Last Updated on January 30, 2024

The Alaska Business Corporation Registry is the record center of all the business proceedings happening in the state. The Secretary of State Registry maintains the database of all the business entities filed and authorized with the state of Alaska. The registry contains well-maintained information regarding the incorporation of the following types of institutions in the state:

• Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
• Limited Company
• Limited Partnership
• Limited Liability Company
• Corporation
• Cooperative

Neither the sole proprietorship nor general partnership are registered with the state, so you won’t be able to look up these entities.

The Department of State of Alaska facilitates an online search tool for finding businesses and corporate entities that are registered with the state. To continue with the search, you need to have the Business Entity Name or Entity ID handy.

Also see: How to start an LLC in Alaska

Follow the simplified guideline below to show how to do an Alaska corporation search.

Step 1 – To start, visit the Alaska Department of Commerce, and Economic Development’s Corporation, Business and Professional Llicensing website (it will look like the screenshot below).

Step 2 – Assuming you decide to continue the search by entity name, let’s enter the entity name in the required field. Also, you can specify your search by clicking on one of the radio buttons. For this example, let’s type in the entity name “Bering Air” in the field and choose “Starts With”.

Step 3 – Click on the entity number on the Results Page with a list of entities containing the given entity name given will appear (see the screenshot below for reference).

This screen provides the type of entity, entity number, name, and status with the state.  An entry with a good standing status means the biennial report and state filing fees are up-to-date.

Step 4 – Click on an entity number. A page will then appear with the detailed information about the entity like status, type, filed documents and registered agent (see the screenshot below for reference).

Information on the detail screen includes:

• Entity Type
• Entity Number
• Status – Good Standing or Not in Good Standing
• Duration
• Home State
• When the next report is due
• Mailing Address
• Physical Address (PO Boxes aren’t allowed)
• Alaska Registered Agent name and address
• Officials in the organization (names, titles and amount of ownership)
• Copies of the certificate of Articles of Organization / Articles of Incorporation

Note that this search won’t look up whether the entity has a valid business license. You can search if a business has a valid Alaska business license through the Department of Commerce, Corporations Division.

In Alaska, a Registered Agent is required.  This is a single point of contact in case the business needs to be served with legal papers or contacted by the state.  The owner is usually the one who files as the entity’s registered agent.  When they file, their home address is often used and is now a public record that can be looked up by anyone.  If that is a concern, consider looking into a Registered Agent service.

Business Licenses

The business name registration is different from business licensing in Alaska.  The Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing has more information regarding business licenses.

Information on the SOS Alaska (AK) SOS

The Office:

The state of Alaska doesn’t have a Secretary of State. The functions performed by the Secretary of State in other states are taken over by the Lieutenant Governor in Alaska.

Functions:

The responsibilities performed by the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska include Alaska UCC search (Uniform Commercial Code), taking care of the state archives and the public properties. It also maintains records of the public documents of the state. The Lieutenant Governor also guards the Great Seal of Alaska and is authorized to authenticate and attest government documents using it.

 

---

Select the State Where the Corporation is Registered: