How to Register an Assumed Business Name
If your business is not named after your legal name, you're doing business under an assumed name. This may be necessary because several people own a business together or because you just don't like the sound of "John Jones's Restaurant." Whatever the case, you must register your business's assumed name with your local and/or state government. This way there will be a public record of who is behind your business. State laws vary but in many cases you will be required to register your assumed business name with the counties and states in which you operate your business.
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Instructions
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Obtain an assumed business name application from the county circuit court's office or website. Enter all of your business's information into the application and have it notarized, if necessary.
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Return the application form to the county circuit court's office. Pay the filing fee associated with assumed business names. Pay the certificate fee to receive a certified and stamped certificate that proves your filing.
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Obtain an assumed business name application from your state's secretary of state office or its website. Fill out the application with all of the information for your business. Notarize the application, if necessary.
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Return the application to the secretary of state in person at the office location or send it in by mail. Include a check or money order for the filing fee if filing by mail, or pay the clerk on duty if filing in person. Provide the original certificate of filing from your county along with the application.
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Pay an official certificate fee if you need a certificate for the filing for your own records or for another legal entity.
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Tips & Warnings
Conducting business in a state is not the same as operating a business in a state. For example, you may perform business transactions in Missouri, Virginia and Florida, but your business's physical operating address is in Illinois. In that case, you are operating a business in Illinois. Now if you have an office in Arizona, a store in Illinois and a factory in California, you are operating your business in all three of those states and need to file your assumed business name with all of those states and/or counties.
When you file an assumed business name with either your county or state, you will receive a receipt for your records. This does not serve as an official proof of filing for any government or legal organization. If you want an official certificate, you have to pay the certificate fee. You don't have to get the filing certificate immediately. You can get an official certificate at any time because your assumed business name will remain on record with the county and state.
Failure to file an assumed business name can be punishable by an injunction on your business, monetary fines, or a jail time in extreme cases.
These instructions vary depending on the state you intend to base your business in because state laws and penalties vary. The best place for information regarding your state's laws on assumed business names is your state's corporation commission or the state's secretary of state office.
