How To Get a DBA in Minnesota in Three Steps

When registering a DBA in Minnesota, you must be sure your chosen name is available. Your business name should be distinctive, and there are three primary places to check if your name is available for DBA registration:

• Minnesota Business Name Database. The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State provides instructions for its name search tool on its Online Business Services page. This database includes the names of all registered business names, trade names, and fictitious business names in Minnesota. If you find a business with your chosen name but still want to use it, you must obtain consent from the existing business via the Consent to Use of Name form, which you must submit with your DBA registration.

• Search Engine. Typing your business name into a search engine will reveal if it is already being used across the world. For domain registrations, search the ICANN database. Using the same name as another business, even if it’s not local to you, may cause confusion or even legal problems. For instance, that brand may not appreciate your sharing a name—or you may not want to be associated with them if they run into problems.

• USPTO Trademark Database. If your chosen name is a registered federal trademark already, you will find it in the USPTO trademark database, and you will want to keep thinking of a name for your startup.

If the USPTO database reveals that your Minnesota assumed business name is not trademarked, you can begin the process of trademarking it. You can also reserve your domain name if it’s available, which blocks anyone else from purchasing and using that URL.

To obtain a DBA in Minnesota, you must file a Certificate of Assumed Name Registration form, which you can download from the Minnesota Secretary of State website.

The form requests the following information:

• The “assumed business name”

• The principal place of business address

• All persons and/or entity names of those doing business under the assumed business name

• Email address and phone number for future contact, which may be a registered agent 

• Business information, which entails checking boxes that denote:

  - Number of Minnesota-based full-time employees

  - Whether the owner or member of the ownership group identifies with listed - communities (woman, community of color, veteran, disability community, immigrant community)

  - Type of business

  - Whether the endeavor is part-time or full-time for those primarily responsible 

  - If applicable, the business’s gross revenues in the previous year

Once the form is registered, you will receive the approved form back, which you should keep for your records.

You can file the form online on the Minnesota Secretary of State website, or you can print the form to deliver it in person or mail it. There is a $50 filing fee for expedited service online and in-person filings. If you file by mail, the fee is $30.

The address for mailing or delivering in person is:

Minnesota Secretary of State

Business Services First National Bank Building

332 Minnesota Street, Suite N201

Saint Paul, MN 55101

Phone: Metro area (651) 296-2803; Greater Minnesota 1 (877) 551-6767

After your DBA filing, state law requires that you publish the Certificate of Assumed Name or the Amendment to Certificate of Assumed Name in two consecutive issues of a qualified legal newspaper in the county of the principal place of business.

Along with important documents such as your business license, online filing copies, and banking and financial institution documents, you should keep the newspaper’s affidavit of publication for your records.