Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation
Maryland Business Entity Search
Last updated . Register data is refreshed nightly.
Check whether a business name is already on file with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. Free, no account, all entity types.
Maryland Business Entity Search
Search the state's official business records.
Maryland's register is at egov.maryland.gov, run by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, not a Secretary of State. Maryland files its companies with the same agency that assesses property, which shapes what the register asks for.
Forfeited is the normal condition
Most of what a Maryland search returns reads Forfeited.
That is Maryland's word for a company that has lapsed (usually by missing an annual report) rather than one that never existed or was wound up deliberately. It is common enough that a page of results can look like a graveyard.
A forfeited company still holds its name. That is the whole point for anyone checking availability: forfeited is not free.
Kansas uses the same word for the same thing and it is equally common there.
Old names get their own rows
This is Maryland's best feature.
When a company changes its name, the old one stays in the register as its own row, with the status Old Name and the same department ID as the current entry.
So a search can return two rows that are one company, and you can see the change happened without opening anything. Match the department ID and you have the connection.
Compare Hawaii, where a search matches dropped names and never says so. You open a record expecting one company and find another. Maryland shows you both ends of the change in the same list.
Three columns and no filters
Results carry the department ID, the business name, and the status. That is all. There is no match toggle and no filter of any kind.
So you get what the search gives you, and the only lever is the search term itself.
The record is built around property
Open an entity and you get the status, the owner's name and address, the trading location, an expiration date, and a filing history tab.
That is a different emphasis from most registers. Trading location and ownership are assessment questions, and they are here because the agency holding the register is the agency valuing the property.
Who decides
The register records filings; acceptance is judged by the Department on examination, under Md. Code, Corporations & Associations, Title 4A, the Maryland Limited Liability Company Act.
Before you rely on it
Read Forfeited as taken. It is the commonest status and it does not free the name.
Match the department ID when two rows look like one company. An Old Name row shares it with the current one.
Expect no filters. The search term is the only control you have.
Maryland filing facts
| Filing | Fee |
|---|---|
| Articles of Organization, domestic | $100.00 |
| Articles of Organization, expedited | +$50.00 |
| Annual report | $300.00 |
| Annual report, SDAT Certified Family Farm | $100.00 |
| Same-day service, online | $325.00 |
| Same-day service, paper | $425.00 |
The standard review time is four to six weeks, which is the slowest we have verified anywhere. Most states process in days; Kansas does routine online filings in minutes.
That makes the expediting tiers less optional than they look. $50 gets you seven to ten business days, still slower than several states' standard service, and same-day costs $325 online or $425 on paper, which is more than three times the formation fee.
The $300 annual report is among the most expensive recurring filings in the country, level with the District's biennial and behind only Massachusetts's $500.
And there is a second obligation people miss: a personal property return is required in addition to the annual report if the business owns, leases or uses personal property in Maryland with a total original cost of $20,000 or more. That is an assessment filing rather than a corporate one, and it exists because of which agency runs the register.
A sourcing note: the $300 annual report figure was taken from SDAT's annual report material via a search summary rather than read directly off the fee PDF. Confirm it before relying on it.
The personal-property return follows 110,070 applications over the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026: 440 a business day, up 12.5%, 18th of 51 by volume.
What the register will not tell you
Maryland has 44,630 live registered marks, and like Virginia its vocabulary is institutional:
| word | live marks | times more common than nationally |
|---|---|---|
| maryland | 436 | 65x |
| association | 657 | 4x |
| foundation | 626 | 3x |
| black | 601 | 3x |
| health | 905 | 2x |
| center | 611 | 2x |
Health appears in 905 marks, more than the state's own name, with center at 611 behind it, and association and foundation carrying the same DC-orbit signature that shows up in Virginia at 6x and the District itself at 15x.
Only maryland at 65x is genuinely concentrated. Everything else sits at two to four times normal, which in lift terms is ordinary and in volume terms is not: 905 marks containing health is more than the entire trademark register of Alaska, North Dakota or West Virginia.
Baltimore files 14.6% of Maryland's marks, Bethesda 9.3%, Rockville 6.8%: the split between the city and the Washington suburbs visible in the numbers.
What the Maryland portal looks like
Captured from the live register. Personal names and addresses are blacked out; everything else is as the state publishes it.
Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation business services
Business registrations in Maryland are held by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, which maintains the public register this page searches, accepts new filings, and issues the certificates a bank or a counterparty may ask you for. Contact them directly for anything that has to be official.
| Business entity search | egov.maryland.gov/BusinessExpress/EntitySearch |
|---|---|
| Phone | (410) 767-1330 |
| Address | 700 E. Pratt St. Suite 2700, Baltimore, MD 21202-6377 |
| Office hours | 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. |
| LLC filing fee | $100 |
| Processing | 4-6 weeks (paper), 6-8 weeks (online non-expedited), 3-4 weeks current |
The office handles registration, not disputes. If a name is already taken, they will tell you it is unavailable but not who holds it beyond what the public record shows, and they will not advise on whether your name infringes someone’s mark.
Common questions about Maryland business entity searches
How do I check if an LLC exists in Maryland?
Search the name on this page or on the state's own portal. What Maryland does by default is worth knowing before you read the result: no match toggle offered. A match means the entity is on file, and its status line tells you whether it is still active.
How do I verify a company is registered in Maryland?
Search the name, then open the record rather than reading the results line. You get status, the owner's name and address, the trading location, an expiration date and a filing history tab. The status on the record is the one to trust: a dissolved company still appears in a search and still holds its name.
Does a clear search mean my Maryland business name is approved?
Not on its own. A no-match result means the name is not on the Maryland register today, which is a preliminary answer rather than approval: Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation decides when it reviews the filing. Worth knowing about Maryland in particular: most of what comes back reads Forfeited, which is Maryland's word for a company that has lapsed rather than one that never existed. A forfeited company still holds its name, so do not treat that status as the name being free. Records open in a new tab.
Can I look up who owns a business in Maryland?
The Maryland register shows the registered agent and, depending on the filing type, officers or organizers. It does not list members or shareholders for every entity, so the register identifies who accepts legal service rather than who owns the company.
How much does it cost to register a business name in Maryland?
Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation charges $100 to file the Articles of Organization, which is the document that forms the company, and currently takes 4-6 weeks (paper), 6-8 weeks (online non-expedited), 3-4 weeks current to process. Reserving a name beforehand is a separate and smaller fee. Confirm the figure with the state before you file: schedules move.
Sources
- Maryland business entity search, the official register this page queries.
- Filing fees and processing times: Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, Corporate Charter Fee Schedule (2024.05), verified 2026-09-10. Current schedules are published by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation.
- Formation activity: Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics, retrieved via FRED at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.
- Federal trademark data: United States Patent and Trademark Office, 3,374,058 live registrations cross-referenced against the state registers. Live excludes both abandoned applications and cancelled registrations.
- Office contact details: Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, confirmed against the office’s own contact page.
- Naming and reporting rules: Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, Corporate Charter Fee Schedule (2024.05).
- Naming statute: Md. Code Corps. & Assns 4A-208, published by the state.
- State seal: public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.