You can run a free New Jersey LLC lookup through the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services (DORES) business name search at njportal.com/dor/businessnamesearch. No account, no fee, and the results show the LLC’s legal name, Entity ID, formation date, status, and registered agent. The whole search takes less than a minute once you’re on the right page.
Go Straight to the Search Page
The tool sits at https://www.njportal.com/dor/businessnamesearch/. A lot of people start at nj.gov/treasury/revenue and click around trying to find it. Skip that route. The portal page loads a simple form.
The database it queries is the same one DORES uses for every business formation in New Jersey, so results include LLCs, corporations, limited partnerships, and nonprofits, both active and inactive.1State of NJ – Department of the Treasury. Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services Mission and Program Activities
Pick the Right Search Method
You have three ways to search. Which one to use depends on what you already know.
By business name. Type the LLC’s name as closely as you can. The system ignores capitalization, punctuation, spaces, leading articles (“A,” “An,” “The”), trailing “s,” and the words “and,” “or,” and “of.” Searching “The Garden State Consulting Group” and “garden state consulting” pulls the same results.2State of New Jersey. Business Name Search Help
By keyword. A broader search when you only remember part of the name, or when you want to see every LLC using a particular word. Useful for scanning competitors in an industry.
By Entity ID. Every New Jersey LLC gets a unique ten-digit ID. Enter all ten digits, including any leading zeros, and you’ll get a single result.2State of New Jersey. Business Name Search Help Partial IDs and wildcards don’t work; if you’re missing a digit, fall back to the name or keyword search.
If you’re trying to find LLCs tied to a specific person rather than a company name, DORES runs a separate Business Records portal that lets you search by principal name and registered agent name. That tool is built for ordering copies of filings, but the search side is handy for tracing a person’s business connections.
What the Record Shows
Submit the search, and you’ll get a list of every entity that matches. Common words return long lists; narrow by the starting letters of the name if you need to. Click the highlighted business name to open the full record.
The detail page includes:
- The legal name and ten-digit Entity ID. Write the ID down if you’ll come back to it.
- The formation date, meaning the exact date New Jersey accepted the LLC’s formation papers.
- The business status (active, revoked, or otherwise).
- The registered agent and registered office. New Jersey law requires every LLC to designate an agent and maintain a physical in-state office for receiving lawsuits and government notices. The agent must be a New Jersey resident or a company authorized to do business in the state.3Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 42-2C-14 – Office and Agent for Service of Process
- The principal office city and state, which may differ from the registered agent’s address, especially when the LLC uses a commercial agent service.
Reading the Status Field
If you’re checking an LLC before signing a contract or sending money, the status field is the number one thing to look at. “Active” means the LLC has met its filing obligations and is in good standing. Anything else deserves a closer look.
“Revoked” usually means the LLC failed to file its annual report for two consecutive years.4State of NJ – Department of the Treasury. Reinstate a Revoked or Voided Business A revoked LLC cannot legally operate, and contracts entered into while revoked may be challenged by the other side. That doesn’t automatically mean fraud, but it does mean the business has not kept up with basic state requirements, and any agreement with it starts from a weak legal position.
New Jersey LLCs owe an annual report and a $75 fee each year. The report is due on the last day of the month in which the LLC was originally formed.5New Jersey Business. Taxes and Annual Report Missing that deadline is the most common route to revocation.
What the Search Won’t Show
The free lookup verifies basic facts about the entity. It doesn’t do everything, and knowing the limits saves you from hunting for things that aren’t there.
The EIN. An LLC’s federal Employer Identification Number is not in the state registry. If you need it, ask the company or look for it on a W-9 or public tax filing.
Full ownership. The registry may list managers or managing members as principal names, but New Jersey’s formation documents don’t require a full member list. For a multi-member LLC, you may only see whoever signed the paperwork or was named as a manager.
Beneficial ownership. The federal Corporate Transparency Act was built to collect information on the real people behind LLCs, but as of March 2025 the Treasury Department suspended enforcement of beneficial ownership reporting for U.S. citizens and domestic companies and announced plans to narrow the requirement to foreign reporting companies only.6U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury Department Announces Suspension of Enforcement of Corporate Transparency Act Even when reporting was active, the data was never open to the public. Access was limited to law enforcement, financial institutions with the company’s consent, and certain regulators.7Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Fact Sheet – Beneficial Ownership Information Access and Safeguards NPRM
Financials and tax returns. The registry holds no revenue figures, tax returns, or financial statements. Most LLCs are private and disclose financials only when they choose to.
Ordering Certified Documents
When a screen of search results isn’t enough, DORES sells official documents through its online portal. Current fees:
- Certificate of standing (long form) for an LLC: $100. This is the formal document banks, lenders, and other states often require.8NJ Treasury. Registry Fee Schedules
- Certificate of standing for a corporation or limited partnership: $25, covering both the short and long form.8NJ Treasury. Registry Fee Schedules
- Certified copy of any filed document (formation papers, amendments, and other filings on record): $25 per document.8NJ Treasury. Registry Fee Schedules
- Name availability certificate for an LLC: $50.
Note the gap between the $100 LLC standing certificate and the $25 corporate one. There’s no bulk discount. Most documents are delivered as a PDF after payment, so you won’t need to visit a state office or wait for mail.
If Your Own LLC Shows Revoked
If the LLC you searched is your own and it’s showing as revoked, you can reinstate it through the DORES online reinstatement service. You’ll start by filing the overdue annual reports, and you’ll need your Entity ID plus the month and year the LLC was originally formed to log in.4State of NJ – Department of the Treasury. Reinstate a Revoked or Voided Business
The system checks whether a tax clearance certificate is required. If not, you can finish reinstatement online. If clearance is required, the system generates an application that routes to the Division of Taxation, which reviews your account, tells you what’s outstanding, and issues the clearance once you’ve settled up. DORES will reinstate the LLC only after that.4State of NJ – Department of the Treasury. Reinstate a Revoked or Voided Business
If you owe taxes, this can drag on. Don’t leave it until you need the LLC active for a closing or a contract. Questions can go to DORES at 609-292-9292.