A trade name (often referred to as a "DBA" or "Doing Business As") is a name under which a business operates that is different from its legal registered name. A trade name allows businesses to operate under a more marketable or recognizable name without changing the original legal entity name.
View Delaware Senate Bill 291 and House Bill 40 governing the latest changes.
Important: Existing trade names recorded with the Delaware Superior Court remain recognized
Beginning February 2, 2026, the Delaware Division of Revenue will manage a statewide Trade Name (DBA) registry through Delaware One Stop.
If you previously recorded a Trade Name with the Delaware Superior Court, no new action is required to remain recognized. If you want your trade name to appear in the DOR registry and to obtain a DOR Tradename Certificate, you may optionally re-register it in One Stop at no cost by providing your Superior Court filing number. A valid Delaware business license is still required to register a trade name.
Please review the FAQs below for details.
Who Can Register a Trade Name?
To register a trade name in Delaware, your business must be licensed with the Delaware Division of Revenue.
You can meet this requirement in one of two ways:
- Your business operates in Delaware and already has a valid Delaware Business License issued by the Division of Revenue.
- Your business does not operate in Delaware, but you still need to register a trade name — for example, to meet brand, contract, or compliance requirements. In this case, you must first obtain a Trade Name–Only License — a special license for out-of-state businesses.
- This license costs $25/year and must be renewed annually to keep your trade name active.
- A single Trade Name–Only License can cover multiple trade names.
- If you already have a standard Delaware Business License, you do not need this license.
Note: Trade Name–Only Licenses are not subject to the same stringent requirements as other Division of Revenue licenses such as Gross Receipts or Business Income Tax filings — however, you must provide a Certificate of Good Standing from the Delaware Division of Corporations.
Renewals: Trade names themselves do not expire or renew. However, your underlying Delaware business license (or Trade Name–Only License) must remain active to keep your trade name in good standing.
Steps to Procure a Trade Name in Delaware:
1. Determine Availability:
Coming Soon: you can search our Trade Name Registry to see the status of a trade name. The One Stop system will also check for availability automatically during the registration process.
2. Get a Business License:
Every trade name must be associated with a valid Delaware Business License, issued by the Division of Revenue.
- If you already have a Delaware Business License, you're ready to proceed.
- If not:
- Apply for a regular license if your business operates in Delaware.
- Apply for a Trade Name–Only License if your business is based outside Delaware but still needs to register a name.
3. Complete the Required Forms:
You'll need the following information:
- The trade name you want to register
- A valid Division of Revenue Business License
- The legal name of your business entity
- Names of all owners, members, or partners
- The formation date of your business
- A brief description of your business activity
4. Pay the Filing Fee:
The fee is a one-time $25 charge per trade name.
Optional re-registration of an existing Superior Court trade name into the DOR registry is available at no cost when you provide your Superior Court filing number. New registrations (including re-registering a name under a different TPID) are subject to the standard $25 fee.
Update or Terminate a Trade Name
You can update your trade name details or terminate a trade name directly through Delaware One Stop.
Note: One Stop does not offer a direct transfer. To move a trade name to a different TPID, cancel it under the current TPID and re-register it under the new TPID (standard registration fee applies).
Taxpayer ID (TPID): typically a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) for entities or a Social Security Number / Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (SSN/ITIN) for individuals.
What would you like to do?
Division of Revenue — Trade Name Frequently Asked Questions
Registration of new DBAs is now available online and is managed statewide by the DOR rather than by individual county Prothonotary Offices. The required fields for the DBA application are the same as when individual county Prothonotary Offices administered DBA registration. The process also now requires a Delaware business license.
If you registered a DBA with a Prothonotary Office before February 2, 2026, your DBA will remain registered on the list provided by the Superior Court here: Historic DBA Data.
An entity with a DBA that was previously registered with the Courts may register such DBA in the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry via One Stop. This registration is optional and without cost if the registrant provides the appropriate file number associated with the historic DBA registration. Re-registration will require an associated business license.
If you did not receive correspondence regarding the change, it is likely that the existing DBA data either had a missing or incorrect address in the Courts’ records. Please check here, Historic DBA Data, and confirm the information recorded.
Change of address may be enacted by exercising the no-cost re-registration option on Delaware One Stop and adding the existing DBA to the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry.
To register a DBA in Delaware, you need to provide the legal name, address of the entity, the proposed DBA, names and addresses of ownership, date of formation, and nature of business. The process also now requires a Delaware business license.
If a registrant is seeking to exercise their option to register an existing DBA on the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry, the DBA’s assigned Courts’ file number will be required.
Please advise third parties that DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry (https://revenue.delaware.gov/trade-business-and-fictitious-names-search/) exists as the legal, electronic certification of all registered Delaware DBAs and includes the DBA and title of the person, firm or association, the date of the filing of the certificate, the date of the formation or change in the formation of the firm or association. The appearance of such information at this address ought to be sufficient to validate the identity of the associated owner(s) of a business entity using a Delaware DBA.
Should this advice prove insufficient for validation by a third party, an ad hoc certificate can be provided by following the below directions.
For administrative purposes, if an entity with a historical DBA seeks a Tradename Certificate from the DOR, such entity will first need to register their DBA in the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry via One Stop. DOR will not issue a Tradename Certificate for a DBA that has not been registered in the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry.
