Researching a company can require you to find information on where the business is incorporated. All corporations, limited liability companies and legal partnerships are required to register with a Secretary of State before beginning their business operations. Locating the state of incorporation can seem like a challenge, but there are numerous tools available to make the process simpler. Incorporated businesses and partnerships file either articles of incorporation or articles of organization. Most Secretary of State websites contain information on find these articles, and other tools are available through businesses and the internet.
Instructions
1. Go to sec.gov and search for the business you are researching. All corporations are required to file a yearly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The state of incorporation can be found on the first page of the report.
2. Visit the company's website. Some company websites will contain information on where the company is incorporated. Find a phone number or email address for the business and contact it directly with your inquiry regarding the state of incorporation.
3. Research the website using a legal research website such as the Corporation Look-Up tool. Enter the name of the corporation you are researching.
4. Visit the Delaware Secretary of State's website at corp.delaware.gov and use the entity-search tool to look up the name of the corporation. More than 850,000 businesses have incorporated in Delaware, according to the state's Division of Corporations.
