South Carolina Secretary of State
South Carolina Business Entity Search
Last updated . Register data is refreshed nightly.
Check whether a business name is already on file with the South Carolina Secretary of State. Free, no account, all entity types.
South Carolina Business Entity Search
Search the state's official business records.
South Carolina's register is at businessfilings.sc.gov, free and without an account, and it is the only one in the country that will tell you, in as many words, whether the name you typed is taken.
It tells you the answer
Search a name and a colored banner appears above the results:
This name is currently being used
Almost every other state hands you a list and leaves the conclusion to you. South Carolina commits. New Jersey is the only other register we have found that will, and it does it by not showing you a list at all.
Treat it as a strong first indication rather than a ruling (the register records what has been filed, not what the state will accept), but no other portal states a verdict, and that is worth something when you are checking a dozen candidates.
Why a search for Acme returns A&C Metal Roofing
This is the result that makes people think the search is broken.
It is not. South Carolina strips the spaces and the ampersand before matching, so A&C Metal reads as ACMETAL, which does begin with ACME.
The state is showing you how it reads names, and it is the same standard applied when somebody decides whether your filing is distinguishable from one already on file. Ohio does this with punctuation, New Hampshire and Wisconsin with spacing. If a result looks like your name said out loud, treat it as a conflict whatever the typography.
The Former badge
Rows carry a small Former badge against the entity name where the name you searched is one the company used to hold rather than its current one.
That is worth more than it looks. It is exactly the trap Hawaii sets and never warns about: you search a name, get a company back, and only discover on the record that the company dropped that name years ago. South Carolina puts the warning in the row.
Choose the match mode deliberately
The dropdown beside the box offers Contains as well as Begins With, and the instructions above it say "Results displayed will show entities that contain your search criteria", which describes Contains.
So the wording matches one of the options rather than describing the other. Pick on purpose: Begins With will miss every company with your word in the middle.
The count moves
The same search for Acme returned 188 records on one day and 247 the next.
Either the register moved or the match mode differed between the runs. Both are possible and neither is alarming, but it is a reminder that a result count is a snapshot, not a measurement. Sixty of them are displayed whatever the total, and the page tells you the ratio.
Reading a South Carolina status
Good Standing and Dissolved mean what you expect. Forfeited is the state's word for a registration it has ended, usually for a missed filing, and it appears often.
A forfeited or dissolved company still holds its name.
The record is deliberately thin
Open an entity and you get Corporate Information (entity ID, type, status, whether it is domestic or foreign, incorporated state), then Important Dates, then the registered agent with an address.
That is all of it. No officers, no members, no name history, no list of filings. Documents sit behind a Request Documents button.
Set that against New Hampshire, which publishes managers and members with addresses, a NAICS purpose, annual report years and a reverse agent lookup on the same kind of page. South Carolina answers the name question well and the company question barely at all.
So: use it to check a name, not to research a business.
Who decides
The banner is the register's view. The state's view comes later, when the Secretary of State examines the filing under the South Carolina Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 44, and it is the second one that decides whether you get the name.
Before you rely on it
Read the banner, then read the list. The verdict is the finding; the sixty rows are a sample of however many there are.
Switch to Contains if you are checking whether a name is taken.
Look for the Former badge. A hit on an abandoned name is a different problem from a hit on a live one.
Do not expect to research a company here. The record holds the agent and little else.
South Carolina filing facts
| Filing | Fee |
|---|---|
| Articles of Organization | $110.00 |
| Annual report | none with the Secretary of State for most LLCs |
Most South Carolina LLCs file no annual report at all with the Secretary of State, which puts the state among the cheapest in the country to maintain. An LLC that has elected to be taxed as a corporation is the exception and files with the Department of Revenue instead.
Compare New Hampshire at $100 every year, or Washington at $70. Over ten years that is the difference between $110 and more than a thousand.
The register absorbed 101,880 applications in the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026, about 408 a business day, up 11.4%, and 19th of 51 by volume.
What the register will not tell you
South Carolina has 23,180 live registered marks, and one city name dominates them in a way its filing pattern does not:
| word | live marks | times more common than nationally |
|---|---|---|
| charleston | 422 | 127x |
| carolina | 705 | 44x |
| south | 434 | 16x |
| southern | 341 | 10x |
| life | 872 | 3x |
| power | 395 | 3x |
Charleston runs at 127 times the national rate on 422 marks, the most contested word in the state by a distance. The filing itself is spread wider than that suggests: Greenville files 13.4% of South Carolina's marks, Charleston 9.9%, Columbia 8.3%. So the busiest city is not the one whose name everybody wants.
Below the three place words the list is ordinary. Life and power at under three times normal are the generic boosters that turn up mildly over-represented everywhere.
If your name uses Charleston or Carolina, check the federal register before you commit. Otherwise the ground is open.
What the South Carolina portal looks like
Captured from the live register. Personal names and addresses are blacked out; everything else is as the state publishes it.
South Carolina Secretary of State business services
Business registrations in South Carolina are held by the South Carolina Secretary of State, 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 | businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/Search |
|---|---|
| Phone | (803) 734-2158 |
| Address | 1205 Pendleton Street, Suite 525, Columbia, SC 29201 |
| LLC filing fee | $110 |
| Processing | 5-7 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 South Carolina business entity searches
How do I check if an LLC exists in South Carolina?
Search the name on this page or on the state's own portal. What South Carolina does by default is worth knowing before you read the result: the dropdown says Begins With and the placeholder repeats it, but the instructions above the box say results will show entities that contain your search criteria, and the results bear the instructions out rather than the control. 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 South Carolina?
A company is registered in South Carolina if it appears on the South Carolina Secretary of State register with an active status. Search the name, open the record, and check the status field rather than the summary line: a dissolved company still appears in results but is no longer in good standing.
Does a clear search mean my South Carolina business name is approved?
Not on its own. A no-match result means the name is not on the South Carolina register today, which is a preliminary answer rather than approval: South Carolina Secretary of State decides when it reviews the filing. Worth knowing about South Carolina in particular: a search for Acme returns A&C Metal Roofing & Supply. It looks like the search is broken. It is not: South Carolina strips the spaces and the ampersand before matching, so A&C Metal reads as ACMETAL, which does begin with ACME. The state is showing you how it reads names, and that is the same standard it applies when it decides whether your name is distinguishable from one already filed. New Hampshire ignores spacing and Ohio ignores punctuation for the same reason.
Can I look up who owns a business in South Carolina?
South Carolina shows the registered agent and nothing else. No officers, no members.
How much does it cost to register a business name in South Carolina?
South Carolina Secretary of State charges $110 to file the Articles of Organization, which is the document that forms the company, and currently takes 5-7 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
- South Carolina business entity search, the official register this page queries.
- Filing fees and processing times: South Carolina Secretary of State, Business Entities Online, Articles of Organization form and downloadable forms list, verified 2026-09-10. Current schedules are published by the South Carolina Secretary of State.
- 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: South Carolina Secretary of State, confirmed against the office’s own contact page.
- Naming and reporting rules: South Carolina Secretary of State, Business Entities Online, Articles of Organization form and downloadable forms list.
- Naming statute: S.C. Code Title 33, Ch. 44, published by the state.
- State seal: public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.