How can you verify a business is real with the Secretary of State

​When you are looking for a partner or contractor the most important step is verifying the business registration for a company. For this the good news is there are multiple ways through which you can check if the business is registered by the united states. Some of them are:
Check with the State Business Department
There is no central business registration in the United States. Businesses are registered with the state governments in the states where they are headquartered. To check if a business is registered with the state, you can contact the Secretary of State's office in that state. In order to find contact information for the Secretary of State's office in a particular state, you can visit the website of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
Use Online National Directories
One way to check if someone is registered is to look them up in an online national directory. There are many online directories that list in the United States, and most of them are free to search.
There are a few ways that you can use online national directories to check if a business is legitimate. One way is to check the Better Business Bureau's website. You can also do a search on the business name in Google. If there are any negative reviews or articles about the business, that is a red flag that you should avoid doing business with them.
Another way to check if a business is legitimate is to look up their address in an online national directory. If the address is not listed, that is another red flag. You should also avoid doing business with any businesses that have a P.O. Box for an address.
Finally, you can contact the Better Business Bureau and ask them if they have any information about the business.

 If the business is not listed with the BBB, that is a definite red flag.
Check the Patent and Trademark Office
In order to check the registration of a company through patent and trademark office you should first go to the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office. From there you should look for “find it fast” section from where you can search the directories.
Use the SEC’s EDGAR
The SEC's EDGAR system can be used to find information about the registration of a company.
• Go to the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov/.
• Under the "Filings & Forms" heading, click on the "EDGAR Company Filings" link.
• Enter the name of the company in the search box and click "Search."
• Click on the company's name in the search results.
• Click on the "Registration Statement" link.
• Scroll down to the "Registration Statement" section.
• Click on the "Company Registration Statement" link.
• Review the information in the registration statement.
Not Every Business is Registered
Before you start looking for the right business to work with it is important to understand that not every business is registered with the state. So, there are plenty of businesses that are not necessarily in the good books which are still operating (illegally) or as a sole proprietorship which is legal and requires no or little paperwork..


 If the business is not registered, you may want to consider another business instead.

Article for Cox Business News by ​Maheen Kashif