This registration is without cost if the registrant provides the assigned file number of the existing DBA registration with Delaware Courts. Re-registration will require an associated Delaware business license.
For any DBA that appears in the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry and is in need of validation documentation, please reach out to the contacts below and request an ad hoc Tradename Certificate from the DOR.
The fee remains $25, but the DBA is now registered statewide, eliminating the need to pay multiple fees per county.
Notarization is no longer required as of February 2, 2026. All applications are processed online.
For such companies, a Trade Name Only Business license is available. This special license is required to register a Delaware DBA if the registrant does not intend to conduct business in Delaware. In this case, initial registration of the Trade Name Only license also requires a recent certificate of good standing from the Delaware Secretary of State.
This special license is similar to a regular business license but does not require Gross Receipt and Business Income Tax filings. It costs $25 and shares the same renewal and maintenance requirements as a standard Delaware business license.
For administrative purposes, the DOR requires an active business license account alongside all DBA registrations. For the case of a person, firm, or association engaged in non-profit business in Delaware, a Trade Name Only license is available.
In lieu of registration requests for a certificate of good standing, non-profit businesses ought to upload documentation of their non-profit status or other documents that support how the business they conduct in Delaware does not require a standard business license.
For administrative purposes, DOR requires an active business license account alongside all DBA registrations. For the case of a person, firm, or association engaged in political campaign in Delaware, a Trade Name Only license is available.
In lieu of registration requests for a certificate of good standing, political campaigns ought to upload documentation of their campaign’s formation, publicly required financial disclosures, or other documents that support how the business they conduct in Delaware does not require a standard business license.
Yes, for Delaware LLCs or Corporations opting to register a Delaware DBA, providing a Certificate of Good Standing is a requirement to ensure that Trade Name Only licenses are in fact registered with the Delaware Division of Corporations as the law requires.
You may order a Certificate of Status or Certificate of Good Standing by submitting a request in writing to the Division of Corporations. The fee is $50.00 per certificate for a short form certificate of status.
On the Certificate of Good Standing, from the Division of Revenue’s perspective, the Trade Names (DBAs) under the LLC would not be required to have a separate Certificate of Good Standing.
Registering for a standard Delaware business license will void a Trade Name Only license.
Once a standard business license is acquired, updates or transfers of DBAs between licenses can be done without a fee through the Update Trade Name flow in One Stop.
Please start the registration of your Trade Name Only license in the Add License flow found at the bottom of this One Stop page: https://onestop.delaware.gov/Operate_Renew.
For many reasons, such as having an existing withholding account, having filed a $0 income tax return, or having previously held a standard business license with this FEIN, the DOR has an active business account for this FEIN and cannot register a new entity alongside the DBA registration.
Once the Trade Name Only license application is complete, please allow 3–5 business days before returning to register the desired DBAs.
Yes, actions in One Stop are based on knowledge of business details (i.e., license numbers and business names) rather than user accounts (i.e., login information), enabling flexible management across multiple clients.
Updates to key staff, ownership, or business address can be managed through Delaware One Stop in the Update Trade Name flow. Changes to the Taxpayer ID associated with a DBA will require a new registration.
No, DBAs in Delaware do not expire and do not require renewal.
Yes, a searchable registry can be found here: Trade, Business and Fictitious Names Search.
A static version of historical DBAs can be found here: Historic DBA Data.
One Stop’s DBA registration flow also checks for active DBAs during the application and will provide a notification about an existing name. This check will not prevent registration of the existing DBA.
Registering a DBA does not confer any exclusive rights to the use of that name. It does not prevent others from registering that same DBA nor from using that same name. DBA filings are for public notice and do not establish trademark protection nor legal ownership. In the event you see that the DBA you would like is already registered, you may wish to consider selecting a different DBA to avoid the possibility of trademark infringement. If you seek exclusive rights, you may wish to contact an intellectual property attorney to seek trademark registration.
Yes, Delaware allows businesses to register multiple DBAs under a single Delaware business license.
To cancel your DBA, you must submit a request through One Stop using the termination workflow. This will remove the DBA from the active registry. There is no fee to cancel a DBA.
After completing the business registration process and obtaining a DOR business license, a business, individual, or agent will be able to update an existing DBA associated with the business. There is no fee to update or cancel a DBA—including updating the business address or changing key individuals.
In order to make updates to key staff, ownership, or business address, this DBA will now need to be managed through the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry via the One Stop system. Registrants seeking to make updates must add their DBA into the DOR’s Delaware Tradename Registry via One Stop and then make any updates needed to their DBA account. This registration is without cost if the registrant provides the appropriate file number associated with the existing DBA registration with Delaware Courts. Please keep in mind when completing the re-registration, it will require an associated business license.
Division of Revenue, Licensing Department
Phone: 302-577-8778
Yes, but not via One Stop. Changes to which licenses are associated with existing trade names can only be made by contacting the Division of Revenue using one of the following options:
All evidence generated will be the confirmation page, but it is not only available that one time. The confirmation page is always accessible to the user from their dashboard and includes the information submitted.
No. The Trade Name dashboard confirms the registration as it comes through One Stop, but the processing is completed through the Division of Revenue’s system for acceptance, as Revenue is the collector of these funds and the issuer of licensing material.
