Who owns a business in Washington? How to find out, free

Whether you're vetting a vendor, checking out a "who just leased that space" rumor, or deciding if a company that owes you money is worth pursuing, Washington keeps the answer in the public record — you just have to know which register holds it. This guide is part of our Washington business lookup series; it works the same free tools, aimed at one question: who's behind it?

Start with CCFS: the governors line

If the business is an LLC or corporation, it has a record in the Secretary of State's CCFS — here's the full field guide. Search the entity name and open the record: alongside the UBI, status, and formation date, CCFS lists the governors — Washington's word for the people who control the entity. For a small LLC that's usually the owners themselves, and every annual report refreshes the list, so a record that's been through a renewal cycle names whoever is running it now.

One caution: the registered agent is not the owner. The agent line is just whoever accepts legal mail, and for a fee that's often a service with a thousand other clients. Read the governors line, not the agent line.

The DOR reverse search: from a person to their businesses

The Department of Revenue's Business Lookup works in both directions, and the reverse direction is the underused one: search by owner name and it returns the licensed businesses registered to that person. Know who's behind one venture and want to see what else they run? That's the tool. It's also the fix when a storefront's trade name and its legal entity don't match — find the license record, read the legal name off it, then take that name to CCFS for the governors.

When there's no CCFS record at all

Sole proprietors don't file with the Secretary of State, so plenty of real businesses have no CCFS entry. They do license with DOR — and for a sole proprietorship, the license record itself names the owner behind the trade name. If a business shows up in neither register, you're usually looking at a very new venture whose paperwork hasn't landed yet, an out-of-state entity that hasn't registered here, or a name that's spelled differently on the filing — resolving the UBI first untangles the last one.

Contractors have their own register

If the question is "who's behind this contractor," skip the general registers and use L&I's Verify a Contractor tool. Contractor registration is its own record — status, bond, and the names behind the registration — and it's the one that matters for vetting trades. It's also the register the state actually polices for that industry.

What the record won't tell you

Two honest limits. First, governors are the people who control an entity — an LLC's full membership isn't necessarily public in Washington, so a passive co-owner can stay off the record. Second, the record lags: a brand-new filing may list only the formation basics until the first annual report, and paperwork filed this week can take days to show up in search. If the trail runs cold, the filing history on the CCFS record — amendments and annual reports — is where changes of control leave footprints.

Quick answers

How do I find out who owns an LLC?

Search it in CCFS and read the governors line — the people who control the entity, refreshed by each annual report.

Is the registered agent the owner?

Usually not — the agent just accepts legal mail, and is often a paid service. Governors line, not agent line.

Can I search by a person's name?

Yes. The DOR Business Lookup's owner-name search returns the licensed businesses registered to that person.

What about sole proprietorships?

No CCFS record exists — the DOR license record is the register that covers them, and it names the owner behind the trade name.

Who's behind a contractor?

L&I's Verify a Contractor tool — contractor registration is its own record, with the names behind it.