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State Corporate Registration Offices

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State Corporate Registrations

Corporations in the USA register at the State Level, usually with the Secretary of State's office. Before spending any money you can check most state existing company names at the office links provided below. Some states also provide state trademark filing (separately from the Federal USPTO) but most of these have fallen into non-use or irrelevance.

Many of these offices also provide special information on their websites as to how to register different types of businesses. Some even have special help for small and minority owned businesses.

NOTE: Sole proprietorships, and other small partnerships that do not incorporate, are usually only registered at the local county level. To check those names, visit your local county's business services office. As long as there is no exact match, the name will usually be approved - but they won't check state or federal registrations for you...so be cautious of infringing on the name of some much larger business name.

For more information as to what type of business to register, and how to go about it, please visit Company Registrations.

Alabama

Alabama Secretary of State
Attn: Corporations Division
P.O. Box 5616
Montgomery, AL 36103-5616
(334) 242-5342
www.sos.state.al.us/business/corporations.cfm

Alaska

The Division of Banking Securities and Corporations
Department of Community and Economic Development
P.O. Box 110808
Juneau, AK 99801-0808
(907) 465-2530
www.dced.state.ak.us/bsc/corps.htm

Arizona

Arizona Corporation Commission
1300 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 95007
OR
Arizona Corporation Commission
400 W. Congress, Suite 221
Tucson, AZ 85701
(602) 542-3135
www.cc.state.az.us/corp/index.htm

Arkansas

Secretary of State Business and Commercial Services Division
State Capitol, Room 256
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 682-1010
www.ark.org/sos/ofs/docs/index.php

California

California Secretary of State
Corporations Unit 1500
11th Street Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 657-5448
www.ss.ca.gov/business/business.htm

Colorado

Colorado Secretary of State
1575 Sherman Street, 2nd Floor
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 894-2200
www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/main.htm

Connecticutt

State of Connecticut Corporations Division
30 Trinity Street
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 509-6001
www.sots.state.ct.us

Delaware

Division of Corporations
P.O. Box 898
Dover, DE 19903
(302) 739-3073, press 2
www.state.de.us/corp/index.htm

District of Columbia

Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
941 North Capitol Street,
NE Washington, DC 20002
(202) 442-4432
www.brc.dc.gov/whattodo/start/cklst/corpdef.asp#

Florida

Florida Department of State Division of Corporations
Corporate Filings
P.O. Box 6327
Tallahassee, FL 32314
(850) 488-9000/(850) 245-6052
www.sunbiz.org/index.html

Georgia

Office of Secretary of State Corporations Division
315 West Tower, #2
Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive
Atlanta, GA 30334-1530
(404) 656-2817
www.sos.state.ga.us/corporations/filing

Hawaii

State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
Business Registration Division
1010 Richards Street
P.O. Box 40
Honolulu, HI 96810
(808) 586-2744
www.businessregistrations.com

Idaho

Office of the Secretary of State
700 West Jefferson
P.O. Box 83720-0800
(208) 334-2301
www.idsos.state.id.us/corp/corindex.htm

Illinois

Secretary of State Department of Business Services
330 Howlett Building
Springfield, IL 62756
(217) 782-6961
or
Secretary of State Department of Business Services
69 W. Washington, Ste. 1137
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 793-3380
www.sos.state.il.us/departments/business_services/business.html

Indiana

Todd Rokita
Secretary of State Corporations Division
202 W. Washington Street, Room E018
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-6576
https://secure.in.gov/sos/bus_service/online_corps

Iowa

Secretary of State Corporations Division
Lucas Bldg., 1st Floor
Des Moines, IA 50319
(515) 281-5204
www.sos.state.ia.us/business

Kansas

Secretary of State Memorial Hall, 1st Floor
120 SW 10th Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612
(785) 296-4564
www.kssos.org

Kentucky

John Y. Brown III
Secretary of State
P.O. Box 718
Frankfort, KY 40602-0718
(502) 564-2848, press 2, then 2
www.kysos.com

Louisiana

Commercial Division
P.O. Box 94125
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125
(225) 925-4704
www.sec.state.la.us/comm/comm-index.htm

Maine

Corporate Examining Section
Secretary of State
101 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0101
(207) 624-7740
www.state.me.us/sos/cec/corp/corp.htm

Maryland

Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT)
301 West Preston Street, 8th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201-2395
(410) 767-1340
www.dat.state.md.us

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Secretary of State
Corporations Division
1 Ashburton Place, 17th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-9640
www.state.ma.us/sec/cor

Michigan

Michigan Department of Consumer & Industry Services
Bureau of Commercial Services - Corporation Division
7150 Harris Drive
P.O. Box 30054
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 241-6470
www.michigan.gov

Minnesota

Secretary of State
Business Services Division
180 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155-1299
(651) 296-2803
www.sos.state.mn.us/business/index.html

