How to File a DBA in North Carolina: Steps, Fees, and Renewal

To file a DBA in North Carolina, register an Assumed Business Name certificate with the Register of Deeds in the county where your business operates. The fee is $26, notarization is not required, and the certificate does not expire. Sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs, and corporations all file with the same office using the same form.¹

Do You Actually Need to File?

North Carolina uses the term “assumed business name” rather than DBA, and whether you need one depends on the name you plan to use. For an individual, any name other than your full legal name counts. For a general partnership, it’s any name other than the real names of all the general partners. For LLCs, corporations, limited partnerships, and LLPs, it’s any name other than the entity name on file with the North Carolina Secretary of State.²

A common misread: adding your surname does not exempt you. If your name is John Smith and you run “Smith Lawn Maintenance,” that is still an assumed name because it isn’t your real name. Only operating strictly as “John Smith” avoids the requirement. Same idea for partnerships where anything is added to the partners’ full legal names.

Filing does not create a new legal entity. Your business structure stays exactly the same. The certificate is a public record linking your trade name to whoever actually stands behind it.

Search the Name Before You File

Before filling anything out, search the proposed name in the North Carolina Secretary of State’s assumed business name database at sosnc.gov. Every county’s filings are scanned into that database, so a single search covers the whole state.

One caution worth sitting with: an assumed business name filing does not grant exclusive rights. Two businesses in different counties can hold the same assumed name. If exclusivity matters, that comes from trademark law, not from your Register of Deeds filing. Search the USPTO’s free trademark database too, so you don’t discover a conflict after signs are printed and a site is built.³

What Goes on the Certificate

The Assumed Business Name certificate asks for five items:⁴

The assumed business name you plan to use publicly.
Your real name. For individuals, your full legal name. For partnerships, the names of up to five general partners, or all of them if there are fewer. For LLCs, corporations, and limited partnerships, the entity name registered with the Secretary of State.
A brief description of the nature of the business.
The principal place of business as a street address. P.O. boxes are not accepted.
The counties where you’ll use the name. You can list specific counties or check a single box that covers all 100.⁵

LLCs, corporations, and limited partnerships also need the Secretary of State ID number for the entity. The blank form is available from your county Register of Deeds, usually as a download on the office’s website.

The street address requirement catches home-based business owners who would rather not publish their address. The statute requires a street address, so a P.O. box will not work. A coworking space, virtual office with a real street address, or commercial mail receiving agency can serve as the principal place of business if privacy matters.

Where to File and How to Submit

Every business type files with the Register of Deeds in the county where the business operates.¹ You do not file with the Secretary of State. Once the Register of Deeds records the certificate, that office transmits a scanned copy to the Secretary of State for the statewide database.

One filing covers every county you listed on the certificate. If you checked the “All 100 Counties” box, you do not file again in each county.

You can submit two ways:

In person at your county Register of Deeds office. Many offices process filings the same day.
By mail with a check or money order. Mail submissions are generally processed within one to two business days of receipt.⁶

Notarization is not required. The Assumed Business Name Act, effective December 1, 2017, removed that step.

The Fee

Recording the certificate costs $26. Amendments and withdrawals are also $26.⁶ Payment methods vary. Some counties accept only cash and local checks for in-person filings, so call ahead if you’re not paying by mail.

After You File

No Expiration or Renewal

Certificates filed on or after December 1, 2017, do not expire and never need renewing.⁵ The filing stays active indefinitely unless you amend or withdraw it.

Amendments Within 60 Days

If anything on your certificate changes, file an amendment within 60 days. That includes changes to the assumed name, the owner’s legal name, the principal business address, or the counties where you use the name.⁷ The amendment form asks for the original filing’s book and page number and the identification number the Secretary of State assigned. Keep both somewhere you can find them.

Withdrawal

When you stop using the name, you can file a withdrawal certificate to close the record. It’s optional but keeps the public database clean and avoids confusion for anyone tracing ownership later.

Selling the Business

Certificates are not transferable. A buyer cannot take over your filing. You file a withdrawal and the new owner files their own certificate linking the trade name to their legal name. The 60-day amendment window doesn’t apply here, because a sale changes the underlying person or entity, not just the information on the certificate.

Opening a Bank Account With Your DBA

Filing does not change your Employer Identification Number. The IRS treats a name change as no reason for a new EIN, whether you’re a sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, or corporation.⁸ You keep the number you already have.

The place your certificate matters most in daily operations is at the bank. Most banks want a recorded copy before they’ll open a business account or accept deposits under a trade name. Depositing a check written to “Carolina Coffee Shop” into an account owned by “Piedmont Holdings LLC” won’t work without one. Bring the recorded certificate, your EIN confirmation letter, and your formation documents when you go.⁹

What Your Filing Does Not Do

An assumed business name filing is not a trademark. It creates a public record of who operates under a name. It does not give you the right to stop anyone else from using that name, and it does not protect you if someone else already holds a trademark on it. If exclusivity matters, look at federal registration through the USPTO or state trademark registration through the Secretary of State.³ Searching the USPTO database before you file is cheap insurance against a name conflict you can’t afford to discover later.

1
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 66-71.4 – Filing of Certificate; Exception
2
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code GS 66-71.3 – Definitions
3
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Why Register Your Trademark
4
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code GS 66-71.5 – Contents of Certificate
5
Forsyth County Register of Deeds. Assumed Business Name Certificate Instructions
6
Wake County Government. Filing An Assumed Name (DBA)
7
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code GS 66-71.7 – Amendment of Certificate
8
Internal Revenue Service. When to Get a New EIN
9
U.S. Small Business Administration. Open a Business Bank Account