If you're structuring your company as a sole proprietorship
or a partnership, you have the option of choosing a business
name, or dba ("doing business as"),
for your business. This is also known as a fictitious business
name. If you want to operate your business under a name
other than your own (for instance, Carol Axelrod doing business
as "Darling Donut Shoppe"), you may be required
by the county, city or state to register your fictitious
name.
Procedures
for doing this vary among states. In many states, all you
have to do is go to the county offices and pay a registration
fee to the county clerk. In other states, you also have
to place a fictitious name notice in a local newspaper for
a certain amount of time. The cost of filing a fictitious
name notice ranges from $10 to $100. Your local bank may
also require a fictitious name certificate to open a business
account for you; if that's the case, they can tell you where
to go to register. In most cases, the newspaper that prints
your fictitious name ad will also file the necessary papers
with the county.
In most
states, corporations don't have to file fictitious business
names unless the corporations do business under names other
than their own. Incorporation documents have the same effect
for corporate businesses as fictitious name filings do for
sole proprietorships and partnerships.
Naming
Dos and Don'ts
When choosing a business name, keep the following tips in
mind:
