Thursday, March 29, 2007

Los Angeles Business License Tax Errors

Some new or small businesses in the City of Los Angeles who filed their business tax renewal on time, and qualified for exemptions from tax, are receiving Notices from the Office of Finance indicating they owe tax, interest, and penalties. If you believe you have received such a notice in error, contact your business lawyer, accountant, or the City of Los Angeles Office of Finance directly for resolution:

http://www.lacity.org/finance/

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

FAQ: California Fictitous Business Name

A fictitious business name, also referred to as FBN, doing business as, DBA, dba, D/B/A, or trade name is a name other than your own legal name, or the official name of your corporation, LLC, or other business entity.  To use such a fictitious business name in California, you must file with your local government, usually at the county level and then publish a notice of this fact in a local newspaper of general cirulcation to put the public on notice of your assumed name.  One person or company may have multiple fictitious business names.

A fictitious business name is not the same thing as a trademark or service mark.  Firstly, because a DBA is only searched and registered on a local, rather than state or federal, level, and secondly, because registering a DBA does not in itself grant any trademark rights.  A fictitious business name is generally not a subtitute for trademark registration.

FBN is sometimes mispelled "ficticious business name".