Know Your Business
How Know Your Business checks a know your business
Quick answer. Knowing your business means you can name the legal entity, show its state file, say whether it is in good standing, and show that you screened relevant names. It does not mean you have a secret federal database.
Write what you know and what you asked
Start with the customer’s own words: legal name, state, and what they sell. Then open that state’s entity search and see whether the words match a file. If they gave a trade name, find the entity that owns it. Many states put assumed names in a different index.
Ask who owns and who controls the company when your policy requires it. The registered agent rarely is that person. If the customer will not say, the checklist stays open. Do not fill the blank from a data broker and call it verified.
Know Your Business reviewed these know your business notes on 2026-10-13. A fee or a portal path is cited only when the linked office page is the source. knowyourbusiness.us does not outrank that office.