Fictitious Business Name – Where do I Get a Fictitious Name Certificate?

by freelancer

Today, through this article, I will make you understand completely the concept of “Fictitious Firm Name” and “Fictitious Name Certificate” or “Doing Business As.”

What is a fictitious business name?

A fictitious business name or Trade name or “doing business as” (DBA) name is any name under which a company operates its business differs from its legal, registered name. For example, the name of the company and legal entity is Johnson Inc. In contrast, the fictitious business name can be Johnson Home Health Care, Johnson Home Health, Johnson Personal Care, etc.

Usually, a fictitious business name statement must be renewed every five years in the US. In addition, a fictitious business name statement must be filed with Registrar-Recorder or County Clerk’s Office.

An entity is delineated as “any individual or any partnership, corporation, joint-stock company, association, business trust, syndicate, joint venture or other amalgamation or group of individuals, irrespective of whether it is formed or organized under the laws of Commonwealth or any other jurisdiction.” An appropriate business name or association (local or foreign) is outlined in its registration and organizational documentation filed in the state’s concerned department.

Any name different from your legal proper business entity name, and you are allowed formally by the county or state’s concerned department or state to use while conducting business. A fictitious business name is also referred to as DBA (Doing Business As). Additionally, a fictitious business name can be defined as.

“A legal document showing the operating name of a company, as opposed to the legal name of the company. In the case of a corporation, a fictitious business name is any name other than the corporate name stated in its articles of incorporation”.

Is that understandable? No…

Let me try to explain Fictitious Name with the help of an example! If you have decided to start your own business as a single business owner (a sole proprietorship) or a partnership, you need to have a name for your business.

Now, you will have the choice of selecting a proper name or DBA (doing business as) for your businesses. This is called a fictitious business name. That name must not be registered before and should be available. Suppose you wish to run your business under a name different from your own (for instance, Ms. Mary doing business as “Crunchy Saloon”). The state or county may require her to register her fictitious business name. In addition, some states and counties require fictitious business names or DBA (doing Business As) filings to be prepared (for consumers’ protection).

The main reason behind a Fictitious Business Name is that states are required to file fictitious business names because they are supposed to inform and update the public (consumers) about who owns that business or company. A fictitious business name filing places a business’s name and its owner’s identity on the public record.

The concept of “Fictitious Firm Name,” also known as DBA (Doing Business As), is misunderstood commonly. Still, it can be a respected and esteemed mode to launch a business unit and have more or fewer protections of your rights as a single business owner. However, it would help if you were alert that you know the restrictions and boundaries of doing business with a “Fictitious Firm Name,” also known as DBA, to safeguard your cogent intellectual property or other trademark rights.

To get registered your business with a “Fictitious Firm Name,” you are required to fil and filing offers the sole proprietorship owners (single owner of the company) the complete independence to use a business name that helps in promoting their goods or services, also make a discrete certified business entity. Yet, be warned that doing business with a fictitious name may not protect your business name from being used by other companies. Therefore, to have complete safety in this regard, you are required to pursue your business trademark protection from the pertinent authorities.

Consequently, the name under which a business functions, as opposed to its lawfully obligatory name, is deliberated as Fictitious Firm Name or DBA (doing business as).

You can call a business name a fictitious firm name when that business name is changed from its legal or registered name, and this is done for consumers’ protection. And such fictitious names will not include words like “Inc.” “incorporation” as long as this is a “corporation” registered with the secretary of the state.

You are required to be attentive before starting a business with a fictitious firm name because the procedures, rules, and regulations of filing may vary from one county or state to another.

How to get a Fictitious Business Name; Requirements

To launch a business under a Fictitious Business Name, you are required to fill and file the FBN forms and pay a prescribed filing fee; after that, you will receive an FBN certificate. Then, according to the state, you may be needed to file with the county clerk’s office, a state agency, or both. Therefore, don’t forget to validate all the related local central authorities for FBN filings in the states presently you are, or will be, or doing business in. Then ratify all the FBN filing necessities for your business.

What is a fictitious name registration?

