Texas Lien Search

A practical map of public lien offices, with the official link kept in front.

Texas Lien Search

Tax Liens

Quick answer. A tax lien search has to name the authority: IRS, state comptroller or revenue department, or a local tax office. Each files in a place that authority’s statute names. A Texas lien search has to name the lien. UCC financing statements are SOSPortal. Real-property liens, including many mechanic’s liens, are county clerk records. A release of lien is a later recorded instrument.

Official office

Texas Secretary of State, Corporations Section entity index

Open the official search

Phone: (512) 463-5555

Secretary of State, 400 W. 15th Street, Austin, TX 78701

SOSPortal is online 24/7. Corporations email: CorpInfo@sos.texas.gov.

Steps

  1. Separate personal property from land

    UCC for personal property at the Secretary of State. County clerk for the land.

  2. Search the owner and the parcel

    Prior owners matter if you are asking what encumbers the tract.

  3. Read releases by recording number

    A release of lien must match the lien it claims to release.

  4. Do not invent foreclosure dates

    Cite the statute or the recorded instrument. Do not compute a deadline here.

Say which tax authority

Texas franchise tax forfeiture and a recorded tax lien are different events. California’s Franchise Tax Board liens are not the same index as a county property-tax lien.

Get the taxpayer name and the parcel or the entity number before you search. A city name alone is not a search key.

Texas liens are not one statewide list

Mechanic’s lien deadlines and forms are statutory and county-recorded. This site will not calculate the deadline for a job. We can point at the county clerk and, if you ask, pull the instrument that clerk shows. Tax liens and a Comptroller forfeiture for franchise tax are different events.

County pages link the clerk we have on file. Property-lien questions need the legal description or the address, not only a business name. A UCC debtor search does not clear a tract of land.

Common mistakes

  • Using only SOSPortal for a house.
  • Treating franchise-tax forfeiture as a recorded mechanic’s lien.
  • Ignoring a release’s recording number.
  • Promising a statewide property-lien clear.

Questions

Where are Texas property liens?

In the county clerk’s real-property records for that land.

Where is a Texas mechanic’s lien filed?

In the county where the property is, under the mechanic’s lien statutes. It is not a UCC-1.

What is a release of lien in Texas?

A later instrument that releases a recorded lien. Match it to the original recording.

Sources reviewed