Mississippi

Office of the Mississippi Secretary of State
P.O. Box 136
Jackson, MS 39205-0136
(601) 359-1333
www.sos.state.ms.us/busserv/corp/corporations.asp

Missouri

State of Missouri
Corporations Division
P.O. Box 778
600 W. Main Street, Rm. 322
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 751-2359
www.sos.mo.gov/business/corporations

Montana

Bob Brown
Secretary of State
P.O. Box 202801
Helena, MT 59620-2801
(406) 444-3665
www.sos.state.mt.us/css/BSB/Contents.asp

Nebraska

John A. Gale
Secretary of State
Room 1305
State Capitol
P.O. Box 94608
Lincoln, NE 68509
(402) 471-4079
www.sos.state.ne.us/htm/corpmenu.htm

Nevada

Secretary of State
New Filings Division
202 N. Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701-4201
(775) 684-5708
www.sos.state.nv.us/comm_rec

New Hampshire

Secretary of State
State House
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301-4989
(603) 271-3244
www.state.nh.us/sos/corporate/index.htm

New Jersey

New Jersey Department of Treasury
Division of Revenue/Corporate Filing
P.O. Box 308
Trenton, NJ 08625-0308
(609) 292-9292
www.state.nj.us/Business.html

New Mexico

Public Regulations Commission
Corporations Division
P.O. Box 1269
Santa Fe, NM 87504-1269
(505) 827-4502
www.nmprc.state.nm.us/corporations/corpshome.htm

New York

Department of State Division of Corporations
41 State Street
Albany, NY 12231
(518) 473-2281
www.dos.state.ny.us/corp/corpwww.html

North Carolina

Corporations Division
P.O. Box 29622
Raleigh, NC 27626-0622
(919) 807-2225
www.secstate.state.nc.us/corporations

North Dakota

Business Division
Secretary of State
State of North Dakota
600 E. Boulevard Ave., Dept. 108
Bismark, ND 58505-0500
(701) 328-4284
www.state.nd.us/sec/businessreg/register.htm

Ohio

Secretary of State
P.O. Box 670
Columbus, OH 43216
(614) 466-3910
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/businessServices.aspx

Oklahoma

Secretary of State
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 101
Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4897
(405) 521-3912
www.sos.state.ok.us/business/

Oregon

Corporation Division
Business Registry Section
Public Service Building, Suite 151
55 Capitol Street NE
Salem, OR 97310-1327
(503) 986-2200
www.filinginoregon.com

Pennsylvania

Department of State Corporation Bureau
P.O. Box 8722
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8722
(717) 787-1057
www.dos.state.pa.us/corps/site/default.asp

Rhode Island

Office of the Secretary of State
Matthew A. Brown Corporations Division, 1st Floor
100 North Main Street
Providence, RI 02903-1335
(401) 222-3040
http://www2.corps.state.ri.us/corporations

South Carolina

Secretary of State
P.O. Box 11350
Columbia, SC 29211
(803) 734-2158
NOTE: Articles of Incorporation must be signed by a South Carolina attorney. This is the only state with this requirement
www.scsos.com/corporations.htm

South Dakota

Secretary of State
State Capitol
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501
(605) 773-4845
www.sdsos.gov/Corporations/

Tennessee

Department of State
Corporate Filings
312 Eighth Avenue North 6th Floor,
William R. Snodgrass Tower
Nashville, TN 37243
(615) 741-2286
www.state.tn.us/sos/service.htm

Texas

Corporations Section
Secretary of State
P.O. Box 13697
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-5555
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/index.shtml

Utah

State of Utah
Division of Corporations & Commercial Code
160 East 300 South, 2nd Floor
Box 146705
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6705
(801) 530-4849

Corporations.utah.gov

Vermont

Vermont Secretary of State
81 River Street, Drawer 09
Montpelier, VT 05609
(802) 828-2386
www.sec.state.vt.us/corps/corpindex.htm

Virgina

Clerk of the State Corporation Commission
P.O. Box 1197
Richmond, VA 23218-1197
(804) 371-9733
www.state.va.us/scc/division.htm

Washington

Corporations Division
801 Capitol Way South
P.O. Box 40234
Olympia, WA 98504-0234
(360) 753-7115
www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/

West Virginia

Business Organizations Division
Secretary of State
Bldg. 1, Suite 157-K
1900 Kanawha Blvd.
East Charleston, WV 25305-0770
(304) 558-8000
www.wvsos.com/common/startbusiness.htm

Wisconsin

Department of Financial Institutions
P.O. Box 7846
Madison, WI 53707-7846
(608) 261-7577
www.wdfi.org/corporations

Wyoming

Wyoming Secretary of State
Corporations Division
The State Capitol Building
Cheyenne, WY 82002-0020
(307) 777-7311
http://soswy.state.wy.us/corporat/corporat.htm

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