In brief:
- A Texas business entity search returns SOS filing details for companies that match your search criteria
- These details can be used to verify a business is who they claim to be, and assess the risk of a B2B relationship
- There are 3 main ways to conduct a Texas entity search: using SOSDirect, the Comptroller’s search tool, or a business verification software
Whether you’re looking to verify a business, assess the risk of a B2B relationship, or simply check if a business name is available in Texas, you’ll need to conduct a business entity search. This will return details that not only let you validate a business is who they claim to be, but also assess the risk associated with entering into a business relationship.
We’ll help you do just that by covering:
- What is a Texas business entity search
- 4 types of entity searches in Texas & their differences
- Why do you need to complete a Texas entity search?
- How to look up a business entity in Texas: 5 methods
- How to do a Texas entity search using a business verification tool
- 3 best Texas entity search software & providers
Let’s start by exploring what a Texas business entity search is and the different types of searches you can do to validate one.
Definition
A Texas business entity search is a verification check that returns information about a business’ legal status, including its legally registered name, address, and other identifying information. In some cases, these searches also return other business verification and risk assessment details for KYB.
What is a Texas entity?
A Texas entity is a legal structure that’s been registered to do business in Texas, such as a corporation, LLC, or partnership. While each type has their own tax implications, all of these entities must be registered with the Texas Secretary of State and are subject to Texas laws, including franchise tax.
Common types of Texas entities include:
- Sole proprietorship: A business owned and operated by a single individual. Typically, no formal agreement or state filing is required.
- General partnership: A business conducted by two or more individuals. Typically, no formal agreement or state filing is required.
- Corporation: A legal entity that has limited liability and centralized management, and consists of multiple owners (also known as shareholders). A corporation is established by filing a certification of formation with the Texas Secretary of State (SOS).
- Limited Liability Company (LLC): A legal entity that combines characteristics of corporations and partnerships, providing liability and tax flexibility. An LLC is established by filing a certificate of formation with the Texas Secretary of State (SOS).
- Limited Partnership (LP): An entity that has both general partners that manage the business and limited partners whose liability and responsibilities are restricted to their investment. An LP is established by filing a certificate of formation with the Texas Secretary of State (SOS).
- Doing Business As (DBA): A Texas Doing Business As (DBA) name is a name a business chooses to operate under that is not actually legally registered.
As you can see, most of these entities are required to file a certificate of formation to conduct business. This makes the Texas SOS a great resource when trying to verify businesses.
What is a passive entity in Texas?
A passive entity is a specific classification defined under the Texas Tax Code Section 171.0003. A passive entity in Texas is a partnership or trust (other than a business trust) that earns no less than 90% of its income from qualifying passive sources, such as dividends, interest, or capital gains.
For an entity in Texas to classify as passive, it needs to meet the following criteria:
- The entity must be a general partnership, limited partnership, or a trust (other than a business trust).
- The entity’s federal gross income consists of at least 90% income from passive sources
- The entity does not receive more than 10% of its federal gross income from any active trade or business.
Did you know?
Passive sources can include things such as:
- Dividends, interest, foreign currency exchange gain, notional principal contracts, option premiums, cash settlement or termination payments related to a financial instrument, and income from an LLC
- Distributive shares of partnership income
- Capital games from the sale of securities, commodities, and real property
- Royalties, bonuses, or delay rental income from mineral properties or other nonoperating mineral interests
There are a few different types of Texas entity searches available to you. We look at each one below.
1. Texas business entity search
A Texas business entity search is a KYB check that validates whether a business is legitimate, returning basic business details like its legally registered name, address, and more. You can also get risk assessment information that helps you onboard business customers with confidence.
With an SOS business search tool like Middesk, you can verify a business with a single search, getting results for all states — not just Texas. You won’t just get SOS filing data either, you’ll get other valuable information that can help you make an onboarding decision, assess credit, and determine risk.
2. Texas Secretary of State Entity Search (SOS)
A Texas Secretary of State entity search will return business information that’s been filed directly with the state, including filings, registration, and other business documents. The Texas SOS website offers an online business search service to do just that — SOSDirect.
