Arizona trade name/DBA registration allows a business to operate under a name that differs from its official legal name (the name that was used when the company was formed).
For example, let’s say you have an LLC called Sally’s Burgers LLC that you use for your burger store, Sally’s Burgers, but you want to rebrand your offering to hotdogs? Well, you can use a DBA to trade as Sally’s Hotdogs without having to set up a new LCC.
Note that a DBA in Arizona is known as a trading name.
Filing for a DBA gives small business owners and startups freedom to choose their business name without having the costs and complexity of registering multiple LLCs or corporations.
There are many circumstances in which you might want to use a trade name or DBA is used for branding your business.
But, please note, a DBA (also known as a fictitious business name or trade name in some states) doesn’t provide legal protection for your personal assets in the way an Limited Liability Company (LLC) does.
Do You Need an Arizona DBA for your Business Entity?
Before you follow the steps below to get a DBA in Arizona, it’s important to be clear on whether or not it is required for the type of business entity you are going to be applying as.
Sole proprietors – a sole proprietor and their business after effectively the same in terms of name, so sole traders do need a trade name or DBA if they want to trade under a different business name. For example if a sole trader called Garret Smith wants to trade as Garrett’s Mowing, they need a trade name.
LLCs and Corporations – the same principle applies to these business entities. If corporations or limited liability companies want to trade under a different business name to the official registered name, they need to get a trade name (DBA). For example, if you had an LLC called Garrett Smith Holdings and want to trade as Garret’s Mowing, you would need a DBA.
How to Get a DBA in Arizona
Here is our step-by-step guide to getting a DBA in Arizona.
The process is very easy and is explained in these three steps.
- Do a trade name search in Arizona
- Check if you preferred business name, or a variant of it, is available as a web domain
- Use your Arizona trade name
- Register your Arizona Trade Name
Step 1: Do a Trade Name Search in Arizona
Your trade name or Arizona DBA must be unique (ie not taken by someone else) and it must meet the state’s requirements for business names.
Once you have a name in mind, you can use the Arizona Secretary of State’s Business Entity Search to see if it is available.
Once you’ve ensured it is not already in use, then need to check that it meets the state’s naming requirements. These specify that the name can’t include the following words and phrases without approval from the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions:
- Bank; banker; banking; banc; banco; banque; credit union; deposit; savings association; building association; savings and loan association; building and loan association; savings bank; thrift; trust; and trust company.
Step 2: Check if your name is available as a web domain
This is a practical step rather than a legal requirement. If you are doing business today it is pretty much certain you will need a website, so it makes sense to check if your name, or a variant of it, is available as a domain for you to put a website on. You can check if your preferred domain is available here: godaddy.com/domains
Chances are the exact match of your domain may not be available, so you might have to get a bit creative.
Hints:
- Try to get the .com version of the domain if you can as .org or .net aren’t as suitable for businesses
- Don’t just insert a hyphen between words. It doesn’t look professional
- Sometimes a quirky word (“guru”, “school” or “base”) makes for a good brand/domain. That’s what we did with llcdojo.com by using “dojo” – Japanese for a training centre – as that quirky but still appropriate word.
Step 3: Use your Arizona business name (DBA)
The state requires you to actual “use” your trade name before it can be registered. You need to produce three “specimens” of the trade name being used that are unaltered and legible. Thankfully this is pretty easy and cheap to comply with as the state accepts the following as example:
- Flyers or brochures
- Business cards
- Labels or decals
It is easy enough to get some of these made up and they are obviously useful in many cases for promoting your business.
Step 4: Register your Arizona trade name (DBA)
Now it is time to complete the DBA/trade name registration process. First stop is the Arizona Secretary of State’s site where you can register online (PDF forms are no longer accepted).
Completing the registration is a relatively simple process (the form is only a few pages long) and incurs a filing fee of $10. Note that the page and form for registering your trade name also refer to it as a trademark or service mark.
- Name and type of entity registering the trade name
- Nature of the business
You can also use Swyft Filings to complete your Arizona DBA application for you: https://shrsl.com/3p3gb
Let Swyft Filings Do the Work: $99 DBA application
- Complete the application in 10 mins
- Swyft Filings lodges paperwork and receives DBA
- Live help in completing the application
Arizona trade name registrations are active for five years. They must be renewed online. The renewal fee is $10.
After You get a DBA For Your Limited Liability Company or other entity
Once you have your DBA or trade name, your business is almost up and running. Here are a few things to consider as next steps to get fully operational.
- Create a website for your business: Pretty much all businesses need a website these days and it is often an advantage (although not essential) to have social media pages too
- Set up a bank account for your business entity: Keeping your own finances separate from your LLC’s finances is important and they only way to do that is by operating a separate bank account for the LLC. We recommend Mercury Bank as a great online banking option, although you can bank with the traditional bricks and mortar banks too.
