Pennsylvania fictitious name filing guide

Pennsylvania's official term for a DBA is a fictitious name: any assumed name, style, or designation other than the proper name of the individual or entity using it, and the term expressly includes a name assumed by a general partnership.

The filing is governed by the Fictitious Names Act of 1982, 54 Pa.C.S. §§ 301 et seq., and all fictitious name registrations go to one place — the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations.

Unlike states that split filings between a state office and county clerks, Pennsylvania abolished county-level fictitious name filings in the early 1980s; the Department states that fictitious names have not been filed at the county seat since then.

Any entity — an individual or sole proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability company, or another association — that conducts business in the Commonwealth under a name other than its real or proper name must register that name on Form DSCB:54-311.

The registration is a public-notice filing only: the Department stresses that it creates no exclusive right to the name, is not a trademark, and provides no liability protection.

Failing to register does not void contracts, but an unregistered entity cannot use Pennsylvania courts to enforce a contract made under the fictitious name until it registers, and the court may impose a $500 penalty.

One distinctive feature: registrations that name an individual as a party carry a newspaper advertising requirement.

The registration form is DSCB:54-311, the Application for Registration of Fictitious Name, published by the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations with full instructions.

The application must state the fictitious name, a brief description of the character or nature of the business to be carried on under it, the street address of the principal place of business (a post office box alone is not acceptable), and the name and address of each individual or entity interested in the business.

The nonrefundable filing fee is $70, payable to the Department of State by check or money order; the Bureau does not accept cash, and credit cards are accepted only for expedited services.

Veterans and reservists may qualify for a small-business fee exemption with proof of status attached to the form.

Filings can be submitted online — the Department's Business Filing Services portal is at file.dos.pa.gov and the Bureau says it highly encourages electronic filing — or mailed to P.O.

Box 8722, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8722, or delivered by courier or in person to 401 North Street, Room 206, Harrisburg, PA 17120.

Before filing, check the name against the Department's records: a fictitious name may not be the same as or confusingly similar to the name of an association already registered with the Department, and registered entities cannot register their own name with the designator simply removed.

If any individual is named as a party, newspaper advertising is also required.

Pennsylvania fictitious name registrations do not carry a fixed term, but they are not file-once-and-forget.

Under 54 Pa.C.S. § 321, every registrant must file Form DSCB:54-321, the Decennial Report of Continued Existence-Fictitious Name, during the year 2000 and each year thereafter divisible by ten, unless the registrant made another fictitious-name filing with the Department during the preceding ten years.

A name for which no report is filed is deemed no longer registered as of January 1 of the following year, and it can then be restored only by filing a brand-new Form DSCB:54-311 registration.

When information on a registration changes, the registrant is required to amend it whenever necessary to keep the disclosed information accurate; amendments, cancellations, and withdrawals all use Form DSCB:54-312/313 (Application for Amendment, Cancellation or Withdrawal-Fictitious Name), and the Department's fee schedule lists each ancillary fictitious-name transaction at $70.

A withdrawing party may execute the form alone in the case of a withdrawal.

The Department mails notice of decennial requirements where practicable, but it warns that failure to receive that notice does not relieve the registrant of the obligation to file.

Start with the free official source.

Download Form DSCB:54-311 and its instructions from the Pennsylvania Department of State's website, or file online through the state's Business Filing Services portal at file.dos.pa.gov; the paper form can be mailed to the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations at P.O.

Box 8722, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8722, with the stated $70 fee.

Use the Bureau's online business entity search first to confirm your proposed name is distinguishable from names already on the Department's records.

If an individual will be listed as a party on the registration, plan for the newspaper advertising: one notice, published one time in two newspapers of general circulation in the county of the principal place of business, one of them the designated legal newspaper, keeping the proofs with your business records rather than sending them to the state.

Mark the next decennial year on your calendar for the continued-existence report.

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