Short answer
A holding company that owns controlling stakes in other companies but doesn't manage them uses NAICS 551112, Offices of Other Holding Companies; a bank holding company uses 551111. If the parent also manages its subsidiaries, setting strategy and running shared functions, it's 551114, Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices. A holding company that operates a business itself takes that business's code. The SIC codes are 6719 for holding companies and 6712 for bank holding companies.
- 551112 had 6,582 establishments with paid employees in 2023; holding entities with no staff aren't counted at all.
- Head offices are far bigger: 551114 had 42,331 establishments and 3,757,975 employees, about 89 per establishment.
- SBA size standards are $45.5 million for 551112 and $38.5 million for 551111; 551114 has none.
- Delaware ranks fifth for 551112 establishments (375), behind Texas, Florida, California and New York.
- The SEC's SIC list has no holding company code, so Berkshire Hathaway files under 6331, insurance.
On this page
- The three holding company codes
- The test: does the parent manage, or only own?
- The SIC codes
- How many holding companies use these codes
- SBA size standards and affiliation
- Where the code is used, and what a wrong one costs
- Finding holding companies and the people who decide
- Worked example
- Sources
- Questions people ask
This page is for owners and finance teams setting up or registering a holding company or parent LLC (on a bank account, an EIN application, a tax return, a state filing or SAM.gov), and for sellers trying to reach the people who decide inside a group of companies.
The three holding company codes
All three sit in sector 55, Management of Companies and Enterprises. The Census Bureau's sector definition covers establishments that hold the securities of companies to own a controlling interest or influence management, and establishments that administer, oversee and manage the company's other establishments.
| NAICS 2022 | Official title | What it covers | Establishments, 2023 | Employees per establishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 551112 | Offices of Other Holding Companies | Holding companies (except bank holding) that hold controlling stakes but don't administer, oversee or manage the companies they own | 6,582 | 13.7 |
| 551111 | Offices of Bank Holding Companies | Bank holding companies that hold the stock of banks without managing them | 643 | 12.2 |
| 551114 | Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices | Head offices, corporate offices, regional offices and "holding companies that manage" | 42,331 | 88.8 |
The Census index puts financial holding companies, insurance holding companies, personal holding companies, public utility holding companies and savings and loan holding companies in 551112. Employees per establishment is our calculation from County Business Patterns.
The test: does the parent manage, or only own?
The 551111 and 551112 definitions both end with the same exclusion: these holding companies "do not administer, oversee, and manage" the companies whose securities they hold. The cross-references then send a parent somewhere else in three situations:
| If the parent... | Use | Not |
|---|---|---|
| Owns controlling stakes and only votes its shares and collects dividends | 551112 (551111 if the companies are banks) | 551114 |
| Owns subsidiaries and runs them: sets strategy, approves budgets, employs the executives or runs finance and HR for the group | 551114 | 551112 |
| Owns a bank and operates it as the bank | A depository code in 5221 | 551111 |
| Holds the shares and runs the business itself, with no separate operating company | The code of the business it operates | 551112 |
| Owns a building or rental homes through the LLC and leases them | 531120 or 531110, a lessor code | 551112 |
| Buys patents or trademarks and licenses them | 533110 Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets | 551112 |
| Invests in startups as a venture capital company | 523910 Miscellaneous Intermediation | 551112 |
| Manages a private equity fund | 523940 Portfolio Management and Investment Advice | 551112 |
| Is a special purpose financial vehicle | 525990 Other Financial Vehicles | 551112 |
| Runs payroll, billing or bookkeeping for unrelated companies for a fee | 561110 Office Administrative Services | 551114 |
The line between 551112 and 551114 is about the office's activity, not its ownership. A family holding LLC with no staff that owns three companies is 551112. Once the parent hires a group CFO who runs the subsidiaries' finance, it has become a managing office, 551114. For funds and fund managers, see the private equity code page.
