A California Doing Business As (DBA) name is referred to as a fictitious, trade or assumed name that a company applies for in California when the name doesn’t contain a company owner’s last name. This article will briefly describe where to apply for a California DBA name, why a company wants to apply for a DBA name in California; under what circumstances applying for a DBA name is required in California for a company, and the functions of a California DBA name display.

California doesn’t have a specific office or department that is responsible for registering a California DBA name for a company. Company owners should find out which California county their companies’ principal office is in and apply for a California DBA name in the corresponding California county.

The following are three common benefits a company can get when applying for a California DBA name:

1. Company owners can pick up whatever name they prefer while applying for a California DBA name if it is available to use.
2. Applying for a California DBA name for a company can protect its owners’ personal information because the owner’s last name does not appear on the company name.
3. Applying for a California DBA name will be the right decision if a company wants to use a domain name that is different from its company name.

California Franchise Tax Board requires a company to apply for a California DBA name when any of the following three conditions are met:

1. The surname of each general partner or associate partner isn’t included in a partnership or other associations’ names, or the partnership or other associations’ names imply additional owners exist.
2. A limited liability company, limited partnership, or corporation has already filed an Articles of Organization or Articles of Incorporation with California Secretary of State. However, these three types of entities choose to do business under a different name other than the name stated in Articles of Organization or Articles of Incorporation.
3. The owner’s last name won’t be included under a sole proprietorship name. It means a sole proprietorship will be doing business under a name without the owner’s last name being contained.

As for the functions of California DBA name, the following are three common functions that a California DBA name can bring:

1. A company can use a California DBA name to create a business card or stationery.
2. A company can use a California DBA name as its official business name and be charged with transactions that represent the company.
3. To open a business bank account, banks usually require sole proprietorships and general partnerships to apply for a California DBA name.

Reference:
https://www.ftb.ca.gov/about-ftb/newsroom/tax-news/november-2019/guide-to-dbas.html
https://www.upcounsel.com/dba-california#when-you-need-to-file-a-dba-in-california
https://www.mycorporation.com/state/california/file-a-dba/#step_4
https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings/doing-business-as-dba?gclid=Cj0KCQjw06OTBhC_ARIsAAU1yOV4_ETP4pEuPO8NrM08qKm8nuCZ4ZEV4hjNXClHCyL-t91Sd2C8AakaAnosEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds