Difference between assumed name and LLC [You Asked]

Last updated : Sept 8, 2022

Which is better a DBA or LLC?

Generally, a DBA is less costly to maintain, but an LLC offers better benefits and protection. Expanding and selling a business, as well as generating funding, is also easier with an LLC. Also, a business owner does not receive personal liability protection from a DBA.

What is the difference between a business name and an assumed name?

A legal name is the official name of a person or business in government records. Any other name used for business purposes is an assumed name. Assumed names are also known as: Fictitious names.

What are the pros and cons of a DBA vs LLC?

The main difference between a DBA and LLC is whether or not you require limited liability protection. This is because an LLC is considered to be a separate legal entity. In comparison, when registering a DBA, there is no distinction between the business assets and your personal assets as an owner.

Can you switch from DBA to LLC?

Turning your DBA into an LLC (limited liability company) is a fairly easy process that can be done yourself or with the help of an attorney or business formation service. Converting your business to an LLC separates your personal assets from your business assets, providing you personal liability protection.

Does a DBA file taxes?

If you're a sole proprietor registering a DBA, nothing is going to change in terms of your tax situation. All earnings made from your DBA will still appear on your personal return and will be subject to regular income taxes and self-employment taxes. Self-employment taxes are where sole proprietors get hit the hardest.

Do I need a DBA for my LLC?

No, you do not need a DBA for an LLC. This is because when you register an LLC, you'll also register your company name eliminating the need for a DBA. However, in some instances, you may use a DBA for your LLC to expand your business and operate part of it under a name other than your original business name.

What is the purpose of an assumed business name?

The purpose of registering a DBA name is to notify the public that a particular person or business entity is conducting business under a name other than its legal name. Assumed name (DBA) laws are consumer protection laws.

What does assumed name mean in business?

When a statutory business entity such as a corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or limited partnership (LP) does business under an assumed name (also known as a DBA or “Doing Business As”) that means it is using a name other than the one set forth in its formation document.

Can two LLCs have the same DBA?

For most states, two businesses will not be allowed to use the same DBA. Doing so will cause confusion, especially when the fictitious names are in the same industry. In order to use a DBA for your business, you must submit an application. Just make sure that your fictitious name isn't already taken!

Can I open a business account with a DBA?

Yes, you can open a business bank account as a sole proprietor using a DBA. A sole proprietorship is a business owned by one person where there is no legal separation between the owner and the business.

What are the limitations of a DBA?

• Lack of Naming Rights: Using a DBA does not give you official rights to your business name.
• Lack of Legal Protections: Using a DBA also does not give you the same legal protections and limited liability as an LLC or other corporate structure.

What is the advantage of using a DBA?

The main benefit of filing a DBA registration is it will keep you in compliance with the law. For sole proprietors, a DBA lets them use a typical business name without creating a formal legal entity (i.e. corporation or LLC).

Is DBA cheaper than LLC?

What Are the Differences in Filing Fees Between a DBA and an LLC? An LLC is much simpler and less expensive than incorporating—but a DBA is even less expensive and simpler still. LLC: You'll need to pay an initial LLC filing fee and an LLC annual/biannual fee. Costs vary by state.

Can I change my ein from sole proprietor to LLC?

Can I change my EIN from a sole proprietorship to an LLC? Yes, you can change the EIN from a sole proprietorship to an LLC. The Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a number issued by the IRS for tax purposes only.

What are the differences between LLC and S Corp?

LLCs can have an unlimited number of members; S corps can have no more than 100 shareholders (owners). Non-U.S. citizens/residents can be members of LLCs; S corps may not have non-U.S. citizens/residents as shareholders. S corporations cannot be owned by corporations, LLCs, partnerships or many trusts.

Do I Register DBA with IRS?

Your DBAs are just your business nicknames, and therefore, you won't have a separate EIN for a DBA. Not all businesses need an EIN. Whether you're required to have one depends on how your business is organized and what kind of taxes it pays.

