Indiana assumed business name filing guide

Indiana calls this filing an assumed business name, and businesses commonly refer to it as a DBA or "doing business as."

The state's official INBiz portal describes the Certificate of Assumed Business Name as the filing "used to record a name other than the legal entity name under which the entity is operating."

Indiana splits the filing by legal entity type under Indiana Code 23-0.5-3-4.

Filing entities — corporations, nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships — that conduct business under a name different from the name shown in the entity's organic record must file the certificate with the Indiana Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State confirms that entities filing with the state do not also file assumed names at the county.

Individuals and general partnerships (other than limited liability partnerships) instead file the certificate for record with the recorder of each county where a place of business or office is situated; some county recorder pages still cite the predecessor statute, Indiana Code 23-15-1-1, which was recodified.

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Filing entities file with the Indiana Secretary of State, either online or on paper.

Online, the Secretary of State directs filers to log into an INBiz account, click Online Services, and under the Secretary of State section choose Assumed Name Filing, then follow the prompts.

On paper, the form is the Certification of Assumed Business Name (All Entities), State Form 30353, whose instructions direct filers to make a check or money order payable to the Secretary of State and submit the original completed paperwork and payment to 302 West Washington Street, Room E-018, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

The form notes it cannot be used for county filing of an assumed business name and covers only one assumed name per filing.

Under Indiana Code 23-0.5-9-40, the fee for a for-profit entity is twenty dollars ($20) per assumed name filed electronically or thirty dollars ($30) per assumed name filed in a manner other than electronically; nonprofit corporations pay ten dollars ($10) electronically or twenty-six dollars ($26) otherwise.

Sole proprietors and general partnerships record a Certificate of Assumed Business Name with the county recorder in each county where the business has a place of business; the recorder charges the standard recording fee in accordance with Indiana Code 36-2-7-10.

The consulted official sources — Indiana Code 23-0.5-3-4, the Secretary of State's assumed business name FAQs, and the State Form 30353 instructions — do not state an expiration date or renewal procedure for an Indiana assumed business name filing, so no duration or renewal term can be reported from those sources.

To end a filing, the statute allows an individual, general partnership, corporation, limited partnership, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership that has filed a certificate of assumed business name to file a notice of discontinuance of use with the Secretary of State or with the recorder's office where the certificate was filed or transferred.

Under Indiana Code 23-0.5-9-41, there is no fee for filing a cancellation of an assumed business name with the Secretary of State, and the state publishes a paper Cancellation of Assumed Business Name (All Entities), State Form 55339, submitted to the same Indianapolis address, with a separate form for each name to be cancelled.

For county-level certificates, the statute separately requires that before dissolving a business with a certificate on file, the person or general partnership file a notice of dissolution for record in the recorder's office.

The consulted sources do not describe a procedure for amending an existing assumed business name certificate.

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If your business is an LLC, corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability partnership, create or log into an INBiz account at inbiz.in.gov and choose Assumed Name Filing under the Secretary of State's Online Services, or download State Form 30353 from the official state forms catalog and mail it with payment to the Business Services Division in Indianapolis.

If you operate as a sole proprietor or general partnership, contact the county recorder in each county where your business has a place of business or office and ask for the Certificate of Assumed Business Name recording process and current recording fee.

Before filing, check that the name differs from your legal name or your entity's name of record — filing is not required when an individual simply uses a name that includes their true surname — and remember that an assumed name filing does not create trademark rights.

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