Users are able to complete individual searches, paying $1 for each. While you may be able to pay less for a bulk amount of searches, you only pay for what you use, which is great for smaller teams that do a small amount of searches.
3. Taxable entity search in Texas
A Texas taxable entity search is a business search focused on a business’ taxable status. While this can’t provide you with registration details or official filings, it can tell you if a business is properly registered to pay taxes in the state of Texas, which is a vital early verification check.
After all, if a business isn’t properly registered to pay taxes it’s often an early risk indicator, signalling that further due diligence should be done. In some cases, along with other risk indicators, this can be used to rule out businesses during onboarding, saving you the time of doing more rigorous due diligence.
4. Texas Comptroller entity search
The Texas Comptroller offers a free franchise tax account status search available on their website, making it easy for businesses to conduct a Texas entity search. Easily search using an entity’s name, taxpayer number, or Texas SOS file number to get a list of registered entities that match your search.
You’ll get a full list of the businesses that match your query, which you can select to investigate further. The site will confirm whether or not the business is currently set up for franchise tax. They also have an API that makes it easy to automate and streamline these searches.
{{related-content-block="/blog/secretary-of-state-api"}}
A Texas entity search allows you to check the legal and tax status of a business, helping you verify their authenticity, check their credentials, and assess risk. A Texas entity search enables companies to:
- Verify a company as part of KYB
- Conduct adequate due diligence during onboarding
- Meet compliance requirements and standards
- Protect against and prevent fraud
- Competitor, investor, and market research
- Check name availability when starting a business
Business formation is not uniform across the nation — it’s unique to each state. Find out how business formation statistics vary across states and entity trends common across U.S. companies in our Middesk Index Report:
{{gated-content-block="/insights/report-middesk-index"}}
The Texas Secretary of State (SOS) office offers a couple different ways to conduct entity searches. While these are very accessible, they require a manual search, which can be exceedingly time-consuming. You’re also limited to only Texas SOS data.
Alternatively, KYB tools like Middesk return nationwide data — all from a single search. Below, we explore some of the main options for conducting a Texas business entity search.
1. Use a business entity lookup tool with access to Texas state data
How compliant is this method?: Exceeds standards
How fast is this method?: Extremely fast
How accurate is this method?: Extremely accurate
Relying on a business verification tool that can get Texas state data is one of the best resources. This will ensure you get reliable, up-to-date Texas Secretary of State data, such as filing and details on their tax status.
But on top of that, you’ll get a series of other business verification and risk assessment signals that let you quickly validate a business you’re looking to work with. These tools also return a series of business details from a single search, so you don’t have to check multiple databases.
Business verification tools like Middesk start by checking for early indicators, so you can auto-approve low-risk cases. This helps you dedicate your team to high-risk cases that require additional due diligence and attention to detail.
2. Manually search the Texas state and federal websites
How compliant is this method?: Extremely compliant
How fast is this method?: Extremely slow
How accurate is this method?: Accurate
The Texas Secretary of State (SOS) website has tools available through their website so companies can conduct a manual search. This can be done via SOSDirect or the Texas Comptroller's Taxable Entity Search tool. You’ll get basic details about the business, such as their legal status and main information.
You don’t get as many details as you would with a business verification tool, but you will get basic details and their current status. With a business verification tool, you can get far more information, including access to filing documents, their history, and other risk signals.
Most importantly though, this is an extremely time consuming process to do manually, as it requires searching each business individually.
3. Search SEC filings for Texas business entity data
How compliant is this method?: Meets standards
How fast is this method?: Extremely slow
How accurate is this method?: Accurate
A common place to look for business details is U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. Using the SEC’s EDGAR database, you’re able to search a company name, ticker symbol, or CIK number.
While this search is free, you’ll only be getting whatever the company has filed with the SEC. You won’t get Texas SOS filings, you’ll just get what the SEC has on record. So, while you can trust the information to be reliable and accurate, it’s unlikely to be the information you need to verify the business and accurately assess risk.
