The state of Alaska has a high success rate in many types of businesses. This includes Food businesses, Transportation, Automobile repairs, Pharmacy, and many more. You can get your new business easily started in Alaska by forming an LLC. But do you know how to name your LLC in Alaska? Well, following our stepwise procedure of Alaska business entity search can help a lot. An Alaska LLC is also great because it requires the least management compared to other types of businesses. With an LLC, you can get your business running easily with simple regulations and the security of personal assets.
Alaska Business Entity Search
A business entity search is used to either check for business name availability or perform a business inquiry of any particular business in the state. This is important because you cannot name your business after an existing entity in your state. Thus, an Alaska business entity search will ensure that your name is unique from other businesses in Alaska. For this, Alaska also has a dedicated Alaska Secretary of State business search portal to facilitate business entity search. There are also some specific rules to name your LLC in Alaska. These are as follows.
Alaska LLC Naming Guidelines
- Your Alaska LLC name must include the term, limited liability company or its short forms (LLC or L.L.C). You can also abbreviate limited as “Ltd” and company as “co”.
- The LLC name should not contain words that would confuse your LLC with a state or federal government agency. For example the words (state department, FBI, Alaska Police, treasury, etc.)
- The name can only use professional licensing restrictions (engineer, doctor, etc) if the business is associated with it and has a professional license for the same.
- The LLC name can contain the name of a city, village, or borough. But may not include the words city, village, or borough. This is to avoid the reflection that the company is a municipality.
- Lastly, your Alaska LLC name must be different from any registered businesses in the state. You’ll learn this in the next portion which explains how to perform an Alaska business entity search on the Alaska SOS business search page.
Alaska Business Entity Search Method
So what’s the exact method of doing a business entity search in Alaska? The Alaska secretary of state business search portal mentions searching the entity name and entity number of any particular business in the state.
1) Search By Entity Name
Searching by the entity name can ensure whether your preferred business name is registered by another entity in the state. You can also search for any particular business in the state to perform its business inquiry.
- Go to the Alaska SOS business search portal and search for a particular business in the “Entity Name” search box. You can also select from provided filters as shown in the image to narrow down the results.
- The result page will display all the businesses that relates to your searched term along with details like status (Active, dissolved, etc), Name type, Entity Id, etc.
- If there are no results to your searched name then you are free to use that name.
2) Search By Entity Number
Entity number is a unique number assigned to all businesses in Alaska. You can search the Entity Number of any business in the state of Alaska and get more details about them.
- The result page will showcase a single business that is associated with that entity number.
- Click on the entity number to get information about the registered agent, formation date, address, etc.
Reserve Your Alaska LLC Name
If you are not ready to register your business immediately, then there is an option to reserve your preferred business name. This will secure the name for the time being. In Alaska, you can reserve a business name by filing the Name Reservation application. Your name will be reserved for 120 days with a filing fee of $25. The name reservation can also be renewed with the same amount of filing fee.
Register Your Alaska LLC Name
if you’ve selected a perfect name for your LLC after doing the Alaska business entity search the next step should be to register your LLC and make the name yours. An Alaska LLC is successfully formed by filing the Articles of Organization. The filing fee is $250. The Alaska Articles of Organization can be filed online or by mail. Filing by mail will take about 10-15 business days for approval while online filing can be approved immediately.
Domain And Trademark
Usually, It is best to select a domain name that is exactly similar to the business name. If not, there must be some correlation between the two. This helps find your business online and makes it easy to remember your business name. Further, you can also secure your business by filing a trademark for your business name, logo, or slogan. The cost of filing an Alaska trademark is $50.
Frequently Asked Questions
The next step would be to make the name yours by filing the Alaska Articles of Organization.
Yes. If you've selected a perfect name for your LLC through Alaska business entity search but are not ready to start a business yet, then the Alaska SOS allows you to reserve the name for 120 days.
It costs a filing fee of $25 to reserve a business name in Alaska.
The filing fee for the Alaska Articles of Organization is $125. The formation of this document officially registers your LLC in Alaska.
Online filing will be approved immediately but filing the application by mail can take about 10-15 business days. 1. What should be the next step after selecting a business name in Alaska?
2. Can I reserve my LLC name in Alaska?
3. How much does it cost to reserve a business name in Alaska?
4. What is the cost of forming an LLC in Alaska?
5. How long does it take for the approval of an LLC in Alaska?