Iowa

This guide is outdated and will be removed on 1 November 2026. The up-to-date Iowa reference is on the Iowa country page.

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This guide contains public integration notes for Iowa. Use it for identifier formats, search behavior, and state-specific caveats. The live source of truth for coverage, pricing, data sources, documents, legal forms, roles, and status values is the pricing page.

Iowa coverage, pricing, and sources

Open the current catalog for supported datapoints, documents, sources, identifiers, and availability.

This jurisdiction may be in preview or limited availability. Check the live pricing page or contact support before relying on it in production.

Country details below are preserved as integration notes. If a table or example conflicts with the live pricing page, use the pricing page as the source of truth and contact support.

Data Sources
Company Identifiers
Search Capabilities
Quirks & Gotchas
Mappings
- Legal Forms
Data Availability

Data Sources

Iowa has two complementary integrations against the Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services Division.

Active Iowa Business Entities open-data extract (fast, non-authoritative). A monthly snapshot published at data.iowa.gov. Covers approximately 339,000 active domestic and foreign entities: legal name, entity type, registration date, principal-office address, and registered agent. Officers and directors are not included in this extract. Used for sub-second prefill lookups.
Iowa SoS business search portal (authoritative). A live read from the sos.iowa.gov public business search. Returns authoritative entity status, the full officer roster (Name, role, Director flag, and address for each officer), the verified principal-office address, and the registered agent. Covers all entities in the Iowa register, including the approximately 265,000 dissolved, terminated, or withdrawn entities that are absent from the monthly open-data extract. The Trade Register Extract (a printed PDF of the SoS entity summary page) is bundled with this tier at no extra charge.

Mode-based routing. Prefill requests (mode: "prefill") are served from the monthly open-data extract (fast, no live status, no officers). Verification requests (mode: "verification") read the Iowa SoS portal live for authoritative status, the full officer roster, and the Trade Register Extract. Dissolved or terminated entities are only reachable through verification mode.

Active-only open-data extract. The monthly Iowa SoS open-data dataset covers only active entities (~339k of approximately 600k total). Entities that have dissolved, terminated, merged, or withdrawn are removed from the feed rather than tagged. They are invisible in prefill mode and only resolvable through verification mode.

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifier Type	Format	Example	Notes
Iowa Business Entity Number	6 digits, numeric only, leading zeros preserved	`084726`	Assigned by the Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services Division.

The canonical Iowa Business Entity Number is 6 digits with leading zeros. Shorter numeric input (e.g. 84726) is zero-padded automatically to 084726. Input that is not numeric or is longer than 6 digits is rejected.

Identifiers in API Response

Identifier	Format	Example	Found In
`corpNumber`	6 digits, zero-padded	`084726`	All entities

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

GLEIF is the supplementary data source for this identifier. company.identifiers.lei is returned when a company identifier has a unique match against this jurisdiction’s registration or validation references in GLEIF. An LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) has 20 uppercase letters and digits, ending in two check digits. Coverage varies by entity. The field is omitted when no unambiguous match is available. Lapsed or retired LEIs may be returned; annulled records are excluded.

Search Capabilities

Search Type	Pattern	Example	Match Type	Expected Results
By Name	2–200 chars	`"Hy-Vee"`	Starts-with (case-insensitive)	Multiple results, capped at 50
By Iowa Business Entity Number	6 digits	`019862`	Exact	Exact match returned first (`matchType: id`)

Name search anchors on the beginning of the legal name. Use fuller query strings to narrow the result set. Inactive entities are not present in the open-data index and are surfaced through the live portal fallback. For complete coverage by name (including dissolved entities), use verification mode.

Active companies only

Search can return companies that are no longer active. Each result carries the register’s status, so activeOnly=true removes the inactive ones.

