4Steps to Changing Your Business Name
Sometimes a business name just doesn’t work out: You thought the clever moniker you chose would truly represent your brand, but customers didn’t make the connection. Or maybe you used your own name in the company’s title, and you now want to change it to reflect a larger, more corporate brand.
Whatever your reason, changing your business name is a difficult task, and you run the risk of losing any brand recognition you do have. That said, when the positives outweigh the negatives, it can be done. Here’s how to go about it.
- Research the new name. Start via checking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Use its trademark search tool to see whether or not your new title is already registered by any individual else.
If not, take a look at whether the domain name is reachable by the use of any authorized registrar. Ideally, if you are a for-profit business, you want a .com address, and if you’re nonprofit, you want a .org address.
Finally, go to your secretary of state’s webpage to make certain your new title isn’t already registered in your state.
- Notify your secretary of state. Your state’s workplace has a shape for changing your commercial enterprise name. States have extraordinary names for these forms. Go to USA.gov to discover a link to your state’s office. There will probably be a price for the name change.
- Change licenses and permits. Nearly all groups have licenses and approves with a number of degrees of government. Contact each of the places of work-related with those permits to examine how to exchange the name on these forms. Fees will possibly apply.
- Notify the IRS. The IRS has specific requirements depending on your type of business. Visit the IRS website to study about your specific requirements. In some cases, it’s as easy as noting the name change on your subsequent tax return.
0
