Texas Form 504 Abandonment of Assumed Name Certificate: How to File

Texas Form 504 is the one-page document a business entity files with the Texas Secretary of State to abandon a registered assumed name (a DBA or trade name). The filing fee is $10, you submit two copies by mail or in person in Austin, and you can also file electronically through SOSDirect. The form only applies to entities that originally registered the assumed name with the Secretary of State — not to DBAs filed with a county clerk.

Who Should Use Form 504

Form 504 is for entities that registered their assumed name with the Secretary of State under Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 71. That covers corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, foreign filing entities, and any other entity (except nonprofits) required by law to file formation documents with the Secretary of State.¹ These entities file assumed name certificates only with the state.

Sole proprietors and general partnerships register their DBAs with the county clerk instead, so Form 504 does not apply to them. The Secretary of State’s instructions state plainly that Form 504 “does not satisfy county filing requirements.”²

When To File

File Form 504 when your entity stops conducting business or providing professional services under a registered assumed name.¹ Common triggers are rebranding to a new trade name, winding the entity down, or merging into a business that uses a different name.

One thing to check before you file: assumed name certificates in Texas cannot last more than ten years from the date of filing and expire automatically at the end of their stated term.³ If yours has already expired on its own, an abandonment is unnecessary. If it’s still active and you’ve stopped using the name, filing clears the record.

How To Complete the Four Items

Download the PDF from the Secretary of State’s website.⁴ The form has four numbered fields and a signature block.

Item 1 — Assumed Name. Enter the assumed name exactly as it appears on the original certificate you filed with the Secretary of State.
Item 2 — Date of Assumed Name Certificate. The date the original certificate was filed with the state. This lets the office locate the correct record.
Item 3 — Entity Name. Your entity’s legal name as it appears in Secretary of State records or on your certificate of formation. This is your corporate or LLC name, not the DBA you are abandoning.²
Item 4 — File Number. The file number the Secretary of State assigned when your entity was formed or registered. The instructions call this recommended rather than mandatory, but including it speeds processing and prevents mismatches.²

An authorized person then signs and dates the form. The signature block certifies that the signer has authority to act for the entity and acknowledges that submitting a materially false or fraudulent instrument carries criminal penalties.⁴ Under Texas Penal Code Section 37.10, that’s at minimum a Class A misdemeanor.²

How To Submit and What It Costs

Submit the completed form in duplicate with a $10 filing fee.² You have three ways to file:

By mail: Secretary of State, P.O. Box 13697, Austin, TX 78711-3697.
By hand delivery: James Earl Rudder Office Building, 1019 Brazos, Austin, TX 78701.
Online: Through the SOSDirect portal, which processes filings electronically and gives immediate confirmation of receipt. SOSDirect adds a $1 statutory access fee.⁵

Accepted payment methods include personal checks, money orders, LegalEase debit cards, and American Express, Discover, MasterCard, or Visa credit cards. Checks and money orders must be drawn on a U.S. bank and made payable to the Secretary of State.²

Expedited Processing

If you need faster turnaround, the Texas Express program offers three expedite fees on top of the $10 filing fee:⁶

Standard expedited, $50. Available for mail or in-person submissions and typically processed within two to three business days. This is the practical choice for most filers who need it done soon.
Next-day, $500. Requires in-person delivery by noon.
Same-day, $750. Also requires in-person delivery by noon.

After You File

Once the Secretary of State processes the abandonment, you receive an acknowledgment and the state database shows the assumed name as inactive. Your entity is no longer publicly linked to that trade name. If the filing is rejected — most often because information on Form 504 doesn’t match existing records — the office notifies you with the specific reason so you can correct and resubmit.

County Records Are a Separate Filing

If your entity also filed an assumed name certificate with a county clerk, Form 504 does not cancel the county record. County abandonments go to the county clerk directly and have different requirements: the document must be notarized and carry original signatures.² Contact the clerk’s office in each county where you filed to get their abandonment form and fee.

Entities that filed only with the Secretary of State under Section 71.151 — corporations, LPs, LLPs, LLCs, and foreign filing entities — are not required to file with any county clerk at all.¹ For those entities, Form 504 is the only filing you need.

What About the IRS

Dropping a trade name at the state level doesn’t update your federal tax records. If the assumed name was the primary name tied to your EIN, the IRS has a name-change process: write to the IRS at the address where you file your returns, or check the “name change” box on your next annual return (Form 1120 for corporations, Form 1120-S for S-corps, or Form 1065 for partnerships).⁷ The IRS points to Publication 1635 to determine whether the change also requires a new EIN.

If you’re just dropping a secondary DBA while your entity continues under its legal name and same EIN, the IRS does not have a specific notification procedure for that. Its name-change guidance addresses changes to the primary name on the EIN record, not the shedding of an extra trade name.

1
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 71 – Assumed Business or Professional Name
2
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Form 504 — Instructions for Abandonment of Assumed Name Certificate
3
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Name Filings FAQs
4
Texas Secretary of State. Texas Form 504 Abandonment of Assumed Name Certificate
5
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. SOSDirect – Online Searching and Filing
6
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Introducing Texas Express Expedited Business Filings
7
Internal Revenue Service. Business Name Change