Quirks & Gotchas

Quirk	Details
Leading zeros are part of the number	Iowa Business Entity Numbers are 6 digits with leading zeros. Responses always return the padded form (`084726`); shorter numeric input such as `84726` is zero-padded before lookup.
Prefill mode returns no officers	The monthly open-data extract does not include officer or director information. Officers, Director flags, and per-officer addresses are available only in verification mode via the live SoS portal.
Active-only extract misses ~265k entities	The open-data dataset is an active-only snapshot. Dissolved, terminated, merged, and withdrawn entities are excluded. Verification mode is the only path to reach them.
No shareholder or UBO register	Iowa does not publish shareholders or beneficial owners for any entity type. The SoS portal has no shareholder or UBO section.
No activity codes	Industry classification codes (NAICS, NACE, ISIC) are not collected by the Iowa Business Services Division.
”Doing business as” names are county-level	DBA filings in Iowa are recorded at the county recorder level and are not aggregated in the state-level open-data dataset. Fictitious names filed with the Secretary of State appear on the live portal but are not returned as a separate datapoint.
Officer Director flag	The live SoS portal includes a separate Director (Yes/No) column on each officer record. The flag is preserved in the local role title; an office-only director is an other key person.

Mappings

Legal Forms

Iowa legal form is sourced from the corporation type published in the Iowa Secretary of State open-data dataset and the live portal. The vocabulary is a closed set of 32 values drawn from the Iowa Code, covering entity types across Title XII (Business Entities) and associated chapters. Each value is mapped to a standardized Topograph category and, where available, an ISO 20275 ELF code. The full searchable table of all 32 Iowa legal forms with standardized mappings and ISO 20275 codes is available on the Iowa pricing page.

Common Iowa entity types (top 10 by volume)

Iowa Corporation Type	Standardized	ISO 20275
Domestic Limited Liability Company	Limited Liability Company	`7XPF`
Foreign Limited Liability Company	Limited Liability Company
Domestic For-Profit Corporation	Corporation
Foreign For-Profit Corporation	Corporation
Revised Domestic Nonprofit Corporation (Ch. 504)	Nonprofit Organization
Revised Foreign Nonprofit Corporation (Ch. 504)	Nonprofit Organization
Domestic Professional LLC	Limited Liability Company
Domestic Limited Liability Partnership	Partnership	`7XPF`
Domestic Limited Partnership	Partnership	`HPKC`
Domestic Cooperative	Cooperative

All other Iowa entity types

Iowa Corporation Type	Standardized
Foreign Professional LLC	Limited Liability Company
Domestic Professional Corporation	Corporation
Foreign Professional Corporation	Corporation
Farm Corporation (non-registered)	Corporation
Revised Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association	Nonprofit Organization
General Partnership	Partnership
Foreign Limited Liability Partnership	Partnership
Foreign Limited Partnership	Partnership
Domestic Limited Liability Limited Partnership	Partnership
Foreign Limited Liability Limited Partnership	Partnership
County General Partnership	Partnership
Cooperative Association, Non-Stock (Ch. 498)	Cooperative
Cooperative Association, Capital Stock (Ch. 497)	Cooperative
Cooperative Association, Value-Added	Cooperative
Cooperative Association, Non-Profit	Cooperative
Foreign Cooperative	Cooperative
Multiple Housing Cooperative (Ch. 499A)	Cooperative
Domestic Bank (Ch. 524)	Other
Domestic Savings & Loan Association (Ch. 534)	Other
Insurance Company (Ch. 508-515)	Other
County and City Authority	Government-Owned Entity
Federal Filing (not under Iowa chapter)	Other

Person Roles

Known titles have fixed English and standardized meanings. A combined title such as President / Director retains the officer meaning and the register’s director flag. Office-only directors are other key persons with standardized Board Member. Ordinary members and incorporators are other key persons with standardized Other. Membership alone gives no agency power, and officer functions depend on bylaws or board directions. No sole or joint signing mode is inferred.

