How to Reserve a Business Name in Texas: Form 501 Filing and Fees

To reserve a business name in Texas, file Form 501 (Application for Reservation or Renewal of Reservation of an Entity Name) with the Texas Secretary of State and pay a $40 fee.¹ Once accepted, the reservation locks the name for 120 days, which gives you time to prepare and submit your formation paperwork. You can renew for another 120 days, transfer the reservation to someone else, or let it lapse. The filing itself is short. The parts that trip people up are the availability rules and a few form details.

Check Availability Before You File

Search the Secretary of State’s records first. The SOSDirect online portal lets you look up existing entities and active reservations at any hour, though each search carries a $1 statutory fee.² The Texas Comptroller’s Taxable Entity Search is free and works as a useful cross-check. A few minutes on both can save you the $40 filing fee on an application that was never going to clear.

Your proposed name has to be distinguishable from every active entity, existing reservation, and foreign entity registered in Texas.³ If your search turns up something close, adjust the name before filing rather than hoping the Secretary of State reads it differently.

How Texas Judges Whether Two Names Are Different

Texas does not just compare spellings letter by letter. Under the Texas Administrative Code, the Secretary of State applies a “key word” test that catches more overlaps than most applicants expect.⁴ Names must differ in the distinctive core, not just the trim. These changes generally will not make a name distinguishable on their own:

Adding articles or changing punctuation. “Texas Cowboys” and “The Texas Cowboys” are treated as the same name.
Swapping the entity designation. Going from “Corporation” to “LLC” or “Inc.” to “Ltd.” does not help if the rest of the name is identical.
Making a word plural, or running two words together.
Substituting a number for its word, or a homophone. “One World” and “1 World” are treated as the same.

Restricted Words

Some words trigger a second layer of approval. If your name contains “bank,” “bank and trust,” “trust,” or “trust company,” you need a no-objection letter from the Texas Banking Commissioner before the Secretary of State will approve the reservation.⁵ Names containing “college,” “university,” “school of law,” or “school of medicine” require a no-objection letter from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Getting those letters can take weeks, so build in lead time if your name falls into either category.

Organizational Designation Is Optional at This Stage

Your entity name will eventually need an organizational designation like “LLC,” “Inc.,” or “Ltd.” to match your entity type. At the reservation stage, though, the designation is not required.⁶ Many applicants include it anyway to avoid confusion later, but the Secretary of State will accept a reservation without one.

Filling Out Form 501

You can download Form 501 as a PDF from the Secretary of State’s website or file it through SOSDirect. The same form covers both new reservations and renewals.⁶ It asks for three things:

The exact entity name you want to reserve, spelled the way you want it recorded. Use the same spelling you confirmed in your search.
The entity type you plan to form, such as a limited liability company, for-profit corporation, limited partnership, or professional association. The Secretary of State screens the name against issues specific to that entity type.
The applicant’s full legal name and mailing address. If an existing business entity is doing the reserving, enter the entity’s name and address instead.

The applicant, an authorized agent, or an attorney must sign the form.⁷ A missing signature is one of the most common reasons applications come back. Check that field twice before submitting.

How to Submit and What It Costs

You can file three ways: online through SOSDirect, by mail to the Secretary of State’s office in Austin, or in person at that office. The filing fee is $40 either way.¹

Online through SOSDirect is the fastest. Pay by credit card or from a pre-funded SOSDirect account. Processing usually takes a few business days.
By mail, send the form with a check or money order payable to the Secretary of State. Expect roughly five to ten business days depending on volume.
In person, delivery to the Austin office follows the same timeline as mail unless you pay for expedited service.

Once the reservation is approved, you receive a certificate of reservation confirming that the name is held for 120 days.¹

Expedited Processing

If you need faster turnaround, the Secretary of State’s Texas Express program, effective October 2025, offers three tiers on top of the $40 filing fee:⁸

Standard expedited is $50 per document, available for mail and in-person filings, and typically processed within two to three business days.
Next-day service is $500 per document, in-person only, and must be delivered by noon to be processed by close of business the next business day.
Same-day service is $750 per document, in-person only, and must be delivered by noon to be processed by close of business that day.

Paying for expedited processing does not guarantee approval. The Secretary of State still reviews each filing against the same statutory requirements.

How Long the Reservation Lasts

An accepted reservation expires on the 121st day after the Secretary of State accepts the application, giving you a full 120 days of protection.⁹ You can also release the reservation early by filing a written notice of withdrawal. If you let it lapse without filing formation documents or renewing, the name goes back into the pool.

Renewing

If 120 days is not enough, you can renew for successive 120-day periods. The renewal window is narrow: you must file the renewal and pay another $40 during the 30-day period before the current reservation expires.¹⁰ File too early and the renewal is premature; miss the window and the reservation lapses. Put the date on your calendar. Renewal uses the same Form 501 and the same $40 fee.

Transferring

You can transfer a reservation to another person or entity by filing a notice of transfer signed by the current holder that includes the name and address of the new holder.¹¹ This is useful when partners change plans or when one entity is holding a name for another that has not yet been formed.

What a Reservation Does Not Do

A Texas name reservation only prevents other entities from registering the same name in Texas while the reservation is active. It is not a trademark, and it does not stop a business in another state from using the same name.

Federal trademarks, registered through the United States Patent and Trademark Office, provide nationwide ownership rights to a name used in commerce.¹² Search the USPTO’s Trademark Search system before you settle on a name.¹³ The Secretary of State does not check federal trademark records, and an approved reservation gives you no defense if you are infringing on someone else’s mark.

A reservation is also different from an assumed name filing (a DBA). A reservation holds a formal entity name, the legal name under which you will incorporate or organize. An assumed name is a trade name that a person or existing entity uses publicly, and multiple businesses can register the same assumed name in Texas without any exclusivity. If you plan to operate under a name that differs from your formal entity name, you will file a separate assumed name certificate after formation.

After Approval

The reservation holds the name; it does not create the entity. To actually form the business, file the appropriate formation document (a certificate of formation for Texas entities) before the reservation expires. At formation, the name must include the correct organizational designation for your entity type, even if you left it off the reservation.⁶

Consider claiming a matching domain and social media handles early too. Those registrations are separate from the state reservation and run first-come, first-served. Waiting until after formation to grab them is how businesses end up with a legal name they cannot use online.

1
Texas Secretary of State. Business Filings and Trademarks Fee Schedule
2
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. SOSDirect – An Online Business Service from the Office of the Texas Secretary of State
3
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 5.102 – Limitation on the Reservation of Certain Names
4
Cornell Law School / Legal Information Institute. 1 Tex. Admin. Code 79.38 – Distinguishable Names
5
Cornell Law School / Legal Information Institute. 1 Tex. Admin. Code 79.34 – Restricted Words
6
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Form 501 Instructions for Application for Reservation or Renewal of Reservation of an Entity Name
7
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 5.101 – Application for Reservation of Name
8
Office of the Secretary of State. Introducing Texas Express Expedited Business Filings
9
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 5.104 – Duration of Reservation of Name
10
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 5.105 – Renewal of Reservation
11
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code Section 5.106 – Transfer of Reservation of Name
12
Patent and Trademark Office. How Trademarks and Trade Names Differ
13
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Search Our Trademark Database