The SIC codes
The Census concordances map SIC 6719, Offices of Holding Companies, Not Elsewhere Classified, to 551112, and SIC 6712, Offices of Bank Holding Companies, to 551111, one to one. 551114 has no SIC predecessor in the concordance, so a managing head office asked for SIC usually gives the code of the business the group runs.
The SEC doesn't use either code. Its SIC list has no holding company entry, so public holding companies file under their main business:
| Company | How its 10-K describes it | SEC SIC | Revenue, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway (Omaha, NE) | "A holding company owning subsidiaries engaged in numerous diverse business activities" | 6331 Fire, Marine and Casualty Insurance | $371,444 million |
| JPMorgan Chase (New York, NY) | "A financial holding company incorporated under Delaware law in 1968" | 6021 National Commercial Banks | $182,447 million total net revenue |
| Loews (New York, NY) | "A holding company," with an approximately 92% stake in CNA Financial | 6331 Fire, Marine and Casualty Insurance | $18,454 million |
| Alphabet (Mountain View, CA) | "A collection of businesses," the largest of which is Google | 7370 Computer Programming, Data Processing | $402,836 million |
So a list of public holding companies can't be built from SEC SIC codes. EDGAR full-text search does better: the phrase "is a holding company" appears in 620 Form 10-K filings made between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.
How many holding companies use these codes
County Business Patterns 2023 counts 49,556 establishments in sector 55, with 3,855,720 employees and $497.4 billion in annual payroll. Head offices dominate: 551114 has 85.4% of the establishments and 97.5% of the employees.
| NAICS | Establishments | Employees | Annual payroll | Payroll per employee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 551114 Managing offices | 42,331 | 3,757,975 | $485.36 billion | $129,154 |
| 551112 Other holding companies | 6,582 | 89,908 | $11.03 billion | $122,698 |
| 551111 Bank holding companies | 643 | 7,837 | $0.99 billion | $125,696 |
Payroll per employee is our calculation. Size splits the two main codes cleanly: 66.7% of 551112 establishments have fewer than five employees, against 31.7% of head offices, and 2,982 head offices (7.0%) have 250 or more. The top states for 551112 are Texas (621), Florida (594), California (464), New York (463) and Delaware (375). For bank holding companies they're Texas (78), Illinois (58), Iowa (38), Missouri (34) and Minnesota (34). Head offices cluster in California (4,106), Texas (3,705), New York (2,280), Florida (2,076) and Pennsylvania (1,998).
The limits matter more here than for most codes. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, so the many holding entities with no staff (a parent LLC that only owns shares) never appear. And it counts places, not legal entities. CBP uses NAICS 2017 codes; none of the three changed in 2022.
SBA size standards and affiliation
From SBA's table effective 17 March 2023, still current in the eCFR on 28 October 2026: 551111 is $38.5 million and 551112 is $45.5 million in average annual receipts. 551114 isn't in the table at all, which fits its role: a head office isn't a business selling to outside customers.
For most owners the affiliation rule matters more than the parent's own standard. Under 13 CFR 121.103, companies are affiliates when one controls the other or a third party controls both, and SBA counts the receipts of the concern and all its affiliates. A holding company and every subsidiary it controls are measured together, whatever code each one uses.
Where the code is used, and what a wrong one costs
- Corporate tax returns. The Form 1120 code list has 551111 and 551112 under "Management of Companies (Holding Companies)" but no 551114. You pick the activity with the largest share of total receipts, so a parent filing a consolidated return with its operating subsidiaries usually reports the operating business's code.
- Personal holding company tax. A corporation where at least 60% of adjusted ordinary gross income is personal holding company income, and five or fewer individuals own more than 50%, files Schedule PH. The test turns on income and ownership, not on the code you report.
- Banks and lenders. A parent coded 551112 tells the lender its income is dividends from subsidiaries, so lenders typically ask for the subsidiaries' statements and guarantees.
