KYB

Underwriting Know Your Business (KYB)

Required Data

Requiredsome text
- Business Namesome text
  - The legal name of the Business you are verifying. This should be the name the Business has registered with the U.S. IRS or the Secretary of State in their state of incorporation.
- Business Addressessome text
  - A list including the physical addresses of a business. For larger companies, this commonly includes the address of their headquarters (HQ) location.

Taxpayer Identification Numbersome text
- A unique 9-digit number that is used by the IRS to identify a business entity
- Must be passed to conduct TIN verification

Optionalsome text
- Peoplesome text
  - A list of people associated with the business
- Business Structuresome text
  - If you want to check against a Sole Proprietorship or LLC

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*The more data provided the higher the accuracy

Results of a Business Verification

Name / TIN Verificationsome text
- Verifies that the submitted Business name and Tax ID combination match.
Secretary of State Filing Retrievalsome text
- Searches all 50 Secretary of States and D.C. to uncover state registrations and the "footprint" of a Business. Based on state availability, each record may provide a rich dataset including entity name, registration date, entity type, registered addresses, and corporate officers.
Detailed Address Analysissome text
- Aggregates all known addresses retrieved from both state filings and web presence, displaying them with both street and satellite images. Assesses deliverability and type (eg, P.O. Box, commercial, residential) of each address.
Business Namessome text
- Collection of all developed business names linked to a business with a matching of the submitted name
Officerssome text
- All listed officers found in the business Secretary of State Filings with an associated role
Web Presence / Validationsome text
- Searches for Business across popular search engines to display the most relevant results and all social profiles. Validates submitted web addresses to extract relevant business details.
Consolidated OFAC Screeningsome text
- Searches government watchlists to determine Business sanctions status, applying advanced matching logic to reduce false positives.
Profilessome text
- Searches for the business on various websites to find the company's online presence. Currently, only Facebook and Google Places are supported.
Taskssome text
- A detailed summary of all searches, flagging risk factors based on results across screenings and developed entity information.

Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

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All valid business entities will have an EIN issued by the IRS. The Federal government requires a legal entity to have an EIN to pay employees and to file business tax returns. To be considered a Partnership, LLC, Corporation, S Corporation, Non-profit, etc., a business must obtain an EIN when incorporating. EINs do not expire. Once an EIN has been issued to an entity, it will not be reissued. Each EIN is unique to a business and persists over time.

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List of TIN Types

Social Security Number (SSN)
Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S. Adoptions (ATIN)
Preparer Taxpayer Identification Number (PTIN)

Formation

Sole Proprietorship
Partnership
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Corporation
Non-profit

Verifying EINs against submitted people for SoleProp & Small LLC

Based on IRS documents, some small businesses like single-member LLCs have EINs that match against an officer's name instead of the registered business name. Middesk has an optional feature to verify if the submitted EIN matches the person's name in the case that it failed to match with the business name. Contact your account manager or support@middesk.com if you would like to opt-in, and see our reference for additional information.

TIN Verification Responses

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Success: Foundsome text
- The IRS has a record of the submitted TIN and Business Name combination
Failure: Mismatchsome text
- We believe the submitted TIN is associated with a different Business Name
Failure: Not Foundsome text
- The IRS does not have a record for the submitted TIN and Business Name combination
Failure: Duplicatesome text
- TIN/name failure - Duplicate request
Failure: Unavailablesome text
- TIN/name failure - IRS is unavailable
Failure: Not Issuedsome text
- TIN has not been issued by the IRS. There is often a delay after formation for the IRS database to process TINs for new businesses.

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Secretary of State Filing Responses

Success: Activesome text
- X of Y filings found are Active
Warning: Partially Unknownsome text
- X of Y filings have no status provided
Warning: Partially Inactivesome text
- X of Y filings found are inactive
Failure: Inactivesome text
- The business has no Active Secretary of State filings
Failure: Not Registeredsome text
- The business has no Secretary of State filings

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Success: Submitted Activesome text
- The business is Active in the state of the submitted Office Address
Warning: Submitted Unknownsome text
- The submitted state does not make filing status available
Failure: Submitted Inactivesome text
- The business is Inactive in the state of the submitted Office Address
Failure: Submitted Not Registeredsome text
- The business is not registered in the state of the submitted Office Address

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Secretary of State Documents

Uploaded into the Customer Record of the state provides these documents

Business Name

Legal Name

An entity's legal name is meant to uniquely identify the business in a given state. Each state may have requirements around valid entity names (e.g., requires the use of alphabetical characters) or the use of suffixes (e.g., LLC, Inc.). Most states do not allow an entity to register with a name already in use, and some states require an entity name to reflect the operations of the business.