4. Contact a credit bureau to order a business credit report
How compliant is this method?: Meets some standards, but not all
How fast is this method?: Slow
How accurate is this method?: Accurate, but not comprehensive
You can request a U.S. business credit report from a credit bureau like Equifax or Experian. You can sometimes get this information from authorized resellers that aggregate business information — but make sure they’re credible before relying on them.
The main downfall is the information doesn’t verify that a business is properly registered in their state. Instead, it provides credit details about a business. While this can often help with business verification and risk assessment, it’s not as authoritative as getting Texas SOS data.
5. Ask the business to provide legal documentation
How compliant is this method?: Not Compliant
How fast is this method?: Extremely Slow
How accurate is this method?: Not Accurate
You could always try reaching out to the company directly to see if they’ll provide you with the details you’re looking for. Keep in mind, businesses are under no obligation to provide you with this information, so it’s entirely up to their discretion to provide this or not. That being said, since a lot of the information we’re talking about is publicly available, they may not be opposed to sharing it.
Bear in mind though, this process will be extremely slow, as it involves manually requesting documents from the company directly. You’ll have to wait for them to get your request and follow up. And even if they do end up providing you with this information, it certainly won't be a top priority for them — so you’ll likely be waiting a while.
This information also typically doesn’t meet compliance requirements, as a business can provide you with anything. Instead, it’s best to request documents from an authorized source like the Texas SOS office.
{{gated-content-block="/events/american-banker-automating-yes"}}
Conducting a Texas business entity search is really easy with a business verification tool. With MIddesk, it takes just three steps.
1. Search the business name
Simply enter business credentials for the business you’re searching, starting with the business name and address. The more details you have, the easier it is to narrow it down your search, but all you need is the entity name.
2. Find a match
The business verification tool will return a list of potential businesses that match the search parameters you provided. You’ll be able to browse the list for the exact company you’re looking for. The more details you have, the easier it will be to narrow your search.
Find the business that matches your query, and get details about whether the business is registered with any Secretary of State (SOS) office, along with information on the business filing status, address, offers, and any available business documents.
{{related-content-block="/blog/automatically-retrieve-documents-from-the-secretary-of-state"}}
3. Order additional information
If you want, you can request additional business verification details that help you validate a business and assess risk, such as U.S. watchlist screening, adverse media screening, liens and UCC filings, and bankruptcies.
Save yourself time and effort on manual searches by relying on a business verification tool. This way, you can search a business once, getting nationwide information and access to documents and details that help you assess risk.
1. Middesk
With Middesk’s SOS business search tool, you can quickly retrieve SOS filing details from not only the Texas Secretary of State, but SOS offices across the U.S. — all with a single search query.
This means all you need to do is input a business’ name and address, and we’ll return details about whether they're registered with the Texas SOS office, along with additional details that help you assess the risk of conducting business with this company. You can also automate the entire process with our SOS business API.
2. SOSDirect
SOSDirect is an online business service provided by the Texas Secretary of State. It allows users to search businesses any time. Businesses can use this portal to register their business, make changes to their business name, and access business certificates, UCC data, and more. Each search costs $1.00, giving you the control to pay only for the searches you need to perform.
3. Comptroller Franchise Tax Account Status Search
The Texas Comptroller offers a franchise tax account status search. Simply search a taxpayer number, entity name, or Texas Secretary of State file number. You’ll get a list of potentially matches that meet your search criteria. Select the one you’re interested in to find out if the business is registered for franchise tax.
They also have an API option that makes it easier to automatically retrieve the data you need, saving you significant time and manual effort
Business verification tools are crucial for not only onboarding companies, but also assessing risk associated with engaging in a B2B relationship. Middesk’s SOS business search tool returns Texas SOS filing data so you have accurate, reliable business details to use when making an onboarding decision.
Our business verification tool — Middesk Verify — goes far beyond simply retrieving SOS filings though. We can provide a series of other business details that help you onboard with confidence and manage risk, through advanced features like watchlist screening, UCC and lien filings, adverse media screening, and more.
Contact us to set up a demo, or check out our on-demand demo of Middesk Verify right now:
{{gated-content-block="/events/productdemo-verify-june-2025"}}