To register a fictitious name, you need:

To register your business with a Fictitious Name, you must visit the county’s office to apply along with a prescribed registration fee to the county officer or clerk (if any).
You may need to submit a fictitious name ad for an assured time once a week for four weeks consecutively in an arbitrated newspaper county.

This ad must be initiated within 30 days after a fictitious business name application has been filed, according to Business & Professions Code 17917(a)

You may be charged a price ranging ($10 to $100) while filing a case of fictitious firm name and must have a business bank account and your bank possibly will ask for a fabricated name certificate, and the bank may help you how to get it.
In many states, a business firm may not be required to file a fictitious business name if it runs under a name other than its own. The incorporation filling process may follow a similar business as fictitious name filing for a sole proprietorship and a partnership business type.
Your residential location addresses need to be listed, and application may be filed through any of the following ways;

- You are required to present (in-person) a completed Fictitious Business Name (FBN) statement, display valid credentials, and complete an Affidavit of Identity form.

- You may submit through (mail) a fully completed Fictitious Business Name (FBN) application with a notarized Affidavit of Identity form.

- Anyone other than you but on your behalf can submit an application for Fictitious Business Name (FBN) and must show valid identification and submit the completed, notarized Affidavit of Identity and Agent form.

Now let me answer the questions that might arise while starting a business as Fictitious Business Name and its registration process.

Legal Identity – You don’t need to consider FBN as a different legal entity because there is no difference between your and business assets. Registering an FBN may not cause your liability as an owner of the business.

Consumers’ Protection – To provide complete protection by the state to the consumers, FBN is meant for the people to know about the actual business owner to safeguard consumers’ safety from the fraudulent business owners, and they must not discharge from legal concerns when they operate their business operations under a different name.

Business Account – When a business is a distinct legal entity, personal funds and business funds must be managed unconnectedly. Subsequently, you need to have a separate bank account for the company run with an FBN (Fictitious Business Name). Whereas, in the case of a sole proprietorship or partnership without FBN, you don’t legally need to have a separate business account.

Advantages of FBN (Fictitious Name) – When you launch a business as FBN, you undoubtedly like to keep your expenses low and grow gradually, and filing for Fictitious Name registration sure will help you to achieve your business goals.

Business Recordkeeping – In the case of FBN (Fictitious Business Name), there is no need to have daily recordkeeping of transactions and auxiliary protocols those are compulsory in case of an LLC or corporation type of business, or the expenditures related to forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or corporation.

FBN or LLC (Limited Liability Company) is better – The main difference between the two is accountability protection, but LLC (limited liability Company) offers little liability protection. The personal assets of the business owners remain separate or detached fully from the business. Therefore, no additional tax-related advantages and benefits can be claimed in the case of FBN (Fictitious Business Name).

Doing business without an FBN – In some states, California, you don’t need to register an FBN (Fictitious Business Name) according to California law; any of your business names will not consider as FBN (Fictitious Business Name) since it includes your last name.

State taxes – You must submit your business returns to the state or county’s tax office since the IRS is not the only state entity that needs FBN firms to file tax returns annually. Filing for an FBN allows you to launch a business under another name without making a new firm.

USE an FBN (Fictitious Business Name). You may file to have an FBN (Fictitious Business Name) if you are willing to make business transactions under the company’s domain name, but your company name is not existing as a domain name.

Unemployment Insurance – Any business, either FBN (Fictitious Business Name) or LLC (limited liability company), will not affect your unemployment insurance claims.

Personal bank account and Business Checks – Checks received from business customers may be deposited into your bank account. Still, I suggest you have a separate business account because some banks ask to have a different business bank account. If not, then you may not be permitted to credit your business checks into your bank account.

ONE FBN name and two businesses – you may not be permitted by some states to use one single FBN (Fictitious Business Name) for two different businesses. Although, some businesses may get registered as solo FBN.

Unique Business Name – FBN (Fictitious Business Name) must be different from the names already in use in the state. If already in use, remarkably similar names must not be taken when two businesses are rivals in a similar marketplace.

