FICTITIOUS NAME RENEWAL

It is that time of year again! It is the time when you hear Christmas carols all around, start thinking about how many cards you are going to have to send out this year and making arrangements to take time off with the family. Don’t forget in that hustle and bustle that your fictitious name might be up for renewal too!

While you have to renew your corporation or LLC with the state annually, fictitious names are good for 5 years only. To ensure that it stays active for another 5 years, the renewal needs to be filed by December 31st of the 5^th year after its creation. This can be done online very easily by visiting www.Sunbiz.org.

Forgetting to file, though, means that the registration will “Expire”. You will not be able to renew or reinstate and will have to file a new fictitious name registration from scratch. Yes, that will include another advertisement in the legal section of the newspaper, too.

The renewal fee is $50.00. While renewing you can update your information including:

• Mailing address
• The county of the principal place of business
• The FEIN
• The name and/or address of any owner.

Not sure what a fictitious name is or if you need one? In the simplest terms it is used to do business as a different name than the legal name of the company. If the name of your company is sufficient, a DBA is not needed. Usually this only pertains to franchises. Think about when a local company wants to do business as McDonald’s. There can only be one corporation named McDonalds.  All the franchises must form corporations by other names and then create a fictitious name (McDonalds) so they can advertise and be known as McDonalds.

Want to check if your fictitious name is due this year? Visit  http://www.sunbiz.org/ficinam.html and type in your fictitious name. Click on your name to find the expiration date listed within the filing information.  Call us with any questions!