Finding holding companies and the people who decide
Holding companies are hard to list because many have no staff and no website. Useful sources: state business registries (search the parent's registered agent and officers), SEC Exhibit 21 subsidiary lists in each 10-K, and the EDGAR full-text search above. For sellers, the useful question is which office buys. In a 551112 parent, purchasing happens in the subsidiaries; in a 551114 head office, finance, IT and HR are often bought centrally for the group. Bebop researches a group from its parent's name and shows which subsidiaries and people to approach.
Worked example
Illustrative example. The group and its figures are invented; the rules and standards are SBA's and the Census Bureau's.
Alder Family Holdings LLC (alderholdings.example) owns 100% of an HVAC contractor and 80% of a plumbing supply wholesaler. The parent has no employees and receives dividends.
- Parent's code. It owns and doesn't manage, so it's 551112. The contractor uses 238220 and the wholesaler 423720.
- Change of role. The family hires a group CFO and an HR director at the parent to run both subsidiaries' finance and hiring. The parent now administers and manages them, so its code becomes 551114.
- Size. The contractor wants to bid a federal set-aside under 238220, with a $19.0 million standard. Its five-year average receipts are $12.0 million and the wholesaler's are $8.5 million. Because both are controlled by the same parent, SBA adds them: $12.0 million plus $8.5 million is $20.5 million, over the standard. The contractor isn't small for that bid, even though it is on its own numbers.
Next step: look up the codes for each subsidiary in the NAICS code lookup.
Sources
- 2022 NAICS definitions: Sector 55 and codes 551111, 551112 and 551114, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- NAICS concordances: 1987 SIC to 2002 NAICS through 2017 to 2022 NAICS, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns: 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- 13 CFR 121.201: size standards by NAICS code (effective 17 March 2023), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, accessed 30 October 2026
- 13 CFR 121.103: How does SBA determine affiliation?, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, accessed 30 October 2026
- Instructions for Form 1120 (2025): principal business activity codes and personal holding companies, Internal Revenue Service, accessed 30 October 2026
- Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code list, US Securities and Exchange Commission, accessed 30 October 2026
- EDGAR full-text search: "is a holding company" in Form 10-K filings, 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, US Securities and Exchange Commission, accessed 30 October 2026
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2 March 2026
- JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 13 February 2026
- Loews Corporation, Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 10 February 2026
- Alphabet Inc., Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 5 February 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
What is the NAICS code for a holding company?
551112, Offices of Other Holding Companies, for a holding company that owns controlling stakes in other companies but doesn't manage them. A bank holding company uses 551111. If the parent also administers, oversees and manages its subsidiaries, it belongs in 551114, Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices. If it runs a business itself, it takes that business's code.
What is the SIC code for a holding company?
SIC 6719, Offices of Holding Companies, Not Elsewhere Classified, which maps to NAICS 551112. Bank holding companies use SIC 6712, which maps to 551111. There's no SIC code for a managing head office (551114). The SEC doesn't use either code: public holding companies file under their main business, such as Berkshire Hathaway under 6331.
What is the difference between NAICS 551112 and 551114?
Management. 551112 is for holding companies that hold the securities of other companies to control or influence them but don't administer, oversee or manage them. 551114 is for offices that do manage the enterprise: head offices, corporate offices, regional offices and holding companies that manage. A parent with no staff is 551112; one that employs the group's executives and runs shared functions is 551114.
What NAICS code should an LLC that holds real estate use?
Usually a lessor code, not a holding company code. An LLC that owns a building or homes and leases them is 531120 for nonresidential buildings or 531110 for residential, because it earns rent from property, not from holding company securities. Use 551112 only if the LLC's assets are controlling stakes in other companies, such as a parent of several property LLCs that doesn't manage them.
What is the SBA size standard for a holding company?
$45.5 million in average annual receipts for 551112 and $38.5 million for 551111, in SBA's table effective 17 March 2023. 551114 has no size standard. In practice SBA measures a holding company together with every company it controls, because affiliates' receipts are added under 13 CFR 121.103, so a group's size often decides whether a subsidiary is small.