Sole Proprietorship and FBN – You will be required to have your business’s legal name operative. If you are not keen to use FBN (Fictitious Business Name), you must get permission from local authorities in advance.

FBN Ownership – You may transfer ownership of FBN to another party for any reason, and in most cases, maybe a sale of your business.

FBN (Fictitious Business Number) – Some business lawyers and consultants recommend having EIN (Employer Identification Number. You must launch an SS-4 application to get this identification number from an internal revenue department.

Obtain a copy of FBN – You may visit, county’s state department in-person or via mail, email, or fax to obtain a certificate or a copy of FBN, and an online approach will be a stress-free option.

States and FBN – the different states like Ohio, Alaska, Arizona, Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Wisconsin may require FBN (Fictitious Business Name).

Time – Typically, the filling is needed to be completed within a postulated time of roughly 1-2 months, once you started your business under FBN (Fictitious Business Name). The filing process usually takes one to four weeks, depending on the authority, with some exceptions.

For Example – A guide

Starting a Business with FBN (Fictitious Business Name) in California – Step-by-step

Check the name availability of what you are intended to use.
File a statement (application) of FBN (Fictitious Business Name) in the county’s clerk office
Advertise your new business name once a week for four consecutive weeks
Pay the prescribed fee.
Follow-up your case

Conclusion

Your business name is a valued asset, and you may need to protect it. Using an FBN (Fictitious Business Name) can be a significant element of your business plan and strategy. If this is the case, then preparing an appropriate filing to get your FBN (Fictitious Business Name) and being assured that the registration does not expire will be crucial steps for your business. Now, you know the basic facts, procedures, and processes about FBN (Fictitious Business Names) and its filings, work with your business lawyer and compliance partner to ensure they’re done right. Don’t underrate the significance of acquiring your fictitious business name certificate. It would help if you apprehended what a fictitious business name is and how it can help your business. Your business name will be the underpinning upon which you are required to build your business brand; hence it’s somewhat to be controlled with vigilant consideration.

Do Freelancers Charge Sales Tax?

by freelancer

Most people believe that freelancers do not have to deal with taxes, mainly because their job description differs from a standard entrepreneur. However, this is not the case. So, to answer the question – Do freelancers charge tax? Yes, such a self-employed individual is required to properly comply with all tax regulations laid down by the State in which they are operating.

But as a freelancer, you can reduce your tax bill and save hundreds of dollars in the process.

Even though a freelancer’s taxation process is not complex, many individuals have difficulties understanding Sales Tax and use tax and need to consider these two types while filing their tax returns. To provide a better view on the topic, what these two types mean to freelance has been mentioned next:

Do I need to charge tax for freelance work?

Yes, freelancers must pay self-employment taxes in addition to regular income taxes. However, self-employment taxes you will pay only if you earn $400 or more in the US.

This tax type will apply to those tangible personal properties and services purchased outside the freelancer’s state. The product/service in question should be bought from any State other than where it will be used. In the case of a freelancer, use tax is also applicable if the State’s retailer from where the product/service was sold does not collect sales tax. A freelancer also has to deal with the use tax if the sales tax in the freelancer’s operating State happens to be higher than the sales tax rate in the State from where the product/service was sold. Use tax applies to all freelance professionals like sole proprietors, individuals, and LLCs. Besides, they are also applicable to consumers and businesses.

Do freelancers Charge Sales Tax?

No, freelancers do not charge sales tax because freelancers offer services, not products. Because of that, most US states don’t allow you to charge sales tax on services. If you are a freelancer webmaster you should not expect to pay sales tax on freelance writers.

On the other hand, this tax type will apply to retail-sold tangible personal property and services. In case of use tax, a freelancer also needs to file sale tax returns if the freelancer happens to collect sales tax. So, if you are collecting sales tax and use tax, you need to get a sales tax license/permit. When freelancers apply for the license, they also receive a sales tax identification number depending on the State from where they will be operating.

