Florida entity search: how to find your entity information
You can find Florida business entity information, including entity name, type, document number, and formation date, through the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations search portal, known as Sunbiz.
The database is free and publicly accessible, with no login, registration, or payment required. According to the Division FAQs, records are updated daily and images of most documents filed since 1996 can be downloaded at no charge.
The portal covers corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships, and trademarks, and the nine search options include entity name, officer or registered agent name, registered agent name, trademark name, trademark owner name, FEI/EIN number, document number, zip code, and street address.
Summary table: finding your Florida entity information
The table below shows where each data point lives in Florida's system and what it looks like.
Information required | Where to find it | What it looks like | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Entity name | Florida business search results | "Sunshine Builders LLC" | Use the exact legal name as registered |
Entity type | Entity detail page | "Florida Limited Liability Company," "Florida Profit Corporation," etc. | Must match Florida's official designation |
Entity number | Detail page or formation certificate | L23000492338 | Officially called the Document Number; 6 or 12 digits |
Formation date | Detail page or formation certificate | MM/DD/YYYY, shown as "Date Filed" | Check the Effective Date field if one was elected |
How to search for Florida business entities
Go to Florida's business entity search to look up any registered business by name, document number, or any of the other criteria listed above.
Partial-match searching is supported for entity names. Per the state's corporation records guide, entering "Little Red Sch" returns "Little Red School House, Inc.", and punctuation is optional. Using your complete legal name as registered still gets you the most precise results.
Individual name searches, such as looking up a business by its registered agent service in Florida, require the format "Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial." Partial entries such as "Doe, J" are accepted on the registered agent search.
Click your entity name in the results to view complete details.
What you'll see in search results
The results list itself shows only three columns: Corporate Name, Document Number, and Status. Clicking through to the entity detail page reveals the rest:
Legal entity name and entity type designation
Document Number and FEI/EIN Number
Date Filed, Status, and Effective Date (if different from the filing date)
Last Event, Event Date Filed, and Event Effective Date
Principal and mailing addresses (with change dates)
Registered agent name and address
"Officer/Director Detail" for corporations or "Authorized Persons" for LLCs, with title codes such as PD (President/Director) and MGRM (Manager/Member)
The year and filing date of the last three annual reports
"View image in PDF format" links for downloadable filings
Status values follow the Division's status terms guide: Active (good standing), Inactive, Inactive/UA (name held for the statutory period), Inactive/MG (merger), Inactive/CV (conversion), Name HS (previous name), and Cross Ref (the entity's home-state name).
How to find your entity number in Florida
Your Florida entity number is officially called your "Document Number." The state's annual report instructions define it as "the 6- or 12-digit number assigned to your entity when the business entity was filed or registered with the Division of Corporations."
Where to locate your Florida Document Number
1. Florida business search (fastest method)
Located: shown in search results and on the entity detail page
Labeled as: "Document Number"
2. Certificate of Formation/Organization/Incorporation
Appears on your formation certificate
3. Sunbiz annual report filings and state correspondence
Appears on all official Division of Corporations documents
The Document Number is your account identifier: the online filing portal requires it to start an annual report
Florida Document Number format
Format: either 6 or 12 digits. The first character of a 12-digit number is a letter; all other characters are numeric. Six-digit numbers are older, all-numeric legacy identifiers.
Examples: L23000492338 (Florida LLC), P15000062030 (Florida profit corporation)
Observed prefixes: L (Florida LLC), P (Florida profit corporation), N (Florida not-for-profit corporation), A (Florida limited partnership), B (foreign limited partnership), F (foreign profit corporation), M (foreign LLC). These prefixes are drawn from actual Sunbiz records; the Division does not publish an exhaustive prefix list.
Entry tip: type the numeral 0, not the letter O, in the document number search; the letter O returns a "Record Not Found" error.
Fictitious names are different: they use a "Registration Number" with a G prefix in the separate fictitious name records system.
How to find your entity type in Florida
Florida lists your entity type using its official designations, such as "Florida Limited Liability Company," "Florida Profit Corporation," "Florida Non-Profit Corporation," and "Florida Limited or Limited Liability Limited Partnership."
1. Florida business search (most accessible)
Displayed at the top of the entity detail page
Uses Florida's specific terminology and designations
2. Certificate of Formation/Organization/Incorporation
Listed on your formation document
3. Annual reports
Listed in the entity information section
How to find your formation date in Florida
Your formation date appears in Sunbiz as "Date Filed," shown in both search results and the entity detail page. It also appears on your formation certificate. Note that Florida annual reports are due by May 1 each year regardless of when you formed, per the Sunbiz filing instructions.
Formation date vs. effective date
By default, the filing date and effective date are the same: under Fla. Stat. § 605.0207(1) for LLCs and Fla. Stat. § 607.0123(1)(a) for corporations, a record becomes effective on the date and time it is accepted unless the filing specifies otherwise.
Both statutes allow a delayed effective date of up to the 90th day after filing, or a prior effective date on initial articles of up to 5 business days before filing. For LLCs there is one more requirement: under Fla. Stat. § 605.0201(4), the company is formed only when the articles become effective and at least one person has become a member. If a delayed date was elected, the Sunbiz detail page shows an "Effective Date" separate from "Date Filed"; use the Effective Date as the commencement-of-existence date for due-diligence purposes.
Automate your Florida compliance with Discern
With your Florida Document Number and entity details ready, onboarding to Discern takes minutes. Discern files your Sunbiz annual reports automatically ahead of the May 1 deadline, provides registered agent service in Florida, and tracks filing obligations so they are submitted before the state's late-fee cutoff.
For teams managing entities beyond Florida, Discern combines registered agent coverage, automated annual report filings, entity formations, and foreign registrations across 51+ jurisdictions in a single platform. Customers complete annual report filings across all 51 jurisdictions in less than 15 minutes. For portfolios with 200+ state registrations, that drops to 5 to 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to common questions about looking up entity details in Florida's Sunbiz database.
Is the Florida entity search free?
Yes. Sunbiz requires no login or payment, and images of most documents filed since 1996 download free of charge from the entity detail page.
What does a Florida Document Number look like?
It is either 6 or 12 digits. Twelve-digit numbers begin with a letter that, in observed records, corresponds to the entity type (L for a Florida LLC, P for a Florida profit corporation), and 6-digit numbers are older all-numeric identifiers.
When are Florida annual reports due?
Reports are due each year by May 1. Per the Division's annual report page, a $400 late fee applies after the deadline to profit corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships, and LLLPs; not-for-profit corporations are exempt from the late fee. For 2026, the cutoff is 11:59 PM EST on Friday, May 1, 2026.
How long does Florida take to process filings?
The Division publishes current queue positions on its Document Processing Dates page, which it updates frequently. Older Sunbiz help pages carry conflicting day-count estimates, so the processing-dates page is the authoritative source for current turnaround status.
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