Can I write off business expenses with a DBA?

Sole Proprietorship DBAs report all business related income and losses on Schedule C. Schedule C is filed along with the Form 1040. Expenses can be deducted as well as costs of other business related items and equipment to offset profit made from the business.

Do you need to report a DBA to the IRS?

A DBA Is Reported on Schedule C The DBA is reported on your personal 1040 tax return. The business income and expenses will be entered in Schedule C. All profits from the DBA are subject to self-employment tax.

How can I start my own business without my name?

An anonymous limited liability company is one that hides all ownership information. This is accomplished by creating an anonymous LLC in a state that allows it and then using a different person to register it.

Do I have to put LLC on my website?

No, you are not legally required to put “LLC” in the domain name for your business. In fact, if you look at most websites on the internet, the vast majority do not include a corporate designator (“ending”) in their domain name. Many consider it a little “noisy”. Meaning, it's just extra, unnecessary characters.

Check these related keywords for more interesting articles :
How much to form an llc in california
Free llc registration txst
Free llc business checking account
Are there annual fees for an llc
Managing member on LLC
LLC form state of delaware
Filling out w9 for llc
How much does an llc cost in canada
Is an operating agreement required for an LLC in florida
Forming an llc for real estate investments
3 southern cats and momma LLC
LLC taxed as a partnership
Business credit cards llc
What is an LLC loan requirements
How much does a llc cost in illinois how old

Write a comment

hi everyone i'm attorney aidan durham with 180 law co in colorado and you are watching all up in your business on this episode of all up in your business we're going to talk about dbas and the proper way to use the dba with your business but first don't forget to like subscribe and share and be sure to check the description for links to additional information and resources including my new business checklist which you can download for free all right so first off what is a dba dba stands for doing business as some states use different names or terms for dbas colorado for example calls it a trade name some states call it a fictitious name or an assumed name but overall a dba trade name fictitious name whatever you want to call it it's all pretty much the same registering a dba or trade name is not the same as registering a trade mark first off trademark rights apply to dbas in the same way that they apply to any other business name or brand but registering a dba or trade name doesn't confer any of the additional rights or benefits that you would get from registering a trademark with the united states patent and trademark office or even a trademark registration with your state again every state is different but typically we would register a dba by filing some kind of form with the secretary of state in the state where your business is located or registered in colorado we would file a statement of trade name to register a dba or trade name if we were registering a dba for a sole proprietorship in colorado we would use a form called statement of trade name for an individual this is because the sole proprietorship is technically the individual so it is a trade name of an individual if we were registering a trade name for a general partnership we would use a form called statement of trade name for a non-reporting entity this is because a general partnership isn't required to be registered registered with the state and therefore it's considered a non-reporting entity if we're registering a dba for an llc or a corporation we would use a form called a statement of trade name for a reporting entity because those entities are required to be filed and formed with the secretary of state and therefore they are considered reporting entities again that's just what colorado calls them each state's forms are going to be called something a little different and they're not all necessarily going to use the term trade name or dba and frankly i don't know if every state has separate forms for individuals versus reporting entities like llcs non-reporting entities basically every state's a little different so why would we use the dba or trade name in most cases as a business you would