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The Delaware company register is the record of the Division of Corporations, part of the Delaware Department of State. Corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships, statutory trusts and many general partnerships file with it, formally with the Secretary of State, which is why many people look for a Delaware Secretary of State business search. The United States has no federal company register, so this record is the official one. Its public face is the Division’s free, real-time entity search, linked from its site as Search for a Business Entity. The state itself is covered on our Delaware hub.
The search takes an entity name or a file number. The name field is not case sensitive, quotation marks return exact matches only, and one search covers corporations, LLCs and partnerships alike. Results list file numbers and names, active and inactive together, and the Division warns that a listing says nothing about current status. Use the file number when you have it, since a name search also returns similar and inactive names. The EIN is a separate federal number from the IRS, which the Division does not record; our page on the company registration number compares such numbers.
The search is for individual look-ups: the Division prohibits data mining, excessive searching and automated tools, and can suspend access. Name availability and the optional 120-day reservation are separate services, covered on our page on Delaware company registration.
Everything beyond the basic entry is paid, and nothing the website displays is a certificate:
| Source | What it shows | Free or paid |
|---|---|---|
| Entity search | Name, file number, incorporation or formation date, registered agent’s name, address and telephone, entity kind and type, residency; no status | Free |
| Online status | The current status and the date the entity entered it | Paid; not a certificate |
| Online status with tax and history information | Status, the last five filings, franchise tax assessment, total authorised shares where applicable, tax due; no document images, no officer or director names | Paid; not a certificate |
| Certificate of status, short form | Name and status on the day of issue, certified by the Secretary of State | Paid |
| Certificate of good standing, long form | Status plus every document ever filed, with dates, times and any name changes | Paid |
| Certified or plain copy | A filed document, such as the certificate of incorporation or formation or an amendment | Paid |
| Annual report copy, corporations only | Principal place of business, every director at the filing date, the signing officer | Paid, on request |
| Not held by the Division | Stockholders, bylaws, LLC agreements, EINs, bank accounts; LLC members and managers, whom no filing has to name | No Delaware source |
The incorporation or formation date was fixed on the record when the certificate took effect and cannot change, so a buyer of an older company reads it here, not in the seller’s papers. The registered agent’s name, address and telephone are the agent’s, not the company’s, so they say nothing about where the company works or who owns it; a corporation gives its real principal place of business on its annual report. Residency reads domestic for an entity formed under Delaware law and foreign for one formed elsewhere and registered in Delaware. The entry never shows whether the entity is alive: a void or cancelled company looks exactly like a healthy one.
Good standing follows the yearly duties: a corporation’s annual report and franchise tax by 1 March, an LLC’s annual tax by 1 June. Both fall due for every year on the record, trading or not, so a dormant company can fall behind unnoticed, and while it is behind the Secretary of State issues it no certificate of good standing (8 Del. C. §502(f); 6 Del. C. §18-1107(k)).
| Status | What causes it | The way back |
|---|---|---|
| Void, corporation | Franchise tax or a complete annual report left undone for a year; its powers become inoperative (§510) | Revival under §312 at any time, paying the franchise tax, penalties and interest §312(g) requires |
| Forfeited, corporation | Registered agent resigned and no new one designated within 30 days of the resignation being filed (§136(b)); a foreign corporation loses its authority to do business in Delaware | Revival under §312, except for a charter revoked or forfeited under §284 |
| Not in good standing, LLC | Annual tax unpaid when due; almost no filings accepted and no actions in Delaware courts (§18-1107(h), (k), (l)) | Payment of the tax, penalties and interest (§18-1107(i)) |
| Cancelled, LLC | Annual tax unpaid for three years from its due date (§18-1108(a)), or no new agent within 30 days after a resignation (§18-104(d)) | Certificate of revival with the tax, penalties and interest (§18-1109) |
A revival takes effect as if the charter or certificate had never been lost and validates acts done meanwhile (§312(e), §18-1109), and the online status shows the date the current status began.
Official certificates come only from the Division, on a written request made through its Document Filing and Certificate Request Service or by post, or through the registered agents it lists as having remote access; the online service submits requests but retrieves nothing on the spot. The short form states name and status; the long form adds every document filed, with dates, times and name changes.
The Division validates its certificates online with the file number and the authentication number printed on them, for one year from issue; since 1 July 2006 they are printed in black ink on standard white paper with the Secretary of State’s seal and signature. For use abroad it adds an apostille for Hague Convention countries or an authentication for others, certifying each filed document separately. Some financial institutions require a good standing certificate or a certified copy, the Division notes; our page on bank accounts for Delaware companies sets out who asks for what.
A seller’s papers are a claim; the Division’s record is the check, in this order:
The register stops there. Ownership rests on the stock ledger or the LLC agreement and its assignments, the EIN on the IRS letter, and none of them is with the Division; our page on the shelf company in Delaware covers them and the transfer itself.
The register, status results and certificates are the Division’s, and nothing we prepare replaces them. When you buy a Delaware company from us or form one with us, we order the long form certificate, certified copies and any apostille from the Division, so you can check each against the Division’s own record. Owners abroad will find running an LLC in our Delaware LLC guide for non-US residents, and the statute behind its good standing in our Delaware LLC Act guide.
Use the Division of Corporations’ free entity search, by entity name or file number, with quotation marks for exact matches. Results include active and inactive entities and show the formation date, registered agent and residency, but not the status, which needs the Division’s paid online status or an official certificate.
No. The Division holds no list of stockholders or LLC members, and an LLC need not name its managers; a corporation’s annual report names its directors and signing officer, not its owners. Delaware has no beneficial ownership register, and since FinCEN’s interim final rule of March 2025, made permanent in August 2026, a company formed in Delaware sends no beneficial ownership report to FinCEN either.
By written request to the Division, through its Document Filing and Certificate Request Service or by post, or through a registered agent the Division lists as having remote access. The short form gives name and status, the long form also every document filed. It is paid, and is not issued while franchise tax, the annual report or an LLC’s annual tax is outstanding; an online status printout is no substitute.
Both describe a corporation that has lost its charter. Void follows a year with franchise tax or the annual report left undone (8 Del. C. §510); forfeited follows a registered agent’s resignation with no new agent within 30 days (§136(b)). A revival under §312, possible at any time, reverses either once the tax, penalties and interest it requires are paid. An LLC is cancelled instead, and revived under 6 Del. C. §18-1109.
Yes, on request. Annual reports are open to inspection apart from their tax information (8 Del. C. §502(e)), and the Division supplies copies through its Document Filing and Certificate Request Service, as the online status leaves the names out. Each report shows who ran the corporation when it was filed: every director, the signing officer and the principal place of business. LLCs and partnerships file none.
Tell us which Delaware company you are looking at, or what you need one for, and we will tell you which Division documents come next. Contact us, or message us on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.