Registering Fictitious Name

SystemWORKS allows you to register a Fictitious Name when you want to start a business under a name different from your name, your partners' names, or your existing corporation or LLC. Fictitious name registrations are also known as "doing business as" (DBA) filings. Fictitious name filings expire five (5) years from the filing date, and if one owner is a business entity, other owners cannot be individuals. For example, if the name of your fictitious business is Priti Clothing World, Inc., and an individual is added as an owner, an error will be generated. However, if the added owner is an organization, no error message displays.

Notes:

If another filing for the same business entity is in process or is of the same filing type as the current filing, you will be alerted to try again later. The current filing cannot be continued but can be restarted when the other filing has been completed (accepted/rejected).
Screens, fields and labels that display in images below are configurable based on your jurisdiction's implementation and may not reflect your filing type.
If you need to re-enter information, select the button labeled Previous to return to the screen you were on prior to the current screen.
If your filing requires a two-step review process, an internal Secretary of State processor must review your filing for compliance before it can be accepted or rejected. After making payment, you will be notified via the email address set up during account creation. To view correspondence for your filing, refer to Order Summary/Correspondence-BE for information about accessing your filing records.
Contact your Secretary of State office if you have questions about this or any procedure in SystemWORKS Help.

How to file a fictitious name:

Navigate to the Corporations Division dashboard.
Select Register Fictitious Name. The Business Name to be Registered screen displays.

Enter the Name to be registered.

Select the Next: Address button to display the Address screen.

Enter address information.

A PO Box address is not allowed on the first line of the address..
Ensure the Postal Code contains only numerical digits in either the 5 or 5-4 format (for example, 27312 or 27312-0001).

Select the Next: Owners button to display the associated screen.

Select whether the owner is an individual or an organization and enter ownership percentage.
Enter address details.
Save the owner information. The Fictitious Name Owner(s) table displays. If needed, you can update or delete an owner.
Refer to Managing Owners for complete details.

Select the Next: Review Filing button to display the associated screen.

Review the filing for accuracy; edit information as needed.
Select the Acknowledgment check box.
Refer to Reviewing Your Filings for detailed information on reviewing and editing filings.

Select the Next: Signatures button to display the associated screen.

Select one or more names from the list that displays.
Select the Acknowledgment check box. There may be multiple check boxes.
Refer to Managing Signatures for additional information.

Select the Next: Shopping Cart to display the associated screen.

Shopping cart items can be modified and new items added, if needed.
Select the Confirmation check box.

Refer to Managing Shopping Cart-BE for instructions.

Select the Next: Payment button to display the associated screen.

Select your payment method and enter payment information.
Select the Terms and Conditions check box.
Refer to Managing Payments for complete details.

Select the Next: Submit Payment button to display the associated screen.

Payment confirmation displays information about your order.
To view documentation, select the View Documentation button.
Refer to Order Summary/Correspondence-BE for additional information.

Related Information

Attaching Documents

Managing Owners

Managing Payments

Managing Shopping Cart-BE

Managing Signatures

Order Summary/Correspondence-BE

Reviewing Your Filings