How to check a business's licenses and their status in Florida, New York and Texas
By Grig Kochedykov · . The searches and open data described under 'What our tests showed' tested by us on 2 November 2026; statutes and agency pages as listed below, with the date we read each one.
In Florida, New York and Texas, you check a business's licenses one by one, with the agency for each activity, not in one place. For Texas, the Governor's office says it plainly: "A general business license is not required in Texas" (gov.texas.gov). What a business does hold is a license for each regulated activity, such as alcohol, food or hair, from the state agency in charge. In Florida, it also holds a local business tax receipt from the county or the city.
So checking "the license" means three steps:
- Find the exact legal name of the company that runs the business, and its status in the state's company records.
- Look up each license in the search of the agency that issued it.
- For each license, read the status, the name it is in, and the expiry date.
Then ask the question that matters most to a buyer: does the license pass to you at all?
General information, not legal advice. The tests described below date from 2 November 2026. The date we read each other source is in the list of sources.
Where to look, state by state
| The company | The activity licenses | Local | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Sunbiz, the Division of Corporations: status of each company | licensee search of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR): professions and businesses the department regulates, including alcohol, restaurants and salons | Local business tax receipt from the county or the city |
| New York | the Department of State's corporation and business entity database: status of each company | the State Liquor Authority's (SLA) active, pending and inactive licenses on the state's open data portal; the Department of State's licensee search for salons | depends on the city and the activity |
| Texas | the Comptroller's (the state tax office) franchise tax records: whether the company may transact business | license search of the Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) for salons, barbers and other trades; Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) Public Inquiry for alcohol | depends on the city and the activity |
What our tests showed
Texas, TDLR: "active licenses only", and one was expired. The search page is headed "(Active Licenses only)". A search for a common salon name: one of the two results showed an expiry date in September 2026 and the word "Expired". Its detail page gave the business name and address, the license number, the type, the first issue date and the expiry date. It did not give an owner. So a result tells you that a license with this name and address exists. It does not tell you who owns the business, and a license missing from the results may simply have lapsed.
Texas, TABC: more than a status. The alcohol regulator's Public Inquiry System lets you "Check the status of pending, active or inactive licenses and permits", see violations and public complaints, and "Find retailers on the agency's credit law delinquent list" (TABC). Before you buy a bar or a liquor store in Texas, look for the seller's license on that list.
Texas, the Comptroller: a list of taxpayers is not a list of live companies. The Comptroller (the state tax office) publishes an open file called "Active Franchise Taxpayers". Franchise tax is the yearly tax Texas companies pay to do business there. In the rows updated on 31 October 2026, each entry carries a code for the "right to transact business". We counted the codes, using the file's own record layout:
| Right to transact business | Entries |
|---|---|
| A = Active | 2,965,295 |
| D = Active, eligible for termination or withdrawal (active, but its right to do business may end) | 25,176 |
| N = Forfeited (the company has lost its right to do business in Texas) | 478,422 |
| U = Franchise tax not established | 45,744 |
| Total | 3,514,637 |
Look the seller's company up by its exact legal name, and read the code, not just the name. If it shows N, ask the seller why before anything else.
New York, the State Liquor Authority: active, pending, and how long pending lasts. The liquor regulator publishes its licenses in three daily files. On 2 November 2026 we counted:
| File | Entries |
|---|---|
| Active licenses and permits | 58,492 |
| of which temporary retail permits | 1,833 |
| Pending applications | 2,964 |
| of which received more than six months before | 715 |
| of which received more than a year before | 193 |
| Inactive licenses | 64,385 |
The pending applications by status: 1,148 "Under Review", 1,050 "IntakeComplete", 715 "Conditionally Approved", 51 "Reconsideration". The two 715s are different groups that happen to be the same size: of the 715 applications received more than six months before, 460 were "Conditionally Approved". The SLA itself says review takes about 22–26 weeks for most types of applications (SLA).
A bar can appear in the active file on a temporary permit. On the SLA's form for a business being sold, "The permit gives the applicant the privileges of the current license for the business that is being sold", for a limited time, at the SLA's discretion (SLA form). If the bar you are looking at runs on a temporary permit, ask whose application is pending, and since when.
Florida, Sunbiz: one name, many companies. A search for a plain bakery name: the first page listed four companies with the same name, apart from a comma, each with its own document number and the status "INACT" (inactive). Search by the company's document number, not its name, and match it to the name on the license.
