Tennessee Secretary of State

The Tennessee Secretary of State (SOS) oversees the State Department. He/she is one of the three Constitutional Officers selected by the General Assembly. The SOS is elected every four years. 

The constitution claims that the secretary must keep a record of the governor’s official acts and proceedings and put all documentation, minutes, and vouchers relative thereto before the General Assembly when necessary. 

Tennessee is one of the states that makes it considerably easy to search for business information through the Secretary of State website. So, here you will learn about the main lookup process and a few additional resources.

This data may be necessary to you for several reasons. It is especially vital when conducting due diligence and Know Your Client (KYC) purposes. If you are only doing these types of lookups occasionally, Tennessee’s lookup portal lets you get the information you search for simply and quickly.

Accessing the Tennessee Secretary of State Business Search

For finding a company registered with the state, you may search on the Tennessee Secretary of State website.

You just need to click on the link and pass it to the Tennessee Secretary of State's Business Information Search landing page.

The search interface is very simple. You may only search by the Control Number or the company name. The first one is a unique identifier given to every corporation, limited partnership (qualified or formed in Tennessee), and limited liability company.

Conducting a Search

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s free business information lookup tool lets you get data about a specific company by applying its Secretary of State Control Number as a keyword.

Moreover, this tool also allows you to find the Secretary of State Control Number of a particular company by using its name as a keyword.

You may opt to search for results that start with or include your search term and limit results to active businesses only.

Also, the lookup page provides no advanced search options at all, meaning that there will be many irrelevant results on the search page. 

Additionally, the Tennessee SOS offers a company name availability lookup engine that you may apply to check if the LLC name you want is available. 

So, it is sensible to take advantage of this free tool if you want to start a company in Tennessee. When you conduct the search, you will pass to the results page.

Search Results

The results are ordered by company name in alphabetical order. You cannot change the default order or categorize it by another category.

On the result page, for each listed company, you may view:  

• The Control number

• The Entity Type (the valid structure of the company)

• The name, its type (the entity/assumed name), and name status (active/inactive, and the reason if inactive)

• The filing date

• The status of the company (active/inactive)

When clicking on any of the records, you will pass to the Business Entity Detail page for that company. 

Additional Information

On the website of the Tennessee SOS, you may view more detailed data about the business, including:

• Principals’ and Registered Agents’ names

• Location and mailing addresses

• The original filing date

• The Annual Report’s due date

• The state where the business was formed

Across the bottom, you will find three tabs displaying Assumed Names (if there are any), History ( a list of papers recorded by the company), and the Registered Agent’s name and contacts. 

Also, there is a “Printer Friendly Version” button on the top of the page. It will make a download request, and a PDF document will open with all of the above-mentioned (including the document history) on one page.

Tennessee provides a considerable amount of data at no cost, yet the search functionality has limits.

How Much Does a Business License Cost in Tennessee?

Most districts charge $15 for a business permit. Yet, Nashville is an Urban Services District and requires a $30 fee for registration. Other license fees depend on the required license type.

Contact Information

To get in touch with the Tennessee SOS, you may pay a visit to their office. The operating hours are Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm (CST). 

You can also get in touch with them via mail or phone number. Here are all contacts:

Location:

Capitol Office
Tre Hargett
State Capitol
Nashville, 37243-1102

Mailing address: [email protected]

Phone number: (615) 741-2819

Conclusion

For each business owner in the state, the Tennessee Secretary of State Business Search is beneficial for their business needs. First of all, it allows owners to find the most essential initial information about their preferred sector.  

Also, it helps to choose other important factors, including company name, availability, and uniqueness. For a newcomer, this tool is really helpful.