Business Registrations Report

Overview

The Business Registrations Report (BRR) is used in KYB to surface Secretary of State (SoS) filings and their associated details for a given business entity in the United States.

The Business Registration Report is in closed beta currently and only supports KYB for US entities. Please enquire with your Persona team if you're interested in using this report.

Customers use the BRR to:

Conduct due diligence on a business

Businesses are required to submit SoS filings periodically to the Secretary of State (SOS) or a similar regulatory agency in the state where they are registered. These filings often have information about the entity, company address, and associated people that may be useful in Enhanced Due Diligence.

Step up verification depending on SoS details

Some customers may want to be able to see & decision on more granular information from a SoS filing, For instance, The Good Standing or Active Status of a filing is a signal that a business complies with that jurisdiction’s legal and filing requirements. Thus, customers may want to set up a workflow that sends businesses who have a SoS filing in “bad standing’ to manual review.

Set a foundation for US KYB

Business Registry Reports is one of the many Reports that Persona offers for KYB in the United States. Business Registry Report is typically done after an initial Business Registry Verification is run

Interpreting the Business Registrations Report

The Business Registry Report takes the Verified Business Record and searches against our SoS data sources to return back all filings with granular detail available in each filing.

Attributes Per State Filing Exposed in the Report

• Status
  • Jurisdiction
    • Domestic, Foreign are the two possible values
  • Filing Status
  • Sub Status
• Entity Details
  • Company Name
  • Company Type
  • Registration Issue Date
• Company Addresses
  • Address Name
  • Address Type
• People
  • Name
  • Title
• Registered Agents
  • Agent Name
  • Agent Address

Understanding Secretary of State filings

While registering a business is not a legal requirement in every state, the business forfeits many of its protections as a business in that state if they do not register or falls out of good standing.

(SoS) Domestic Filing

A business’s domestic filing represents the initial state a business chooses to incorporate/form its entity. This is also often referred to as its “home state” or ‘state of formation” or “incorporation state”

(SoS) Foreign Filing

When a business formed in one state (the "domestic" state) wants to expand its operations to another state, it must register in the other state as a "foreign" entity. This doesn't refer to international business but to any state outside the entity's original formation.

Good Standing Status

In the context of Secretary State filings, Good standing status is a certification issued by a state’s Secretary of State affirming that a business complies with the jurisdiction’s legal and filing requirements. While these requirements can vary state by state, below are some common ones:

1. Timely Tax Payments: This includes federal, state, and local income tax, sales tax, and franchise tax.
2. Filing Annual Reports: Ontime submission of annual reports and other mandatory documentation is crucial.
3. Maintaining a Registered Agent: Having an agent for legal and official correspondence is mandatory.
4. Keeping Licenses Current: Ensuring that business and professional licenses are up-to-date.

Failure to meet these requirements can result in a business falling out of good standing, leading to a status of "bad standing," “not in good standing”, "forfeited," or "suspended."

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between this report and the Business Registry Verification?

This report surfaces all SoS filings for a given business and is intended to serve as an enrichment report after the BRV has been run. The Business Registry Verification verifies a business against the SoS registries and the IRS database based on a given business name, address, and EIN, without returning back the actual details of the SoS registry.