Verify Washington businesses

How Washington's Corporations and Charities Filing System works

A Washington State business's nine-digit UBI isn't a Secretary of State number. The Unified Business Identifier is shared: the Department of Revenue, the Business Licensing Service, and the Secretary of State all identify a company by it. Once it has employees, so do Employment Security and Labor & Industries. It's displayed as three groups, XXX-XXX-XXX, and it's the key the Corporations and Charities Filing System (CCFS) searches on. Deep verification returns it as jurisdiction_id.

CCFS is the Corporations & Charities Division's public register. Search by name or UBI without a login and the Business Information tab shows business name, business type, current status, and expiration date. The filing history beneath lists every filed document and every notice the Division sent. An entity inactive for more than 10 years leaves the online system for the State Archives.

The vocabulary is Washington's own. The Uniform Business Organizations Code (RCW 23.95) calls whoever runs an entity a governor — a corporation's directors, an LLC's members or managers, a partnership's general partners. The annual report lists governors rather than officers. LLCs form under RCW 25.15, profit corporations under RCW 23B, and nonprofits under RCW 24.03A, in force since 1 January 2022.

Status is a lifecycle with two clocks. Active is current. Miss the annual report and the record turns Delinquent: a domestic entity has 120 days from the notice to file before it becomes Administratively Dissolved; a foreign one has 90 days before it's Terminated. Voluntarily Dissolved and Withdrawn are the self-initiated equivalents; Inactive means still recognized but not in good standing. Only Active maps to status: active — a Delinquent entity never does.

CCFS also has gaps: sole proprietorships, general partnerships, and trade names (DBAs) register with the Department of Revenue, so a DBA-only name won't match.

BizVerify supports both quick checks and deep verification for Washington. A quick check returns exists, status, good_standing, entity_name, and jurisdiction — whether the record is active. Deep verification adds the UBI as jurisdiction_id, the entity type, the registered agent and their Washington street address, the principal office address, and the formation or registration date.

What Washington specifically charges and requires

Formation

Washington prices for-profit formation flat: $180 files an LLC or PLLC Certificate of Formation, profit, professional service, or social purpose corporation Articles of Incorporation, and an LP, LLLP, or LLP filing alike. Online filings through CCFS add a processing fee. A 24.03A nonprofit pays $80, or $40 if it certifies gross revenue under $500,000. A foreign (non-WA) profit entity registers for $180 with a home-jurisdiction certificate of status dated within 60 days. Expedited service is $100, about three working days; same-day is $150. A name reservation is $30 for 180 days, non-renewable. Every domestic entity also owes an Initial Report — principal office and governors — within 120 days of formation: free with the formation filing, $10 afterwards.

Annual obligations

Every domestic and foreign entity files an annual report by the last day of the month it was formed or registered. The Division mails and emails a notice 60 days ahead; the report can be filed up to 180 days early without moving the date. The fee is $70 for profit types including LLCs; file late and the status is Delinquent and a $25 delinquency fee applies. Under RCW 23.95.605 the Secretary may administratively dissolve an entity whose report is more than 120 days overdue, whose fees are unpaid, or that has gone 30 consecutive days without a registered agent. Reinstatement stays open five years at $140 plus $70 per missed year; after that the UBI can't be reused and the business forms again under a new one. Department of Revenue license endorsements renew separately — DOR's own guidance says the annual report is filed directly with the Secretary of State.

Registered agent

Every domestic and registered foreign entity keeps a registered agent at a physical Washington address — no PO Box or PMB — who has consented in writing; commercial registered agents appear on a public list in CCFS. Changing the agent is free, and a resignation takes effect 31 days after filing. Deep verification returns the agent's name and Washington address.

Common ways developers use Washington verification

Gate self-serve signup on an Active Washington registration

An onboarding agent takes the company name a customer typed and calls verify_business({ entity_name, jurisdiction: "us-wa" }) through the BizVerify MCP server. status: active provisions the workspace; anything else — a Delinquent filer, an Inactive record — routes to a human. On exists: false, ask the customer for the UBI printed on their business license, since a DBA alone won't appear in CCFS. The same tool call runs from Claude or an OpenAI Agents loop.

