DBA Question

[Darkfire001]

Hey Guys,

I've been working hard to get my new company off of the ground and I've run into a couple question in regards to D.B.A (Doing Business As) and my Tax situation as a Sole Proprietorship.

Basically I'm calling my Company "Reichelt Solutions" which from what I've read is entirely legal since my name is "Paul Reichelt". I'm just looking for some clarificaiton that no DBA is needed when I'm doing business with a portion of my name.

I've registered with my State with the business name & my name, and have been filing applicable tax returns for a year now with no issues, but just need someone to clarify since I've seen people go both ways on the web about it.

EDIT: To clarify I've been filing "Sales & Use Tax" forms, my actual company is a Sole Prop. so I just file those under my personal returns obviously.

Second. I have various websites that I operate under the header of Reichelt Solutions. Is it legal for me to say each Website is esstensially a "Brand" or Product Branch? For Example: Shoes.com, to what length am I legally obligated to show the affiliation to the actual Company that owns the domain.

Thanks

 

[bluesman]

A website can't be a brand, but they should get the gist of what you're talking about. However, can I safely assume that you also did the most important (yet least high tech) thing of all here? That of taking out a simple newspaper ad stating that you're doing business as the company you mention. If you have not, then do so now. (My local paper charges only about 10 bucks for it.) But later it can save you a world of regret.

 

[Darkfire001]

Okay, in that case I'm going to file a DBA with my County just in case and file an ad with the paper once thats done. Should keep me secure then.

Also, in that case. With a DBA, I should be allowed to file documents under that name correct? Like Firm name COMPANY, or are their limits on DBA?

Thanks

 

[bluesman]

I certainly can't claim to be any kind of DBA expert (I only did it once for my own company years ago), but right off the bat I can think of two possible pitfalls to watch out for:

1) Filing as a company called Randall Solutions or Randall Productions is fine and dandy, but using Randall Incorporated would instead open a whole other can of worms. (You would need to qualify for company incorporation, which involves many different requirements. It's a huge pain, and I've always avoided it like the plague.)

2) A standard DBA can hold up within most city, county and state regions within the US, however it's no guarantee you can go international. (Again your company would most likely need to jump through some other legal hoops for that.)

 

[Darkfire001]

*UPDATE*

Turns out the State of NC basically just requires that Companies needing DBA's just register with their "Home County". I sent in my forms yesterday and was listed this morning. Nice! Man I LOVE Digital Government lol.