Ontario DBA Filings Belong in the Clerk Folder

An Ontario County DBA is a small filing, but it is one of those small filings that can slow a business plan down if it is treated like an afterthought. The County Clerk accepts Doing Business Under an Assumed Name certificates, and New York’s General Business Law requires an individual or partners using a name other than their given names to file one.

Before filing the original DBA, the clerk gives the filer a chance to review the public index and see whether the desired name is already being used by another individual or partnership. That name check belongs before the sign, menu, invoice template, or bank visit.

The original filing is $25. An amendment is $25. A discontinuance has no filing fee. Certified copies cost $5 each, and Ontario County notes that a bank may require a certified copy for a business account.

The practical address is Ontario County Clerk’s Office, 20 Ontario Street, Canandaigua. Mailed forms have to be properly notarized, and copy requests need the right envelope and payment. A careful filer keeps the name search, notarized certificate, certified-copy request, and payment in one packet so the business name does not bounce between the printer, the bank, and the clerk counter.