Maryland Business Search

What the Maryland business search shows

The Maryland Business Express entity search finds a company by business name or Department ID. It finds a company by business name or Department ID. Use it to confirm a company exists and is active, not to get its federal number.

The Maryland department ID

The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation gives every company a department ID when it is formed. It identifies the company in state records, and it is not the company’s EIN.

Check if a Maryland LLC is active

Search the company in the Maryland business search and open its record. The status tells you whether the state counts the company as active. Words such as dissolved, revoked, forfeited, inactive or delinquent mean it is not in good standing, usually because an annual filing or fee was missed, and the company may need to be reinstated before it can do business there.

To prove a company is in good standing to a bank, a lender or another state, order a Certificate of Status from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. Our LLC status check reads the status from public data where a state publishes it.

Good to know in Maryland

• In Maryland the office that files LLC formations is also the state's property assessment agency, so the annual report and the business personal property return are one combined filing, Form 1. An LLC that does not file it receives an estimated assessment and forfeits its Maryland charter.
• The Department of Assessments and Taxation assigns its own Department ID, a letter followed by eight digits, and a Maryland LLC's starts with W. The department warns that this is not the FEIN banks ask for, although its Maryland Business Express entity search can look up a business by EIN as well as by Department ID.
• Maryland state business licenses, including the trader's license for retail sellers, are issued by the Clerk of the Circuit Court where the business is located, and the Comptroller says first-time applicants must register with the Department of Assessments and Taxation before going to the clerk. Form 1 then asks businesses that need a trader's license to report their commercial inventory.

Questions

More for Maryland companies

• Maryland EIN lookup: where a company’s federal number can be found.
• EIN for a Maryland business: what Maryland asks for after the EIN.
• LLC name check and LLC status check.
• Business search in other states.