Register a business name in Florida: the fictitious name, step by step

The law is short. Section 865.09 says a person may not do business under a fictitious name until it's registered, and a fictitious name is any name used to trade in Florida other than your legal name. "Person" covers you as an individual and every company. Pick who will trade under the name.

Three groups skip registration altogether: an active Florida-registered company using its own name, a lawyer licensed in Florida forming a firm to practise law, and a professional licensed by the state's business or health departments, practising under the licensed name. Use any other name and the exemption ends. Section 865.09(7) sets this out.

Spelling counts. "Coral Line LLC" printing invoices as "Coral Line" has dropped part of its registered name. Florida lets a DBA leave out the entity ending, so the clean fix is to register "Coral Line" as the LLC's fictitious name.

In one line: your exact registered name needs nothing; every other trading name needs US$50 and a notice.

Florida checks fictitious names far less strictly than company names. The Division must accept any registration that meets the statute, and it doesn't refuse a DBA because someone else already uses it. Two people can hold the same fictitious name. So the search protects you, not the state.

Sunbiz searches fictitious names six ways: by name, by owner's name, by owner's document number, by owner's FEI number, by registration number, and by county for the prior week. The Division's fictitious name search guide explains each, and the results show the owner's name and address, county, status and expiry date. Run the company search too, since an LLC called the same thing is a bigger problem than another DBA.

One quirk helps you. Florida LLC and corporation names must be distinguishable from every filing on record except fictitious names (section 605.0112). A stranger's DBA won't block your company name, and your DBA won't block theirs. That cuts both ways, which is why a brand worth keeping belongs at the US trademark office.

In one line: Sunbiz will file a name already in use, so search before you pay for the newspaper.

Line 5 of the statute's list asks one owner to certify that the name "has been advertised at least once" in a newspaper in the county of the principal place of business. The Sunbiz form repeats it above the signature. Sunbiz asks for no proof. You certify it by signing, and a false statement on a state filing is a third degree felony under section 817.155.

1. Pick a paper that qualifies. The paper must meet chapter 50's test: published at least weekly, at least a quarter of its words in English, and a set share of local readers. Section 50.011 also allows a qualifying public notice website. Ask the paper to confirm it qualifies for your county.
2. Run the notice once, before you file. One insertion is all the law asks. The price is the paper's, not the state's, so get a quote first.
3. Keep the affidavit of publication. The paper can give you a sworn statement that the notice ran. Sunbiz never sees it, but a bank, a buyer of your business or a court might.
4. Then file and sign. Your signature on Sunbiz is the certification.

In one line: advertise first, file second, keep the paper's affidavit forever.

The online form and paper form CR4E001 ask for the same things. Each line below shows what to enter and what the public will see, because every word lands on Sunbiz.

Field rules from the Sunbiz registration instructions. Sunbiz warns that anything on the application becomes public record, and Florida treats email addresses sent to the state as public records.

Pay online by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, or mail a check in US dollars drawn on a US bank. Online filers get an email confirmation within 24 hours of the registration posting, with the name, the registration number and the date. In mid June 2026, the Division's processing dates page showed fictitious names about two days behind.

In one line: use the LLC as owner, a mailing address you control, and expect your entries to be searchable.

The term is counted in calendar years, not twelve-month periods. The year you register is year one, however much of it is left. The name lapses on 31 December of year five. You renew any day of that last year, and the Division emails a reminder by 1 September. If the email never arrives, the name still expires on time.

A worked example. Register on 30 December 2026 and you get just over four years, to 31 December 2030. Wait until 4 January 2027 and you get almost five full years, to 31 December 2031, for the same US$50. If you aren't trading yet, filing in early January buys a year. Just don't start using the name before it's registered.

Renewing a name with a wrong entity ending fails. Since 1 July 2017, Florida refuses a renewal if the name carries "LLC", "Inc" or similar while no owner is that type of entity. The fix is a cancellation and reregistration, US$50, per the renewal instructions.

In one line: US$50 every five calendar years, and the clock starts on 1 January of the year you file.

Many people searching how to register a business name in Florida actually want a company. A fictitious name is a label on someone who already exists. An LLC is a new legal person that owns the business, signs contracts and keeps your own assets apart from its debts.

LLC figures from section 605.0213 and our Florida annual fees page. What the LLC's own filing contains is on our Florida articles of organization page.

The two work together. Your Florida LLC can hold several fictitious names, one per product or market, each US$50. That's cheaper than a second LLC, but every name trades on the same balance sheet. If one line of business carries real risk, give it its own company.

In one line: form the LLC for protection, add a DBA when the brand needs a different name.

You can run all of this from without a visit. The order matters, because the fictitious name form asks for things only a finished company has.

1. 1
   Form the Florida LLC

   Articles of organization filed, US$125 to the state. You get a document number, which the DBA form needs.

2. 2
   Get the EIN

   The IRS number goes on the DBA form as the owner's FEIN. Without an SSN it comes by fax; see our EIN guide. "Applied for" is accepted meanwhile.

3. 3
   Settle the county and run the notice

   Confirm the county with the Division, then publish once in a qualifying paper there.

4. 4
   File the fictitious name in the LLC's name

   The LLC is the owner, a manager signs. US$50 by card online.

5. 5
   Add the name at the bank

   Sunbiz notes most banks ask for proof of registration before they'll take payments in a trade name.

Whatever the trade name, the owner behind it stays the same in your own country's eyes. Your home tax office looks through the DBA to the LLC, and through the LLC to you. Our Florida LLC tax guide covers what Florida and the IRS expect.

In one line: company first, EIN second, notice third, DBA last.

Nothing stops you trading under the name on day one. The cost shows up the first time you need a Florida court.

• You can't sue. The business can't bring or keep a case in a Florida court on that business until it registers. Neither can anyone who buys the claim from you.
• You can still defend. Your contracts, liens and deeds stay valid, and you can answer a lawsuit.
• You may pay their lawyers. A court can award the other side reasonable attorney fees and costs caused by your failure.
• A fine-level offence. The 2026 statute calls it a noncriminal violation under section 775.08. The Sunbiz FAQ still calls it a second degree misdemeanor. The statute governs.

Stop using a name? File a cancellation within 30 days. If you sell the business, the buyer can reregister the name at the same moment you cancel, both on one US$50 filing. All of this is in section 865.09(4) and (9).

In one line: skipping the filing rarely costs a fine; it costs you the right to collect in court.