Data Availability

Data Point	Available	Notes
Company name	Yes	Current legal name
Company status	Verification only	Active / Inactive / dissolution category, read live from the SoS portal. Prefill mode (open-data extract) covers active entities only.
Registration date	Yes	Iowa SoS initial filing date
Legal address	Yes	Principal-office address (street, city, state, ZIP)
Legal form	Yes	Closed 32-value Iowa Code vocabulary with ISO 20275 mapping where available
Legal representatives	Verification only	Officer and manager titles with names, Director flags and addresses from the live portal. Office titles do not establish unrestricted signing powers.
Registered agent	Yes	Included in both the prefill extract and verification mode
Trade Register Extract	Verification only	Printed PDF of the Iowa SoS entity summary page, bundled with the verification profile at no extra charge
Activity codes	No	Not collected by the Iowa Business Services Division
Shareholders	No	Not published
UBOs	No	No state-level beneficial ownership register
Financial data	No	Not collected
DBA / fictitious names	No	Filed at county recorder level; not in the state open-data dataset

Example API Responses

Search by Name

curl -X GET "https://api.topograph.co/v2/search?country=US-IA&query=Acme+Industries" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

[
  {
    "id": "084726",
    "legalName": "ACME INDUSTRIES LLC",
    "countryCode": "US-IA",
    "matchReason": {
      "matchType": "default"
    },
    "address": {
      "region": "IA",
      "countryCode": "US"
    }
  }
]

Search by Iowa Business Entity Number

curl -X GET "https://api.topograph.co/v2/search?country=US-IA&query=084726" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

[
  {
    "id": "084726",
    "legalName": "ACME INDUSTRIES LLC",
    "countryCode": "US-IA",
    "matchReason": {
      "matchType": "id"
    }
  }
]

Company Profile (prefill, fast, active entities)

curl -X POST "https://api.topograph.co/v2/company" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"countryCode": "US-IA", "id": "084726", "dataPoints": ["company"], "mode": "prefill"}'

{
  "company": {
    "id": "084726",
    "countryCode": "US-IA",
    "identifiers": { "corpNumber": "084726" },
    "legalName": "ACME INDUSTRIES LLC",
    "registrationDate": "2005-03-15",
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Domestic Limited Liability Company",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "123 Main Street",
      "city": "Des Moines",
      "region": "IA",
      "postalCode": "50309",
      "countryCode": "US"
    }
  }
}

Company Profile (verification, authoritative, includes officers)

curl -X POST "https://api.topograph.co/v2/company" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"countryCode": "US-IA", "id": "084726", "dataPoints": ["company", "legalRepresentatives"], "mode": "verification"}'

{
  "company": {
    "id": "084726",
    "countryCode": "US-IA",
    "identifiers": { "corpNumber": "084726" },
    "legalName": "ACME INDUSTRIES LLC",
    "registrationDate": "2005-03-15",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Active",
      "active": true
    },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Domestic Limited Liability Company",
      "standardized": "Limited Liability Company"
    },
    "legalAddress": {
      "addressLine1": "123 Main Street",
      "city": "Des Moines",
      "region": "IA",
      "postalCode": "50309",
      "countryCode": "US"
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "entityId": "person_001",
      "type": "individual",
      "role": {
        "localName": "President / Director"
      },
      "individual": {
        "name": { "fullName": "Jane Smith" }
      }
    }
  ]
}

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Iowa coverage, pricing, and sources

Table of Contents

Data Sources

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Legal Forms

Person Roles

Data Availability

Example API Responses

Search by Name

Search by Iowa Business Entity Number

Company Profile (prefill, fast, active entities)

Company Profile (verification, authoritative, includes officers)

​Start here

Iowa coverage, pricing, and sources

​Table of Contents

​Data Sources

​Company Identifiers

​Query Identifiers

​Identifiers in API Response

​Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

​Search Capabilities

​Active companies only

​Quirks & Gotchas

​Mappings

​Legal Forms

​Person Roles

​Data Availability

​Example API Responses

​Search by Name

​Search by Iowa Business Entity Number

​Company Profile (prefill, fast, active entities)

​Company Profile (verification, authoritative, includes officers)

Start here

Table of Contents

Data Sources

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Legal Forms

Person Roles

Data Availability

Example API Responses

Search by Name

Search by Iowa Business Entity Number

Company Profile (prefill, fast, active entities)

Company Profile (verification, authoritative, includes officers)