Factors affecting use tax and sales tax for a freelancer

As these two types will apply to a freelancer, they must get familiar with the different factors influencing both of these taxes:

The State where the freelancer will be operating will affect the sales tax and use tax for the individual. Tax regulation will vary from one State to another. Having a sales tax exemption certificate is also another factor. Based on the State you are operating from, the certificate comes into effect when the final product/service sold is subjected to sales tax. In fact, in most cases, the seller should have a Certificate of Authority if they want to accept the exemption certificate. The type of product and service that the freelancer is involved with will also play in sales tax. Such kind of tax is only applicable to tangible goods and services. However, the list may differ from one State to another.

Besides these, many other factors can affect both use tax and sales tax for a freelancer. Knowing and understanding these factors will provide you with the insight that can help you handle the whole taxation procedure more effectively and accurately.

Tax deduction in the USA for a freelancer based on IRS are:

Advertising and marketing
Computer equipment and software
Office supplies
Home office
Utilities
Travel and business meals

In the rest of the world (EU, for example), freelancers have 5% to 15% smaller taxes than other LLC companies.

As a self-employed individual, the whole taxation responsibility falls on the freelancer, who can be overwhelming. Thus, you should get professional help to better grasp the entire thing and, most importantly, file and submit the related tax documents accurately and on time as per your State’s tax guidelines.

How to Earn Money as Freelancer ?

by freelancer

Expertise, inclination, and dedicated time are the only resources you will need to start making money from the internet right from the luxury of your home. ET explains a couple of established methods through which you can make that much needed extra money or a permanent job.
Unlike permanent or temporary employment, which involves daily full-time employment, part-time employment is temporary and lasts as long as the project you are engaged in. At the same time, you can have several part-time jobs paid in agreement with the employer. Although you do not have an imposed working time, you have a deadline (delivery deadline) that you must comply with not to have a problem with your employer, client.

Remember the artist. They make their money part-time. Artists have no place to hire and are forced to work part-time for the rest of their lives.

It is desirable to have a contract for each part-time job. If you do not have a contract and work with strangers, it will be tough to prove fraud if it comes to it.

So let us first ask the right question:

How to make money from home!

Education is one of the best investments that any person can make. Except for formal education, there is self-education. Many people do not talk a lot about self-education, and they think that free online courses, the internet is not a good source to learn important stuff. But it is a mistake.

The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself… The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.
Warren Buffett

Freelancers do not need theoretical knowledge – they solve problems, help people, earn money for themselves and other people. So, in my opinion, we can split all ideas into 7 groups :

Group 1: Internet programming, freelance jobs on web portals, doing tasks for other people.
Group 2: Passive income: trading, finance, investing.
Group 3: Selling physical products
Group 4: Selling digital products.
Group 5: Writing, blog writing.
Group 6: Art

We will not talk all about these 6 groups. Below are just a few ideas that you can use to answer how to make money from home.
The internet is home to thousands of fraudulent companies that claim to pay you large sums of money for delivering on their work. But in reality, they don’t. Never believe companies that promise to pay you money for filling up surveys or those that ask you to make payment upfront. To get reliable work and payments on time, you can refer to elance and Odesk or freelancer.com.
IF you want to find a part-time job, I can suggest a freelancer job website that lists new and past jobs for the last 6 years. So you can see for a special job example job post look.
These sites offer freelance jobs and require you to become a member to look for jobs. You must also prove your skills by taking tests. If interested, people can hire you on an hourly basis, and the trick to earning more is to deliver on your tasks as per deadline and build your reputation.

Group 1: Internet programming, freelance jobs on web portals, doing tasks for other people.