Florida, DBPR: tick the box for old licenses. The DBPR search form has a box, "Include Historic Licenses", that is unticked when the page opens. Tick it, or the results may leave out older licenses.
Does the license pass to you?
An active license in the seller's name is good news for the seller. For you, the question is whether it comes with the sale.
| License | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Florida, salon | "No license for operation of a cosmetology salon or specialty salon may be transferred from the name of the original licensee to another." | Florida Statutes (F.S.) 477.025(7) |
| Florida, restaurant | The food service license "may not be transferred from one place or individual to another." | F.S. 509.241(1) |
| Florida, alcohol | After a genuine sale, the seller "may obtain a transfer of such license to the purchaser of the business, provided the application of the purchaser is approved by the division". | F.S. 561.32 |
| Florida, local business tax receipt | It "may be transferred to a new owner, when there is a bona fide sale of the business", for a fee of $3 to $25, with the original receipt and evidence of the sale. A county receipt expires on 30 September each year, except where the law says otherwise. | F.S. 205.033, 205.043 |
| Texas, alcohol | "The license or permit cannot be transferred to the new owner." | TABC FAQs |
| Texas, salon or barbershop | The establishment license "cannot be 'transferred' to a new location or to a new owner". | TDLR |
| New York, salon | "If the business changes ownership for any reason, a new Appearance Enhancement Business or Area Renter application must be submitted." | NY Department of State |
More on each trade: salons and barbershops, restaurants, bars.
What to ask the seller, in writing
- The exact legal name of the company that runs the business, and its number in the state's company records.
- A list of every license and permit, with its number, the agency, the name it is in, and the expiry date.
- For each one: will it pass to me with the sale, or do I apply for my own? If I apply, can the business trade while my application is pending?
Then check each answer yourself in the searches above.
Before the deposit: what our report adds
A listing rarely names the licenses. Our free extension reads a business-for-sale listing on a computer and gives you a PDF report on the 12 things a check of the business needs. One of the twelve lines is "licences", and one is "legal name and tax number". When the listing is silent, the line says "not stated". "The extension works in Chrome or Edge on a computer." Add to Chrome — free or Add to Edge — free. Save the businesses you are weighing to My list: create my account.
For the business you would put a deposit on, our pricing page lists among the report's contents "Licences: whether they exist and in whose name". "€550: from the public records, which debts can follow the business under the rules that apply where it is, and what decides whether the permit and lease pass to you". It needs "enough to identify the business — its legal name, its registration or tax number, or its trade name and town." Start for €550. "€950: everything in the €550 report, plus the seller's figures checked against the seller's own papers — tax returns or the accounts the company filed." Start for €950. "We do not contact the seller." "You pay only if we take it on." Within 12 weeks of receiving the €550 report, pay the price difference for the €950 report: what you paid counts in full.
Sources
- Office of the Texas Governor, Start a Business, step 6 (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, License Data Search (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, TABC Public Inquiry (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Active Franchise Taxpayers (data.texas.gov), rows updated 31 October 2026, with its record layout (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- New York State Liquor Authority, Current Liquor Authority Active Licenses (data.ny.gov) (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- New York State Liquor Authority, Current SLA Pending Licenses (data.ny.gov) (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- New York State Liquor Authority, Current SLA Inactive Licenses (data.ny.gov) (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- New York State Liquor Authority, Get a License (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- New York State Liquor Authority, Temporary Retail Permit application (rev. 26 February 2026) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- New York Department of State, Corporation and Business Entity Database (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- New York Department of State, Appearance Enhancement Licensee Search (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- New York Department of State, Frequently Asked Questions: Appearance Enhancement Business (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations (Sunbiz), Search by Entity Name (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Licensee search (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Florida Statutes 2026, section 205.033 (county local business tax) (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Florida Statutes 2026, section 205.043 (municipal local business tax) (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Florida Statutes 2026, section 477.025 (cosmetology salons) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Florida Statutes 2026, section 509.241 (food service licenses) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Florida Statutes 2026, section 561.32 (transfer of alcoholic beverage licenses) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, FAQs (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Change of Ownership for an Establishment (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Provenance Diligence, Pricing (retrieved 2 November 2026)
- Provenance Diligence, Free extension (retrieved 2 November 2026)