Risk Management Blog

Depending on the specific state where you are conducting your lien search, tax lien records can often be maintained in separate indexes from UCCs. Sometimes these separate indexes can be found within the Secretary of States themselves, like in Illinois where the SOS maintains a separate index for UCCs and a separate index for Federal tax liens; searching only the UCC index will not reveal Federal tax liens of record.

Other times these separate indexes can be found in other filing offices like the county recorder or the courts. In these instances, and they are not uncommon, a search for only UCCs at the SOS will not reveal tax liens of record.

To uncover all the lien types that could affect your security interest, be sure to search in all of the appropriate filing offices based on each state’s filing criteria.

Consider partnering with a public records research company like First Corporate Solutions to assist your lien searching efforts and perfect your security interests successfully.