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West Virginia Business Entity Search

West Virginia’s Secretary of State offers two official search tools with different layouts: the Business Organization Search, which also searches agents and officers and has advanced options, and a simpler Business Entity Search for status and certificates. Both worked without a login or payment in our review.

Official agency: West Virginia Secretary of State, Business and Licensing Division

Open Official Government SearchOpens apps.sos.wv.gov in a new tab. This is the official government site, not EntityLocator.

Direct links on the official site

Search methods offered

  • OrganizationOne or more business-name keywords. The page’s tips allow the % wildcard.
  • Agent/Officer/Name
  • Advanced: RecordID
  • Advanced: added search optionsStreet, City, County, State, Organization Type, Secondary Organization Type, Business Type, Charter Type, Effective Date, Active/Inactive, Termination, Business Purpose (by four-digit code or from a list), Employees, WV Employees, Woman Owned, Minority Owned, Owner Military, Veteran / Active Military Owned and Young Entrepreneur. We didn’t test their inputs or combinations.
  • Business Entity SearchOne Organization Name field. Enter all or part of the name.

How to search

  1. Open the Business Organization Search using the button above.
  2. Enter the organization name or keywords in Organization, or use Agent/Officer/Name. Use the % wildcard if you need it.
  3. Select Search.
  4. Review the separate result groups: Org Name, DBA, Name Change, and Registrations/Reservations. Select the linked organization name to open its record.
  5. For more specific criteria, choose Show Advanced Search Options and add only the options you need. Your selections persist until you select Reset, and leaving County empty means all counties.
  6. For a simpler status or certificate-oriented lookup, open the Business Entity Search instead, enter all or part of the name, select Search, and select Details for the business.

What you can expect to find

  • Organization Search results show Organization Name, Org Type, Effective Date, Termination Date, Termination Reason, Charter and Class. The page says results include fictitious business names registered with the State Tax Department.
  • An organization detail page can show the type, effective and filing dates, charter, class, secondary type, termination date and reason, business purpose, charter state and control number. It also shows the Notice of Process Address, Principal Office Address and mailing address, officers with addresses, DBAs, name changes, amendments and annual report years. Some labels were empty.
  • Business Entity Search results show Name, Certificate and Details. The official help says results include entity type, city and status, but they didn’t appear in the list we saw.
  • Its detail page can show the name, Organization Number, Type, City, Class, charter type, effective and filing dates, charter state, business purpose, Status and In Compliance, the three addresses, and officers, DBAs, prior names, amendments and annual reports.
  • The observed agent-related address is labeled Notice of Process Address. The help describes registered agent contact information, but the live sample didn’t label a section “Registered Agent”.
  • Don’t decode the abbreviated Type, Class or Charter codes without official support.

Limitations, fees and notices

  • Searching and viewing were free in both tools, and the Business Entity Search says there are no fees for viewing information. A login link exists but wasn’t needed.
  • A Certificate of Existence or Certificate of Authorization is $10 each, paid by credit card, and is separate from viewing.
  • The Business Entity Search pages show reCAPTCHA protection. No challenge blocked our test, but one may appear.
  • The Business Entity Search displayed a data-current timestamp of November 3, 2026 12:00 AM on a November 4 check, so don’t expect real-time data.
  • CSV, bulk and entity-list searches are separate paid services, and large advanced result sets can take a few minutes. We didn’t verify those prices, a general copy fee schedule or any name inquiry fee.
  • Registrations, reservations and fictitious-name matches aren’t active incorporated entities, and a result is not an official clearance of a proposed name.
  • The two tools can present information differently, so don’t substitute the status column of one for the other.

Sources and research notes

Sources reviewed: . Official sites change; always confirm current details on the government site.

Research for this guide used both official West Virginia search tools in a web browser. The same corporation was searched and its record opened in each tool; no certificate was ordered.

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