How To Register A Dba In Georgia

DBA stands for "doing business as," referring to the name you want the public to call your company.
The filing fee for a DBA ranges from $5 to $100 depending on the land.
To file for a DBA, you must fill out an awarding through a local, land or county bureau. In some cases, you too have to announce your new visitor's name in a local newspaper.
This article is for sole proprietors who are legally required to employ their personal name every bit their business proper noun. A DBA gives them the choice to file under a proper noun of their choosing.

Once you've decided yous want to start a business organization and take chosen a business construction, it's time to figure out how you desire to present your business to the public. Choosing a "doing business concern as" name, or DBA, is not simply 1 of the first steps to establish your business organization, but also a good branding move. Some people cull to utilize their own proper noun for their concern, but if you want to requite yours a unique name – without registering every bit a corporation – you'll need to register your culling business name with the correct people, which you can do in two or three steps (depending on the state you file in). This tin can cost anywhere from $five to $100 and takes one to four weeks to file.

What is DBA?

DBA stands for "doing business every bit." Your DBA is the name your business is referred to both legally and by consumers. A DBA has a few aliases itself: It is as well known as a fictitious business proper name, assumed name or trade proper noun. A DBA is platonic for sole proprietors who prefer not to use their ain names as their company name and small business organisation owners who want to selection their ain business organization name without becoming a corporation.

Having a DBA "means that the person or business entity intends to use that name to identify itself to the public," said Kimberly Hanlon, attorney at Lucēre Legal LLC. "The legal name remains the person's proper noun (if an unregistered sole proprietorship) or the business entity (if a corporation or a limited liability visitor), but the name that the public knows the business concern as is the DBA name."

Key takeaway: DBA stands for "doing business as," the name your business is referred to every bit by the public. This is a bully option for a sole proprietor who doesn't want their business under their personal proper name.

How do you file a DBA?

Y'all need to fill out specific paperwork and pay a filing fee when you lot file a DBA. Yous can practise all of this with a local or county bureau, simply some states require y'all to file with a state agency instead of or in improver to the county. Some states and counties might too require yous to publish information technology in a local newspaper, giving the public notice that you take filed a DBA.

For example, in New York, sole proprietorships and full general partnerships must file a business certificate listing their assumed names with the canton clerk's offices. Corporations, LLCs, LLPs and limited partnerships, on the other hand, must file causeless names with the New York Department of State. In contrast, the state of Kansas has no requirements for businesses to annals fictitious names.

What happens after you file a DBA?

Once you've chosen your business's fictitious name and registered it locally, you might desire to consider filing for a trademark with the U.Due south. Patent and Trademark Part to protect your intellectual property. Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods and services.

If the paperwork and filing procedure seems overwhelming, you can contact a business lawyer to complete all the necessary filings to secure your DBA name. Reputable business lawyers are listed by the American Bar Association.

Who needs to annals a DBA?

The Small Business Administration is a great resource for those who aren't sure if they need to register a DBA, but if you plan on using a business proper name that differs from your given proper name or your business partner'due south name, you'll need to register 1. Other reasons could exist if your banking concern requires it to open a business account, if a prospective client requires a DBA to award your company a job, if your company is inbound a new business area not reflected in your current name, or if your company operates more than 1 business organisation or website.

Information technology'southward important to note, though, that a registered DBA doesn't institute a business in itself.

"It doesn't set upwardly a business concern entity, like a limited liability company or a corporation," Hanlon said. "It but identifies a proper noun and notifies the public who is behind that name. A person or business organisation entity could feasibly have many DBAs, each with a different production or service market place."

While a person can register as many DBAs as they're willing to pay for, two LLCs cannot take the same DBA.

"A DBA, like any other business name that is registered, tin only be registered once and merely has one owner," Hanlon said. "That said, there could be multiple LLCs who are all owners of the company that registered for the DBA. For instance, North LLC and Westward LLC are each owners of Northwest LLC, and Northwest LLC has a DBA of Compass Betoken Consulting."

Writing a DBA is simple; you would just write it out equally the different name you've chosen to exercise business as.

"A sole proprietor would not have business organisation cards saying, 'Jim Smith DBA Jim'due south Gutter Repair,'" said Anthony Babbitt of Babbitt Consulting. "Instead, the business cards would read, 'Jim's Gutter Repair.' DBAs are typically simply spelled out on legal documents, such as lawsuits, depository financial institution statements and contracts."

If your business is an LLC, no DBA is necessary. "If the express liability visitor was named Jim's Gutter Repair LLC, then this would exist the correct mode to listing the name on concern cards," Babbitt said. "Each state has its own laws designating how sole proprietors, limited liability companies and corporations must notation the legal entity from which they operate. If an owner created an LLC and wanted to driblet the 'limited liability company' role of the name, then he would need to register a DBA. The same holds truthful for a corporation or partnership."

Tip Tip: Legally, sole proprietors must utilize their personal proper name as their business organization name. Registering for a DBA allows them to proper name their business organisation something of their choosing. Sometimes banks or clients will require you to have a DBA.

How much does registering a DBA cost?

"The fee volition vary past country, just it is typically between $five and $50 (merely closer to $20 on boilerplate)," Babbitt said, although it can be up to $100 in some states. "While the cost to register is insignificant, the penalties and fees for failing to annals tin can be several k dollars. This is a office of consumer protection. The state wants to know who to contact when a consumer complains. While this is usually handled when obtaining a business concern license, some states do non crave business licenses. Almost every state requires DBAs to exist registered."

While there's no numerical limit to how many a person tin register, it can get expensive if you lot register multiple names.

Alabama, Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Rhode Island are the only states that don't require everyone operating under a DBA to annals, but it's best to bank check with your land about the local requirements.

Did you know? Did you lot know? The filing fees for DBA registration vary by state, running from $5 to $100. Depending on how much you are willing to spend, you can annals for as many as you want.

What are the advantages of having a DBA?

A DBA can accomplish several things for a business concern owner.

"If a business wishes to rebrand itself without forming a new corporation or limited liability company, they tin just register a DBA instead," Babbitt said. "If the business receives bad publicity, they may register a DBA to mislead the public into thinking the business is unlike."

In that location are also some less obvious reasons to annals more ane DBA. For example, there's a scene inParks and Recreation where Tom and Ben are looking for a tent for an event. The deal falls through with one tent company, and then they call some other one, simply to find that information technology'south endemic by the same person. In fact, that same person owns all the tent rental companies in a sure mile radius. Babbitt says that this actually happens.

"Some businesses will create multiple DBAs to create the illusion of contest," he said. "For instance, four taxis could all have carve up DBAs even though they are all owned by the same person."

A DBA besides comes in handy for entrepreneurs who want to make a distinction among their numerous businesses.

Finally, if you are a sole proprietor, information technology gives you the take chances to build a make nether a name of your choosing instead of using your personal proper noun. This helps you lot marketplace meliorate to your audiences and gets your brand out there in a way that is beneficial to your business.

Michael Keller and Jennifer Postal service contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.