Pennsylvania Business Search

How to read the official business-entity file, and a way to have the search run for you.

Pennsylvania Business Search

Fictitious Name Search

Quick answer. A fictitious-name search looks for a registered trade name. Florida’s Sunbiz fictitious-name index and Pennsylvania’s fictitious-name filings are state systems. They are not the same click as the entity detail in every design, but they are official indexes. A Pennsylvania business search runs on the Department of State index at file.dos.pa.gov/search/business. Search the exact name or the entity number. Annual reports for most associations began in 2025 and are filed in that same system.

Official office

Pennsylvania Department of State

Open the official search

Steps

  1. Open the Department’s business search

    Use file.dos.pa.gov/search/business. Prefer the entity number if a filing receipt already shows it.

  2. Read type before you read the calendar

    An LLC and a corporation do not share the same annual-report deadline. The type is on the detail.

  3. Check annual-report compliance on the public page

    The Department says compliance with the annual report is displayed on the public search. Quote what you see and the date.

  4. Fictitious names are a different status concept

    The Department says fictitious names do not carry good-standing status. They are in effect unless canceled.

  5. Order paper only if someone asked for paper

    Written searches have been requested from the Bureau at PO Box 8722, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8722. Use the current guide on pa.gov for certificates.

Fictitious names are their own filing

In Florida, search fictitious names on the Division of Corporations index at search.sunbiz.org, separate from assuming the corporation detail lists every DBA. In Pennsylvania, fictitious names are part of the Department of State business records. Read the registrant: it may be an entity or a person.

A fictitious name does not create an LLC. If you need the company behind the sign, open the entity named as owner of the fictitious name.

One Department of State index, with a new annual report

The Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations keeps corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships, and fictitious names. A pa sos business search and a pa corporation search are that index. Records are retrieved by exact name or entity number, not by officer name, EIN, or street address.

Act 122 of 2022 replaced the decennial report with an annual report, form DSCB:15-146. The Department says the fee is $7 for business corporations, LLCs, LPs, and LLPs, and $0 for nonprofits and nonprofit-purpose LPs or LLCs. Corporations file by June 30, LLCs by September 30, and limited partnerships, LLPs, business trusts, and professional associations by December 31.

Good standing language on the Department’s site is specific: limited liability entities are described as in good standing if they have not been dissolved, canceled, merged, withdrawn, or ended. A certificate or written search is a separate order. The free page is not automatically that certificate.

Common mistakes

  • Applying the June 30 corporate deadline to an LLC.
  • Searching by officer name. The Bureau says that is not how the index works.
  • Calling a fictitious name “in good standing.”
  • Using the old decennial-report habit after Act 122.

Questions

Where do I run a PA business entity search?

At the Department of State business search, file.dos.pa.gov/search/business.

When is a Pennsylvania LLC annual report due?

The Department’s window for domestic and foreign LLCs is January 1 through September 30. Confirm the current year on the annual-report page.

How much is the Pennsylvania annual report?

The Department lists $7 for business corporations, LLCs, LPs, and LLPs, and $0 for nonprofit corporations and nonprofit-purpose LPs or LLCs. Confirm before you pay.

Sources reviewed