- A DBA, or Doing Business As, is essentially
an official nickname for your company.
DBAs are not business structures
and are not separate legal entities.
They also do not provide asset protection
or liability protection to any type of business structure.
But do you need a DBA, and why would you want a DBA?
In this video, we will talk about what a DBA is,
when you might need or want a DBA, and the steps
to go about getting one.
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A DBA is also known as a fictitious name, trade name,
or assumed name.
As we stated before, it means Doing Business As.
But what does that mean?
Doing Business As means that, legally, you are able
to accept payments, open bank accounts, and market
under an additional assumed name.
This can be very useful for branding
and business growth.
So if you name your business Nick's Awesome Burgers
and decide later that you want to shorten your name
and call your business NAB, a DBA will allow you
to legally do business as NAB.
Keep in mind DBAs are not a separate legal entity
from your business and don't provide any form
of asset protection.
This means that if you're a sole proprietorship
or partnership with a DBA, you still don't have
liability protection.
For more on liability protection, check out our
article on business structures
linked in the description below or watch our video
on business structures.
DBAs can be used by both formal
and informal business structures.
And in this next section, we'll briefly break down
the types of business structures and why each type
might want a DBA.
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There are two types of business structures, formal
and informal businesses.
Informal business structures are sole proprietorships
and partnerships, while formal business structures
are corporations and LLCs.
By default, as a sole proprietorship, your business name
is your surname.
If you want to create a business name and start operating
under that name, you'll need to file a DBA.
Partnerships are more likely to use DBAs because,
if they don't, then their name must include the surnames
of all the owners.
DBAs are also useful for formal business structures
like LLCs and corporations.
If you decide to rebrand your business, you can file
for a DBA with a new name.
This can be a shortened version of your current name,
an acronym of your current name,
or a completely different name altogether.
If you are interested in rebranding
and changing your company name outright,
filing for a DBA is a much simpler process than filing
for a legal name change.
DBAs can also be used if you want to expand your company
and add new brands to your business model that you want
to keep separate.
If your burger place that starts
to sell ready-made burger meals at retail,
you may want a DBA to brand those differently
from your restaurant.
You can have any number of DBAs under a company,
but more isn't necessarily better.
The more DBAs you have, the more maintenance and upkeep
your company will have.
In addition to this, your company is liable for anything
that happens to any of your DBAs.
They aren't separate from your business.
This means that if you're ready-made burgers
start doing poorly, your restaurants are liable
for any debts.
It may be more beneficial to have separate LLCs.
DBAs are also useful for banking.
If you don't have a DBA, you can only send
and receive payments as your business's legal name.
So if you receive a check addressed to a brand you have
that doesn't have a DBA, you won't be able to deposit it
into your business bank account.
Taxes are unaffected.
Even with DBAs, you will still use
your business's legal name on any official tax documents.
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Steps to get a DBA vary by state.
So be sure to check out our pages linked below
for your state-specific requirements.
In general, DBAs cost between $10 to $100, and you may need
to publish a newspaper when you create your DBA.
You can either follow these next steps to file a DBA
on your own, or you can hire a service to do it for you.
The first thing you'll want to do is a name search to see
if that name is available in your state.
After that, you'll want to do a quick web search
to see if the URL is available.
Even if you don't plan on making a website today,
you may want to purchase the web domain
to prevent someone else from buying it.
Then you'll want to register your DBA with the state.
Depending on your location and business structure,
you may need to register your DBA
with the Secretary of State
or with the County Clerk's office.
And with that, you'll have a DBA.
DBAs, or Doing Business As, are trade names, assumed names,
or fictitious names of a business.
Informal business structures can use DBAs
instead of their owners' surnames as their business name.
Formal business structures can use DBAs as a means
to rebrand, add new brands,
or change their name they are using as their business name.
DBAs are not a business structure
and are not separate legal entities.
They also do not provide asset protection
or liability protection to informal business structures.
And if you form a DBA for an LLC, the LLC is still liable
for any losses under the DBA.
For state-specific guides on how to form a DBA,
check out the pages linked below at StartupSavant.com.
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I'm Tony with the Really Useful Information Company
wishing you good luck with your small business.