Pennsylvania DBA

Why file a DBA Pennsylvania?

The purpose of a DBA filing in Pennsylvania is to prevent confusion amongst the general public as to who the rightful owner of the company is.  In most cases, we as individuals don’t do business with our own name, therefore to do business under a name other that your own, you must file a DBA.  A DBA is an acronym for “doing business as”.  This is also known as fictitious name, trade name, assumed name and maybe others depending on the state and county.

Who can own a DBA?

In most cases, filing a DBA, the owner will be either a person or a corporation or a LLC.  Most counties require you to set up a DBA if you intend to run a small business in a particular county.  Fees to set up a DBA and to complete the publication process varies from state to state and county to county.

What is the purpose of the publication requirement?

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of the DBA is to reduce confusion for the general public.  In this case, you must publish your intention to run your business under a fictitious or assumed name.  Therefore publishing this announcement meets this requirement.  It can be argued that many people may not see this publication, however in researching the company, the public record will exist on this publication.

The publication requirement generally means that you must choose an approved media outlet to publish in.  The publication generally requires that you run the ad once per week for four weeks.  The requirements may vary depending on the county in Pennsylvania.