Secretary of State (SOS) filing

The Secretary of State is a public official responsible for maintaining state records, including corporate filings, trademarks, and UCC liens. In the business context, the office oversees company formation and registration within that state.

SOS filings typically include the business name, entity type (LLC, corporation, etc.), registered agent, business address, ownership structure, and sometimes officer or director names. These filings are publicly accessible in most states and are often the first step in verifying a company's legitimacy.

Know Your Business (KYB) processes use SOS filings to confirm a business’s existence, validate ownership and registration status, and ensure consistency with documents provided during onboarding. Automated KYB checks can extract data from SOS databases to flag inconsistencies or expired registrations.