Posted by Frank Chin on July 10, 2007 at 17:57:52:
Hope:
Check the regulations in your state.
Haven’t done in for a while, but where I am, the filing is with the “county clerk”. You’ll need to do county wide search to see if the name is in use. Depending on the geographic scope of the busimess, you might have to do a multi county search or a statewide search.
If it’s multi-state enterprise, then you might need to trademark. My attorney adcised the wider the area, the costlier the search. For a retail operation, go with the cheapest. And if the retail operation needs a business license, you’ll need the DBA first.
No federal or IRS involvement at this stage as the EIN#'s are at the LLC level already done.
Under the advise of our attorney, my husband and I formed an LLC for the purchase of commercial real estate with the idea of a retail business(which we would also own) within the building leasing from the LLC. The purchase has since collapsed and we are now leasing a building to run our retail biz from. The question, can I use the LLC as the “parent company” and have the retail biz with a different name under the LLC? Sort of a DBA. Thinking this way all the insurance, sales & use tax ID, FIN and other matters pertaining to the LLC are already in place and the retail end can just be a DBA under the LLC. Does that make sense? What name would my bank account be in since all revenue would be from the DBA name? But the LLC has all the licensing and tax id’s. Trying to avoid re-doing all the legal stuff for a retail establishment. Which may not be the only one we end up owning. How to own more than one biz under the ownership/protection of a LLC?
Re: LLC as parent co. for retail biz… - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on July 07, 2007 at 17:50:26:
Hope:
I have a retail business with a corporate “LLC”, and operating thru a DBA, an established name in the area, that I bought from the prior owner. The bank account is opened under the LLC name and DBA name so I can issue checks and make deposits.
Similarly, I have an “S Corp”, with 2 DBA’s, two different businesses, and bank accounts for each. They share the same tax ID#, and sales tax#. When we setup the second business, we only had to file the DBA, instead of setting up an entirely new entity, plus we only file one tax return for the businesses.
So, yes, you’ll setup a DBA under the LLC to run the retail business.
Thank you !!! That’s what I was hoping for. One other question about the DBA. Is there anything “technical” about filing a DBA? Ie… filing with the Sate, IRS, etc… or is it simply a matter of obtaining a local business license in the DBA name? Thnak you again for your input.