Currently, Montana ranks 2nd in the nation for the fastest wage growth since 2020. This is quite impressive, considering that wage growth wasn’t great in the past few decades.
Entrepreneurs searching for opportunities should have this state on their list, as things are only going to go up. If this has piqued your interest, then the first step toward business ownership is picking an excellent company name, and you can’t do that without performing a Montana business entity search.
In this article, we’ll show you multiple ways to do a business search in MO to ensure that you get a unique name.
Check With a Montana Secretary of State Business Entity Search
In most cases, you’ll start with the Secretary of State since they’re in charge of all business records. This means you’ll get a thorough look at what’s already there, and what’s best of all is that the search is free to do.
To begin, you’ll go on the Montana Secretary of State’s website and navigate to the online business services page. Here, you’ll find the business search tool.
On top are the tabs for Business, Notary, Liens, Trademark, and CRA. You’ll want to select the first tab (Business) to search potential names.
What’s great about this search tool is it’s incredibly simple to use. There’s just one box where you can type in the business name or filing number.
You can also click on “Advanced,” which lets you narrow down your search more. You can choose between “Starts with,” “Contains,” or “Word contains,” and then select dropdown options for the following:
- Entity type
- Entity subtype
- Status
- State
- County
- Search by registered agent PID (checkbox)
- Registration date (start and end)
- Expiration date (start and end)
When you click on “Search,” any hits will be generated below. You’ll see the following information for the companies:
- Form info
- Statuses
- Registration dates
- Agents
If you click on a business name, you’ll find more details about it. The popup will show its:
- Filing number
- Entity type
- Entity subtype
- Status
- Formed in
- Expiration date
- Principal address
- Mailing address
- Registration date
Do a Google Montana Business Search
One of the best resources you have at your fingertips is Google or your preferred search engine. This is another free way to check for your desired company name.
You can start off your Montana business entity search by typing in the name and “Montana.” Depending on your business and industry, it may help to try several cities as well.
As you go through the pages of results, make sure to keep an eye out for not just identical names, but similar ones as well. Some of these may be close enough that you’re risking lawsuits.
In addition, see if domain names and social media handles are available. If you’re certain this is the business name you want, then it can be worth it to snatch these up, as you’ll ensure that all your branding matches across platforms in the future.
Utilize the Business Anywhere Search Tool
On our website, we offer a free business registration service. You can toggle through the state options to see how much you’d have to pay (the state fee is your responsibility).
Plus, there’s a detailed list of additional services, along with their prices for LLCs or corporations. This allows you to pick and choose exactly what you need, without surprises to your budget.
After you’re done looking through these things, you can scroll back up to the top. Here, you can enter your desired business name, select whether you want to form an LLC, corporation, or PLLC, and then click on “Check availability.”
The next page tells you if you’re successful. If so, then you have the opportunity to fill out your details so we can contact you; do note that this isn’t mandatory and you can stop your search here. Otherwise, you can click back and keep trying until you find a name that’s uniquely yours.
Check Names With a Montana Business Entity Search
Now that you’ve learned how to do a Montana business entity search, you’ll know what to do to make sure that you register an untaken company name.
It may seem tedious, but the work you put in now will pay off in the future. And because the searches are free to do, it’ll cost you nothing, besides your time.
Sign up with Business Anywhere to use our free business registration service. You can also schedule a free consultation if you have questions about setting up a company.