Reconcile marketplace sellers on the UBI

Washington sellers already know their UBI — it's on the state business license and every Department of Revenue filing. A marketplace collects it at signup, runs deep verification on the legal name, and matches the returned jurisdiction_id against what the seller typed before storing it as the join key across payouts and tax forms. A Zapier step or an n8n node handles this inline. The UBI outlives name changes, which is why it's the key and the display name isn't.

Re-check each counterparty in its own anniversary month

A Washington annual report falls due on the last day of the formation month, and a domestic entity that misses it has 120 days before administrative dissolution. Deep verification returns formation_date, so a monitoring job can schedule its re-check for the month after each counterparty's anniversary and catch a Delinquent flip inside the cure window. The KYB pipeline guide covers recurring checks; a LangChain tool wraps the call.

Qualify West Coast prospects by foreign registration

A Delaware corporation selling into Seattle either holds a $180 Washington foreign registration or it doesn't, and since 11 June 2026 a Washington-based remote worker alone doesn't require one. Resolving a prospect list to us-wa records tells sales who's already registered and who'd be starting from zero. A CrewAI crew running lead enrichment gets there in one pass.

Frequently asked questions

Is the jurisdiction_id for a Washington entity its UBI?

Yes. Deep verification returns the nine-digit Unified Business Identifier as jurisdiction_id; a quick check confirms the record by name and status and doesn't carry it. The same number identifies the business at the Department of Revenue and the Business Licensing Service, so it's the key for reconciling a Secretary of State record against a state business license or a tax account. A sole proprietor's UBI never appears in CCFS, though — those businesses register with the Department of Revenue only.

What do Delinquent, Inactive, and Administratively Dissolved mean in Washington?

Delinquent means the annual report wasn't filed by the expiration date; a domestic entity has 120 days from the notice to cure, a foreign one 90. Inactive means still legally recognized but not in good standing. Administratively Dissolved means the Secretary of State dissolved it for non-compliance, with five years to reinstate. Only Active maps to status: active, and on a quick check good_standing is true only there, otherwise null. Dissolved statuses return dissolved; Withdrawn and Inactive return withdrawn and inactive.

Why did a Washington lookup return no match for a business I know exists?

Most often because the name is a trade name. Washington records DBAs, sole proprietorships, and general partnerships with the Department of Revenue, not the Secretary of State, so CCFS holds only the legal entity's registered name. Two more causes: the Division's own search advice is to keep names singular because pluralization changes results, and an entity inactive for more than 10 years leaves the online system entirely.

Does deep verification return Washington governors?

No. Washington deep verification returns the UBI, the entity type, the registered agent with their Washington street address, the principal office address, and the formation or registration date. Governor names sit on the entity's public CCFS record and its annual reports, but BizVerify doesn't return them for us-wa. Jurisdictions where we do return people data use the officers field.

When is a Washington annual report due, and what does it cost?

By the last day of the month the entity was formed or registered, every year, domestic and foreign alike. The Division sends a courtesy notice 60 days ahead, and the report can be filed up to 180 days early without changing the date. The fee is $70 for profit entity types including LLCs, $95 once already Delinquent, and $60 or $20 for a 24.03A nonprofit depending on gross revenue. Filing it does not renew a Department of Revenue business license.

What happens to a foreign (non-Washington) entity that stops filing?

A registered foreign entity that misses its annual report goes Delinquent and has 90 days from the notice to file — shorter than a domestic entity's 120 — before its registration is Terminated. A terminated entity can requalify at any time, unlike a domestic entity's five-year reinstatement window. Whether an out-of-state company must register at all turns on RCW 23.95.520, and since 11 June 2026 a Washington-based remote worker alone doesn't make it "doing business" in the state.

How current is Washington data, and what does a check cost?

A check reflects the CCFS record as it stands when the call runs — BizVerify serves no snapshot of its own. The Division says an online annual report without attachments posts instantly and the status updates once accepted, so a Delinquent entity that cures reads Active on your next check. A quick check is 1 credit, about $0.08 at public pricing; deep verification is 15 credits, about $1.20. Building an agent? The AI agents guide covers the tool-call shape.