's website, contact the company. You shouldn't do business with any companies that aren't willing to give an address. When you know where the business is, you can contact the secretary of state in the correct state for more information. The Better Business Bureau has an online database that rates businesses on a scale from A+ to F. The rating is based on the age of a company and the number of consumer complaints filed against it. The database provides the location and names of companies' owners or managers as well as alternative names for businesses. Make sure to visit the BBB search engine.

If you need help with LLC verification, you can post your legal need or post your job on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.