DBA (dba) stands for
*Doing Business
As*.
When you decide the name for your company, if you use your
legal name in the company
name (ie: John Doe Plumbing) then usually you are not required
to file a DBA.
If you do not use your legal name in the company
name, then usually you are required to file a DBA (ie: John Doe "doing
business as" Southern Coast Plumbing Company). A reader asked me recently, would a person be required to obtain
a DBA if they used their initials instead of their legal name....
Many thanks to Ron Wilson, President of Desert Community Bank,
for his response:
"Initials
do not work with regards to a DBA. For instance, The
Bank of Ron Wilson would not require a DBA whereas The Bank
of R. W.
or Our Dub :-) :-) would.
Legal
notice is required for the DBA because other vendors
need to be put on notice that the company exists.
Additionally, it
is another way to let a business know that someone
has that name. There is more than one Ron Wilson
in the world."
Your
DBA provides the general public with an opportunity to
make themselves aware of new businesses in the area(s) and, who
the owners of those new businesses are. At
one time a person was required to file their DBA with the County
Recorder's office and have it published in a local publication,
but these days you can get it done online!
Most newspapers handle DBA's as well. Contact several
publications that distribute in your local area to check pricing,
because the fees
can vary. Be sure to check your local community papers, as many
times they handle DBA's for less money than the larger newspapers
charge.
Before you decide, make sure that the fee includes submission
of your paperwork to the County Recorder's office.
Once you have decided which publication you wish to go with,
contact the office of that publication for the required paperwork.
After you complete the paperwork they have provided you, submit
it back to them, along with the required fee.
The publication will
(usually) submit your DBA paperwork to the County Recorder as well
as publish the information in the newspaper.
Typically, the DBA
publishes on the same day each week for four weeks in a row. Sometimes, the publication that published your dba
notice will mail you a "clipping" from the newspaper, of your dba
notice, attached to a photocopy of the form they submitted to the
County Recorder's office.
The County Recorder's office that the
publication submitted your paperwork to should mail you an original "recorded" DBA
document with the County Recorder's stamp on it.
KEEP
THE ORIGINAL DBA DOCUMENT IN A SAFE PLACE!
If you are required to file a DBA then, in order to set up your
business bank account(s), your bank will probably require, 1) to
see the original dba document and 2) the right to make and retain
a photocopy of the original. If you do not have the original DBA
document, the financial institution might refuse to set up the
account(s) for you!
--
Here's a "been there done that" for ya... :)
When I realized that
I couldn't find my original dba, and that I had to have
it to open my business bank accounts, and that it had to have
the County Recorder's stamp on it, to open my business
accounts, I had to contact the County Recorder's office
(usually the same office that handles birth certificates,
deeds, etc.), and pay a fee and they mailed me a new original.
So, all is not lost when and if you lose that document
in the shuffle of paperwork! But it will cost.
---------
At the time of this writing: a DBA usually expires in five years and then you'll have to
have it published and recorded again (yep, ya gotta pay again too!).
You don't have to use the same publication you used the first time,
to run your announcement the second time. You can do new research
and find out who is the cheapest and go with them. I wanted to
use the same publication because they had been the least expensive,
but unfortunately they went out of business during my first five
years so I had to find a different one, which I did.
Need answers to your legal / DBA questions?
Check this out!
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