North Carolina DBA Registrations Must be Renewed by December 1, 2022

Many of our clients who own businesses do business under an “assumed name” (a/k/a DBA … “doing business as”).  This means that the name the business operates under is different to the name registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office (e.g. Jesson & Rains, LLP doing business as simply Jesson & Rains). The law in North Carolina has been, up until recently, that you had to have a “certificate of assumed name” filed in the register of deeds office for each county in which you do business.
 
As of December 1, 2017, a change in the law has begun the creation of a centralized database that is being run by the Secretary of State’s office (as opposed to each of the 100 county register of deeds offices located in North Carolina). This, accompanied by a new streamlined application process, will make searches of the assumed name database and filing for a certificate of assumed business name easier than it was in the past. However, the Secretary of State’s office does not yet have the database completely up and running so, for now, when applying for a certificate of assumed business name a search for the desired name must be carried out in the county or counties in which you wish to do business.
 
A big change that it is important to take note of is that any certificates of assumed name that were filed before December 1, 2017 will expire on December 1, 2022. This means that anyone wishing to continue doing business under an assumed name that they were using in the past will need to file a new application for a certificate assumed business name with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office before the December 1, 2022 deadline.
 
For assistance or for more information please don’t hesitate to reach out to Kelly or Ed who would be happy to assist.