1.1 Create software or websites for clients. Below is programming IT skills small list

.NET	backbone.js	Linux
4D	Firefox	Parallels Automation
x86/x64 Assembler	Volusion	Fortran
HP Openview	YouTube	SQL
PostgreSQL	DotNetNuke	Electronic Forms
Assembly	Visual Basic for Apps	Objective C
Debugging	Django	Software Architecture
Software Development	Sencha / YahooUI	Mac OS
edX	C++ Programming	TaoBao API
XSLT	Red Hat	Metatrader
Game Consoles	Zoho	CUDA
Boonex Dolphin	Pattern Matching	System Admin
Rocket Engine	Debian	CubeCart
Zen Cart	LabVIEW	Zend
D3.js	Interspire	OSCommerce
Microsoft Access	Plesk	Google Chrome
FileMaker	JavaFX	NoSQL Couch & Mongo
Joomla	ASP	Ubuntu
Nginx	Link Building	Ning
Windows 8	Computer Security	Magento
COBOL	BSD	Pentaho
Web Hosting	SEO (532)	webMethods
Social Engine	Face Recognition	Windows API
eLearning	Python	SAP
WPF	Big Data	Oracle
eCommerce	WHMCS	R
Hadoop	Express JS	Drupal
FreelancerAPI	OpenCL	Socket IO
C# Programming	Unity 3D	vBulletin
Sharepoint	Lotus Notes	Google Go
Tumblr	MVC	Java
AJAX	Asterisk PBX	Virtual Worlds
Ruby on Rails	Siebel	PICK Multivalue DB
BigCommerce	OCR	Silverlight
BMC Remedy	Social Networking	XMPP
Cisco	Website Testing	Prestashop
AutoHotkey	PhoneGap	vTiger
Codeigniter	Moodle	Symfony PHP
Script Install	Scala	Virtuozzo
DOS	Javascript	CRE Loaded
Game Design	VoIP	Database Administration
MariaDB	Business Catalyst	TestStand
Open Cart	Forum Software	Expression Engine
Google App Engine	Bitcoin	Computer Graphics
Prolog	Visual Foxpro	Balsamiq
Umbraco	Microsoft	REALbasic
Grease Monkey	CakePHP	UNIX
WordPress	Windows Desktop	Chef
QlikView	Gamification	MODx
Erlang	Linkedin	Knockout.js
Perl	Biztalk	Apache
Apache Solr	Windows Server	Microsoft Expression
Apple Safari	Embedded Software	IIS
Smarty PHP	GPGPU	CMS
Visual Basic	Protoshare	CasperJS
Haskell	CS-Cart	Twitter
J2EE	MMORPG	VPS
Google Plus	jQuery / Prototype	Yii
Google Web Toolkit	Software Testing	Cold Fusion
Paypal API	Azure	JSP
Virtuemart	HTML	MySQL
Chrome OS	Google Earth	Photoshop Coding
AS400 & iSeries	Google Analytics	Shopify
Analytics	Chordiant	Web Scraping
Shopping Carts	UML Design	Parallels Desktop
Shell Script	Dynamics	Amazon Web Services
Microsoft Exchange	Jabber	Blog Install
XML	Cloud Computing	User Interface / IA
PHP	node.js	Solaris
Pinterest	Puppet	Active Directory
IBM Tivoli	Web Security	Delphi
DNS	Scrum Development	QuickBase
C Programming	Map Reduce	Kinect
Website Management	Agile Development	SugarCRM
MySpace	Usability Testing	Dart
OpenGL	HTML5
Ruby	Cocoa

1.2 Next jobs are related to Mobile Phones & Computing. You can create mobile phone applications. Here are the skills list (job list):

1.3. Earn money as a writer. Below is the writing categories list:

1.4 You can earn money online as a designer as well. Below is the design and media, and architecture jobs list :

1.5. Data entry and administration is very often an online job. Here is the online data entry job list:

2. Make & sell your apps
With the proliferation of mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, making apps and selling them is a meaningful business idea. It is easy to learn how to make apps through online resources and tutorials that can be found for free. The learning can be easy, but the tough part is choosing an idea for sales. After designing your app, you must submit it to the app store for which you have designed it, and you can also include in-app advertising. Whatever you earn, post the deductions that will be credited to your account each month.

3. Self Publish Books
If you feel that you are a good writer and have the potential to publish a book, you can make use of Amazon’s Kindle Direct publishing. This is a service that allows users to self publish their books on Kindle (ebook) store. For every sale of their book, the author will earn royalties. Authors can select between 2 different royalty plans – the first one being the 35% royalty, which applies to any book sold in any country. The second plan is 70% royalty, which targets specific countries. Indian authors have the liberty to choose their prices for the Indian bookstore and opt for Indian currency to get their royalty payments.

