Arkansas LLC name search

What an Arkansas LLC name must include

Arkansas accepts these endings for a limited liability company:

• Limited Liability Company
• Limited Company
• L.L.C.
• LLC
• L.C.
• LC

Watch the people in your LLC's name. Arkansas won't accept a name that includes someone who isn't a member, though a former member, or a member of an organization the LLC succeeded, can remain part of it (A.C.A. § 4-38-112(f)). Arkansas accepts “Ltd.” for “Limited” and “Co.” for “Company” inside the longer endings.

How Arkansas decides two names are the same

Words like LLC and Inc. don't count when the Secretary of State compares names (A.C.A. § 4-38-112(d)). Your LLC's name must stand apart on its records from existing entities and LLPs, from companies registered to do business there, and from names someone has reserved or registered. Getting the name accepted makes it distinguishable for filing, not yours exclusively.

Where the rules are written. A.C.A. § 4-38-112 (Act 1041 of 2021, Uniform LLC Act); § 4-38-113 (reservation); § 4-27-401 (corporations).

Searching for an LLC name in Arkansas

Arkansas's online corporation and LLC search is free. It only covers registered entities: the Secretary of State keeps no record of unincorporated businesses, so a name can be in use by a sole proprietor even when the search comes back empty.

Open the official Arkansas entity search

Leave the ending off when you search, so every version of the name shows up, then compare each result word by word. If one matches apart from spacing, punctuation or a plural, change a real word in your name.

Live from Arkansas's records. Pick Arkansas in the LLC name check and it runs your words through the Arkansas Secretary of State's Business Entity Search when you submit, then lists the registered names that share them, longer ones that open with them, and those starting with the same two words.

Holding the name: Arkansas LLC name reservation

If you need time before filing, a reservation holds the name for 120 days (A.C.A. § 4-38-113): $22.50 when filed online, $25 on paper.

File an Arkansas name reservation

Forming the LLC in Arkansas

The Certificate of Organization is the filing that creates the LLC. It costs $45 online, or $50 if you file on paper.

File the Certificate of Organization online

Each year, by May 1, an Arkansas LLC files its Annual LLC Franchise Tax Report with the Secretary of State and pays $150 franchise tax with it; after May 1, penalty and interest apply. There's no newspaper notice to publish. To prove good standing, order a Certificate of Good Standing for $25 (online orders add $3.00 and can be downloaded for two weeks), or a Certificate of Existence for $15 through a records request.

When the LLC trades under another name

An LLC that wants to trade under another name files an Application for Fictitious Name (form DN-18) with the Secretary of State, for $22.50 online or $25 on paper.

Sources

• sos.arkansas.gov, checked 2026-10-07
• Business services faq, sos.arkansas.gov, checked 2026-10-07
• Ftpdocument, arkleg.state.ar.us, checked 2026-10-07
• Llc1 ft 2026 (PDF), sos.arkansas.gov, checked 2026-10-07
• sos-good-standing.ark.org, checked 2026-10-07
• Records request form with additions1 2 (PDF), sos.arkansas.gov, checked 2026-10-07

These are the official pages behind every fact above. If one of them now says something different, it's right and this page is out of date.

A few were read from search results, not the page itself, because the site refused direct requests; treat the facts they back as provisional until the Arkansas Secretary of State confirms them.