Business Name
Business name is another entity identifier that can help surface meaningful signals about a business entity, its current standing, and other risk factors.
There are two main sets of names important to consider in business verification: an entity's legal name, and its Doing Business As (DBA) names.
Legal Name
An entity's legal name is meant to uniquely identify the business in a given state. Each state may have requirements around valid entity names (e.g., requires the use of alphabetical characters) or the use of suffixes (e.g., LLC, Inc.). Most states do not allow an entity to register with a name already in use, and some states require an entity name to reflect the operations of the business.
While states guard against duplicative names, each state acts independently when forming entities. Therefore, many business entities have the same name as a separate business in another state. In this case, it is critical to understand the domestic and foreign jurisdictions of each state, and how and when each filing was made.
Doing Business As (DBAs)
A company is said to be "doing business as" a name when the business operates under a name different than its legal, registered name. These names are also referred to as "assumed", "fictitious", or "trade" names.
State and local governments usually require companies to register these alternate names through a DBA filing, allowing the company to legally operate under a separate trade name.
How Middesk helps with Names
Understanding the names associated with a business is an important part of the due diligence process. This is because a business may register as your customer or partner with their "doing business as" (DBA) instead of their legal name. When uncovering critical details about a business, such as its litigation history, the information is almost always filed under the entity's legal name.
The Middesk product helps surface names associated with the entity, as well as verifies both legal and DBA names submitted with the report request. Please note that Middesk will only use the DBA for the Watchlist screening and not to search for the entity when verifying the identity report. The following Tasks will be surfaced for both the legal and DBA name:
| status | label | sub_label |
|---|---|---|
| Success | Match identified to the submitted Business Name | Verified |
| Warning | Similar match identified to the submitted Business Name | Similar Match |
| Failure | Unable to identify a match to the submitted Business Name | Unverified |
| Failure | We believe the submitted TIN is associated with “name” | Alternate Name |
For more information about Names, view our reference or reach out to [email protected]
Updated over 1 year ago