How to Complete and Submit the PA Fictitious Name Registration Form DSCB:54-311

The PA fictitious name registration form DSCB:54-311 is filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations to register a “doing business as” name. Anyone conducting business in Pennsylvania under a name other than their own legal name has to file it, pay the $70 fee, and (if any individual is a party) publish a newspaper notice. You can file online at file.dos.pa.gov or by mail to the Bureau’s Harrisburg office.

Check Name Availability Before You File

Search the Bureau’s database at file.dos.pa.gov to confirm your proposed name isn’t already taken. You can search by entity name or entity number, or call the Bureau at (717) 787-1057 to have a representative check up to two names per call.¹

Your fictitious name must be distinguishable on the Department’s records from the name of any domestic filing entity, registered foreign association, domestic limited liability limited partnership, state agency, or any name currently reserved or registered by another person.² A confusingly similar name will be rejected, and the $70 fee is nonrefundable whether or not the application is approved.

A few word categories carry extra requirements. “Bank,” “banking,” “banker,” and “trust” require Department of Banking approval; “college,” “university,” and “seminary” require a Department of Education certificate; “engineer,” “architect,” “surveyor,” and their variants require a professional board certificate; “cooperative” is limited to entities under the Cooperative Corporation Law.³ Sole proprietors can freely use “company” or “co.”⁴

What Each Field on Form DSCB:54-311 Requires

The form is short, but the Bureau rejects incomplete submissions, so fill in every field the first time.

Fictitious name. Enter the exact name you intend to use. This is what will appear in public records.

Nature of business. Write a brief plain-English description of the activity, such as “residential painting services” or “online retail sales of handmade jewelry.”

Principal place of business. Provide the full street address where you operate. A P.O. Box alone is not acceptable; the Bureau requires a physical location with a street or rural route number.⁵

Individual parties. List the full name and home address, including street number, of every individual with an interest in the business.²

Entity parties. If an LLC, corporation, or other entity is involved, provide its name, form of organization, the state where it was organized, and the address of its principal office under the laws of that state.²

Signatures. Every individual party and every authorized representative of each entity party must sign. A missing signature will hold up your filing.

Newspaper Publication if an Individual Is a Party

When any individual (as opposed to a corporation or LLC filing alone) is a party to the registration, Pennsylvania adds a publication step. You must publish a notice of your intention to file, or the fact that you have filed, in two newspapers of general circulation in the county where the principal office is located. One of those must be the legal newspaper designated by that county’s rules of court. If the county has only one newspaper of general circulation, that single paper is enough. The notice runs once.⁶

The published notice must include the fictitious name, the street address of the principal office, the names and addresses of all parties, and a statement that an application is being or has been filed under the Fictitious Names Act.²

Do not send the newspaper proofs to the Department of State. The Bureau will not accept them. Keep the proofs of publication with your permanent business records.⁶ Skipping publication altogether is a real problem: under Pennsylvania law, legal proceedings requiring notice by official advertising are not binding on interested persons unless the advertising was properly completed and proof of publication is on file. A business owner who never published could run into trouble enforcing contracts or collecting debts through the courts.

How to Submit the Form and Pay the Fee

You have two options.

Online. File through the Business Filing Services portal at file.dos.pa.gov and pay the $70 fee by credit card. Online filings are generally processed faster than mail.⁷

By mail. Send the completed form with a check or money order for $70, payable to the Department of State, to the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, PO Box 8722, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8722.⁵ Mailed processing times vary with seasonal volume.

Once the Bureau processes your application, you’ll receive a stamped copy of the form or a filing confirmation. Keep it. You’ll need it to open a business bank account or apply for local permits.

What the Registration Does Not Do

A fictitious name filing creates a public record linking your business name to your identity. That’s the whole of it. It does not give you exclusive ownership of the name and does not function as a trademark; preventing another business from using the same name for the same goods or services requires a separate federal trademark registration through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The filing also provides no liability protection. Registering a DBA does not change your legal structure. If you file as a sole proprietor, Pennsylvania still treats you as a sole proprietor, and your personal assets remain exposed to business debts and lawsuits. Forming an LLC or corporation is what creates a liability shield.

Keeping the Registration Active: The Decennial Report

Pennsylvania fictitious name registrations don’t last forever. Every registrant must file a decennial report (Form DSCB:54-321) during each year divisible by ten. The next deadline is 2030. If you registered in 2026 and made no other filings with the Department under that name in the intervening years, you’d need to file the decennial report during calendar year 2030 to keep the registration alive.⁸

Miss it and the consequence is automatic. On January 1 of the year after the report was due, the fictitious name is treated as no longer registered. Restoring it means filing a brand-new original registration on Form DSCB:54-311, with a fresh $70 fee and, for individuals, the newspaper advertising all over again. If you made any other filing with the Department under that fictitious name during the preceding ten years, the decennial report is waived for that cycle.⁸

1
Pennsylvania Department of State. Record Searches
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 54 Pa.C.S.A. Names 311
3
Pennsylvania Code. 19 Pa. Code Chapter 17 – Names
4
Pennsylvania Department of State. Fictitious Names
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Pennsylvania Department of State. Application for Registration of Fictitious Name (DSCB:54-311)
6
Legal Information Institute. 19 Pa. Code 17.208 – Official Advertising of Fictitious Names Involving Individual Parties
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Pennsylvania Department of State. Register a Business
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Pennsylvania Code. 19 Pa. Code 17.209 – Decennial Filings