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While states guard against duplicative names, each state acts independently when forming entities. Therefore, many business entities have the same name as a separate business in another state. In this case, it is critical to understand the domestic and foreign jurisdictions of each state, and how and when each filing was made.

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Doing Business As (DBAs)

A company is said to be "doing business as" a name when the business operates under a name different than its legal, registered name. These names are also referred to as "assumed", "fictitious", or "trade" names.

State and local governments usually require companies to register these alternate names through a DBA filing, allowing the company to legally operate under a separate trade name.

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Business Name Responses

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Success: Verifiedsome text
- Match identified to the submitted Business Name
Warning: Similar Matchsome text
- Similar match identified to the submitted Business Name
Failure: Unverified some text
- Unable to identify a match to the submitted Business Name
Failure: Alternate Namesome text
- We believe the submitted TIN is associated with “name”

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Office Address Responses

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Success: Verifiedsome text
- Match identified to the submitted Office Address
Warning: Approximate Matchsome text
- Identified an address within 0.2 miles of the submitted Office Address
Failure: Unverifiedsome text
- Unable to identify a match to the submitted Office Address
Success: Commercialsome text
- Submitted Office Address is a Commercial property
Warning: Residentialsome text
- Submitted Office Address is a Residential property
Success: Deliverablesome text
- The USPS is able to deliver mail to the submitted Office Address
Success: Undeliverablesome text
- The USPS is unable to deliver mail to the submitted Office Address

People Responses

Presidentsome text
- Usually the legally recognized highest rank of corporate officer
Treasurersome text
- Responsible for accounting and handling corporate funds
Secretarysome text
- Handles corporate records and may also handle corporate stock and the stock transfer book
Membersome text
- The formal name for an LLC owner
Ownersome text
- The only one (or one in a few) managing business operations
Registered Agent some text
- An individual or corporation, who may or may not be part of the business entity, who is designated to receive correspondence from the Secretary of State

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Website

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Websites are rich sources of information about corporate entities and help verify the legitimacy of a business. Thanks to common web design practices, there are very frequently a minimum set of pages on a company's corporate website, each of which may contain a wealth of data:

Home: Provides information like business overview, services provided, product features, nature of business, and client lists.
Contact: Provide information like phone numbers, addresses, office locations, and hours of operation.
Products or Services: Provide specifics on goods or services offered.
Privacy Policy: Provide data such as addresses, entity names, and critical legal considerations. These are critical to assess when a business is collecting sensitive user data.
Terms of Service: Provide details such as entity names, addresses, and critical legal considerations. These are critical to consider when a business is entering into agreements with its customers and partners at scale.

In sum, reviewing this minimum set of pages can help build a deeper picture of the business entity and help establish the credibility of associated businesses.

Website Responses

Success: Onlinesome text
- Website was Online when the business record was ordered
Failure: Offlinesome text
- Website was Offline when the business record was ordered
Success: Verifiedsome text
- Successfully found entity details on the submitted Website
Warning: Unverifiedsome text
- Unable to find entity details on the submitted Website
Failure: Parking pagesome text
- The website has been purchased but has no content

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Watchlist Responses

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Success: No Hitssome text
- No Watchlist hits were identified
Failure: Hitssome text
- X Watchlists hit(s) have been identified

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List of Watchlists

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Entity List (EL)

Bureau of Industry and Security

Denied Persons List (DPL)

Bureau of Industry and Security

Military End User (MEU)

Bureau of Industry and Security

Unverified List (UVL)

Bureau of Industry and Security

ITAR Debarred (DTC)

State Department

Nonproliferation Sanctions (ISN)

State Department

Capta List (CAP)