use a dba if you're going to do business as a name that's different from your business's legal name if you're operating a business as a sole proprietor or general partnership then you can register a dba so there is record of the name that you're doing business under for example if you are a business coach and your name is sarah johnson and you do business as sarah johnson then you can register a dba for sarah johnson or you can register a dba for sarah johnson business coaching or sj business coach or whatever name you're gonna do business under the dba doesn't have to include your personal name i was just using that as an example of course whatever you want your business name to be that can be the dba assuming it's you know available and you're legally allowed to use that name of course there's no real legal benefit or legal protection that you get from registering a dba in that instance it's not the same as filing or forming an llc or getting a trademark registration for example but if nothing else you get a registration for that business name with the secretary of state's office so you know if another company is thinking about registering a business for that same or a similar name they'll at least see yours there in the secretary of state's database and you know they'll know that you exist and maybe they'll decide to change their name to something else but the point is it's just getting it registered there but registering the dba or trade name doesn't give you any additional protection or rights other than what you might already have just by virtue of using that name for your business you also don't need to worry about keeping your business separate from you like you would with an llc in an llc it's important that you have a separate business bank account for example that doesn't really matter if you're operating as a sole proprietorship under a dba you certainly can have a business bank account for it and in fact i think it's you know generally a good idea just for good business practice in the sake of knowing what your business's numbers look like and for business operations but you don't have to you're not at risk of piercing the corporate veil because there is no corporate veil to be pierced you're already personally liable for anything with regard to the sole proprietorship so you don't really have anything that you need to avoid if you're operating a business as an llc or a corporation or some other kind of legal entity then you can use the dba or trade name if you're going to do business under a name that's different from the llc or corporation's name that's registered with the secretary of state for example my llc is registered as 180 loco llc and i do business as 180 loco llc so i have no need for a dba but let's say i wanted to open up a second location of my business in my state but just for fun i want to brand it under something else maybe instead of 180 i want to call it 360 law co in that case i can register a trade name under my llc for 360 locko so in other videos where i talk about llc's and avoiding the risks of llcs and piercing the corporate veil i mentioned how it's important to use the llc or similar designation because your customers and the people that your business is dealing with they need to be aware that they are dealing with a limited liability company on contracts and other legal documents it's important to include that entity designation whether it's llc or ltd limited whatever it is important to include that on those documents so it's clear that it's the llc that's entering into that agreement but that doesn't mean you have to always use llc in the name all the time you can if you want to but you don't have to you don't have to include llc in your logo for example or on marketing materials all the time if it just doesn't look right or for whatever reason you don't want to include llc in there that's okay to do and in that case just because you occasionally don't include llc in the name doesn't mean you have to register a dba for that same name without the llc it's really more about if you're doing business under a name that's different than your llc or corporation's name that's registered with the state if you want to create different brands or different lines of business all within your one llc then that's a great use of a dba or trade name you can operate multiple businesses multiple lines of business multiple brands under one entity but lik