4. E-tutoring
If you are good at teaching, you can register yourself at websites like www.tutorvista.com or www.2tion.net and make money by working as an online tutor. To start, you must design your own tutor profile by listing all the subjects you are good at, the grades you want to teach, your work rate, experience, and the timings you will be available.
Once your profile has been verified, students will start contacting you to get tuition. The online tuition websites also provide teaching aids like collaborative whiteboards and online chat tools. You can gradually increase your remuneration after improving your teaching skills and teaching more students at a time.

5. Sell old stuff online
If you have any old stuff lying around in your house, you can make money by selling them online. www.olx.in, www.craigslist.co.in and www.quickr.com are all websites that serve as online classified ads. To sell your stuff, you must create an account and upload the information related to the items, such as photos and their current condition and expected price. Those interested in buying will get in touch with you, and you can negotiate the deal with them.

Make a blog or site – Earn from advertising.
Google AdSense is an advertising platform that allows you to display ads from Google on your website, YouTube channel, or blog. To take advantage of this, you must create an account by visiting www.google.com/adsense. You can use the same account for all your blogs and other online content. To earn more on your advertising, you must generate more traffic for your site.
If you write, then ensure that you write about something which has known you are passionate about. When you upload videos to YouTube, make sure they are not plagiarized, and they look interesting. Use social media to promote your content. It will take time for the revenue to start flowing, and Google will only pay you after the balance in your account exceeds $100. So be patient and give your best.

Start an online shop
Take advantage of your creative side and start your own online handicraft shop. Or else if you can get cheap stuff from wholesale dealers and sell them online at a higher margin. Make use of sites like www.eBay. In and www.indiebazaar.com to sell your stuff.
The signup process for these sites is straightforward, and once you have become a seller, you can follow their instructions to start your virtual shop.

Passive income
One of the best ways to earn money is to “earn money while you sleep.” Real estate or stock trading are examples of that way of earning money. In the beginning, you can start a business to let other traders trade for you or to start learning about trading business and become a real trader.

Solved Metadata Staging Failed Problem

by freelancer

Freelancers like to have fresh good working computers and software. I wouldn’t say I like errors in Windows. When I go to the Event Viewer in Windows 10, I see a lot of errors as such :

“Metadata staging failed, result=0x80070490 for container ‘{CA0E9E80-3E97-FCAC-730A-8CB080FA2581}'”

The problem is in the destination URL in the registry. Your DeviceMetadataServiceURL shows the wrong address.

Metadata staging failed

To solve the Metadata staging failed problem, please do these 3 steps:

Go to the Search option in Windows 10
Type in search: Regedit
When the registry open go to Find and put the keyword: DeviceMetadataServiceURL
Change the wrong URL to http://dmd.metaservices.microsoft.com/dms/metadata.svc

Problem solved !!!

How to fix problem – Sorry we couldn’t connect to skype – solved

by freelancer

A lot of freelancers called me to help them to fix various problems in Windows 10 last month. One of them is new version of Skype. People getting this message :

Sorry, we couldn’t connect to skype. Please check your internet connection and try again

Rule is :
Your Intenret explorer and Microsoft Edge must work (surf) if you want to use Skype !

1) Your Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge doesn’t surf as well.
If this is true than problem is clear.
In Search Windows try to find Internet Explorer. Open this software and go to Internet Options and than Connection tab. There in Settings set like this :

Now test Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge and see do they work now and can you search using this browsers.If you still have problems with Internet Explorer and Edge than read Auto configuration and auto proxy problems with Internet Explorer 11 and Auto configuration settings for Internet Explorer 11.

2) If you can not download Skype and you are getting :

Can’t connect to the download server

This problem you can fix either using intenret explorer connection fix (above is solution) or you can download full installation of skype.
Download Skype full version

Cheers!