Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
Michigan Business Entity Search
Last updated . Register data is refreshed nightly.
Check whether a business name is already on file with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Free, no account, all entity types.
Michigan Business Entity Search
Search the state's official business records.
Michigan's register is at cofs.lara.state.mi.us, run by the Corporations Division of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Free, no account.
It has the filter you actually want, and it is not the one switched on.
There is a Name Availability filter. Use it.
The search filter offers three settings: Contains, Starts With, and Name Availability.
The third is built for exactly the question this page is about (whether a name is free), and the search runs on Starts With until you open Advanced and change it.
So the single most useful control in the state is one click away from where you land, and nothing on the page points at it. Change it before you search.
It tells you which name it matched
This is Michigan's best feature and almost nobody else does it.
Search Acme and the first result is 19440 Glendale, LLC, with Matched Names: ACME 17 MI printed underneath.
The company is called one thing. Your search hit something else it holds (a former name, an assumed name), and Michigan shows you the matched string directly under the current one. You can see why a result came back without opening it.
Hawaii is the cautionary case: it matches on dropped names and never says so, so you open a record expecting one company and find another. Michigan puts the answer on the row, and it is the clearest implementation of that we have seen.
Two statuses, kept apart
Results carry the filing date, the status, and the annual report standing as separate columns, then the entity type, entity ID and agent.
Those are different questions. A company can exist and be behind. Michigan splits them in the grid rather than leaving you to open the record, and the record then gives you the annual report due date as well.
The register runs a few days behind
On 10 September it had processed filings through 7 September and renewals through 8 September.
So a company formed at the start of the week may not be there yet. Michigan publishes both dates, which is more than most states do, and it means an absence of three days or less proves nothing.
It is a resident agent here
Not a registered agent. Michigan says resident agent, as Kansas does, and you can search by one, alongside business name, filing number, individual name and corporation card file.
Who decides
Even the Name Availability filter is the register's opinion rather than the state's. The decision belongs to the Corporations Division on examination, under the Michigan Limited Liability Company Act, Act 23 of 1993.
Before you rely on it
Switch the filter to Name Availability. It exists for this and it is off.
Read the Matched Names line under each result. It tells you whether the hit is on the company's current name.
Check both status columns. Existing and up to date are different things.
Allow for the lag before concluding a very recent company is absent.
Michigan filing facts
| Filing | Fee | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization | $50.00 | 700 |
| Annual statement, due 15 February | $25.00 | |
| Name reservation | $25.00 | 540 |
Michigan calls it an annual statement, not an annual report, and it falls due 15 February every year.
At $50 to form and $25 a year, Michigan is cheap on both: a sixth of Texas to start, a quarter of North Carolina's $200 to maintain.
One oddity worth knowing: an LLC pays $25 to reserve a name where a corporation pays $10 for the identical filing. Most states charge the same regardless of entity type; Michigan prices the LLC higher.
Expediting is handled through a separate request form rather than a fee line, and we have not extracted its tiers, so we are not quoting them.
169,400 applications over the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026, up 20.4%, about 678 each business day, and 10th of 51 nationally.
What the register will not tell you
Michigan has 64,175 live registered marks, and the crowded words are industry:
| word | live marks | times more common than nationally |
|---|---|---|
| michigan | 1,487 | 57x |
| detroit | 1,692 | 56x |
| harley | 929 | 51x |
| davidson | 830 | 50x |
| ford | 631 | 38x |
| pro | 860 | 2x |
| big | 612 | 2x |
Detroit appears in more marks than the state's own name, and behind them sit three words from two companies: harley and davidson at roughly 50x each, and ford at 38x.
Wisconsin shows the same Harley-Davidson pattern at around 80x. The company is headquartered in Milwaukee, and its marks register in both states. Michigan adds Ford on top.
That gives Michigan something no other state has: two separate manufacturers occupying the top of its trademark register, alongside the state and its largest city. Below those five the list is entirely ordinary: pro and big at twice normal.
Filing is unusually spread for a state this size: Detroit 9.1%, Grand Rapids 6.5%, Ann Arbor 4.8%. No city dominates the way Boise dominates Idaho at 31.9% or Albuquerque dominates New Mexico at 44.7%.
What the Michigan portal looks like
Captured from the live register. Personal names and addresses are blacked out; everything else is as the state publishes it.
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs business services
Business registrations in Michigan are held by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, 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 | mibusinessregistry.lara.state.mi.us/search/business |
|---|---|
| Phone | (517) 241-6470 |
| Address | 2407 N. Grand River Ave., Lansing, MI 48906 |
| Office hours | 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. |
| LLC filing fee | $50 |
| Processing | 7-10 business days |
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 Michigan business entity searches
How do I check if an LLC exists in Michigan?
Search the name on this page or on the state's own portal. What Michigan does by default is worth knowing before you read the result: starts With. 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 Michigan?
Search the name, then open the record rather than reading the results line. You get identification number, jurisdiction, entity type, entity status and annual report standing separately and annual report due date. 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 Michigan business name is approved?
Not on its own. A no-match result means the name is not on the Michigan register today, which is a preliminary answer rather than approval: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs decides when it reviews the filing. Worth knowing about Michigan in particular: it has a Name Availability filter built for exactly this question, but it is not the one selected. The search runs on Starts With until you open Advanced and change it.
Can I look up who owns a business in Michigan?
The Michigan 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 Michigan?
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs charges $50 to file the Articles of Organization, which is the document that forms the company, and currently takes 7-10 business days to process. Reserving a name beforehand is a separate and smaller fee. Confirm the figure with the state before you file: schedules move.
Sources
- Michigan business entity search, the official register this page queries.
- Filing fees and processing times: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations Division Filing Fees, verified 2026-09-10. Current schedules are published by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
- 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: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, confirmed against the office’s own contact page.
- Naming and reporting rules: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations Division Filing Fees.
- Naming statute: Mich. Comp. Laws 450.4204, published by the state.
- State seal: public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.