Thanks for your comment Maribeth Fydenkevez, have a nice day.
- Jessie Richelieu, Staff Member

okay you wanna um I'm gonna go grab it I cut us on live now though but yeah I'm gonna go around and grab it while we're allowing people to come in so just let them know I mean okay all right good Saturday everybody we are live gonna allow a few more people to come in good morning wherever you may be uh let's see here while Patrice goes to get her some drink this Saturday good morning good morning good morning foreign all right you know I'm not a coffee drinker I do tea but not coffee I I I'm a tea drinker but okay definitely do coffee now I've been drinking coffee a couple of years now especially being in these offices late night so yeah yeah I don't know maybe I just haven't had the like right type I really if I do drink it it has to have like a lot of that creamers cream stuff in it yeah the Almond French vanilla almond almond cream yeah so yeah good morning good morning everyone good morning everyone this is small business Saturday laughs we are on pretty much I think almost every platform Tick Tock Facebook YouTube uh so good morning for chiming in this morning if you are a small business owner let us know that you are here we are here for you today uh we have some information for you uh good morning Sierra on Facebook so um just to you know recap if you guys are not familiar with us and and who we are this is the lab with Patrice the lab is life and business with Patrice and my lovely co-host here Michelle uh is with us again on this small business Saturday foreign [Laughter] what do you do Derek Tick Tock we are on uh YouTube as well under my channel Patrice L Stewart Tick Tock members you guys have one job which is we are here to provide you some information double tap that screen for us while we are on here uh interact comment again if you are a business owner let us know what your business is what city and state you're chiming in from uh but definitely here on my channel if you're new here to my channel we provide a lot of content and information that people charge you guys hundreds of thousands of dollars for so on this particular page and channel Patrice L Stewart whether you're on YouTube or Tick Tock uh make sure that you are liking the channel that you are following both channels as well I am Patrice L Stewart on Tick Tock and I'm Patrice L Stewart on YouTube so a topic a topic that we have today Michelle is something that I think we both get asked a lot in our particular businesses um about right so the biggest thing that people always are asking is should I set up an LLC right am I an LLC should I have a DBA should I have an assumed name certificate should I be a S Corp right should I be a corporation so there's a lot that um we have you know that people ask both of us being in the professions that we in and then two because we are on all platforms let's just both kind of also kind of introduce ourselves and our background and then we can kind of get into it so Shayla you go ahead and go first okay guys hey my name is Michaela venison um I am the owner of Premier tax and financial uh Solutions in Atlanta Georgia I have over 12 years of tax and accounting um experience I've worked with individuals uh mostly small business owners and my job is to Simply help you to be educated um and when it comes to financial literacy and to help you save money and to help you learn things that nobody ever taught you in school exactly exactly I like that and my name is Patrice L Stewarts I am known as the realest tax and business strategist that you will ever meet I have over 18 years of experience in the accounting banking tax and financial services industry okay um I've had my company for over 14 years I've been completely self-employed for the last 10 years and what I also do is assist with making sure that if as a business owner you keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket and pay the left pay the least in taxes legally right we show you Tax Strategies that the wealthy use for you to be able to pay the least in taxes legally um so a lot of stuff that we focus on is tax and business strategy for my company and then we also do business coaching all right um so let's go ahead and get right on into it so if you are a business owner um let us know too do you have a formal LLC do you have a corporation are you a DBA are you using a assumed name certificate so today what we're going over is LLC versus an assumed name certificate all right um and and we really want to break that down and kind of give you guys the logistics the other thing that we're that when Shayla and I do on this platform is um we're gonna give it to you real and raw okay we're gonna so sometimes when when I'm talking to you when we're saying things don't get in your feelings all right just listen you know take the information in and then we'll go from there all right tick tock I need you guys to be double tapping that screen or we're gonna I'm gonna cut you off all right I need you to act act better today okay the best thing that you can do is help me help you so as we're on this platform providing this information okay remember this is a free Workshop pretty much that we're giving you um and all I'm asking you to do is to double tap that screen so keep that screen double tap while you're on here watching if you are on Facebook or YouTube like the video like the video like the video when people are on here giving you guys free content and information that's the least that you can do all right that's all that we're asking for all right let's get into it so LLC Shayla do you want to start because I know we didn't do our whole yep I'll let you start because this is your yep and I'll pick up okay so one of the biggest questions sometimes that I come across are should I be an LLC or or a soon name certificate right and I'ma just put it out the window I am not a fan of the assumed name certificate at all not a fan right what is an assumed name certificate so I'm going to show well I'm only going to speak about it from Illinois my office is based out of Chicago and I'm in Chicago Illinois we do both of us Shayla and I both do work with clients in all 50 states okay um so we're not limited to our state that we're in she's in Georgia I'm in Illinois but we do work with clients in all 50 states but for the purposes of keeping this simple right we're both gonna explain and kind of break it down from our state level um so for Illinois if you if you are looking to do an assumed business name registration pretty much what you are doing is you are um taking the assumed name which is also known as a DBA name right uh for for um to use that name as a business entity that uses a name other than the business you're operating under so let's just say if you're John Jones right because remember if you're not registered you're running your businesses as a sole proprietor so when you're a sole proprietor you're running your businesses under your name all right you're a personal name so if you're if you're Jon Jones right you're and then you want to do business let's say you do auto shop so you may want to do Jones Auto Shop Right some people will go and file and assume name certifi

Thanks Carlita your participation is very much appreciated
- Jessie Richelieu

About the author

Jessie Richelieu

I've studied portuguese history at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and I am an expert in cultural geography. I usually feel not specified. My previous job was special forces officers I held this position for 9 years, I love talking about kitesurfing and woodworking. Huge fan of Rock Lee I practice beach volleyball and collect first day covers.