There has been an increasing number of budding entrepreneurs especially stay-at-home moms (or wives) who put up their own small businesses. If you are one of them, the first step in processing your business is to apply for a business name under the Department of Trade and Industry. This post is how to register your business name if you are a sole proprietor.
I am an extremely lazy person. I do not like falling in line and I love the convenience that the Internet has to offer. So it was a no-brainer that I had to look for a way to register my business name online. Good thing, DTI has opened its portals to the online world and made this process sooo easy!
1. Go to DTI Business Name Registration Services (BNRS) website.
2. Pick out a business name.
The website has several guidelines as how you should choose your business name. Your business name should:
- not and will not be used for business that is illegal, offensive, scandalous, or contrary to propriety (e.g. Popoy’s Jueteng Betting Place, Boobs Massage and Spa)
- not a name which by law or regulation cannot be appropriated (e.g. OTOP, Intelligence, State College, CALABARZON);
- not used to designate or distinguish, or not suggestive of quality of any class of goods, articles, merchandise, or service (e.g. Best Taho Factory, A-1 Auto Repair Shop );
- not a name or abbreviation of a name used by the government in its governmental functions (e.g. NBI Private Investigation Services, DTI Trading);
- not a name or abbreviation of a name of any nation, inter-governmental or international organization (e.g. Philippine Manpower Pooling Agency, UNESCO Marketing, WHO Health Services); and
- not deceptive, misleading or which misrepresent the nature of business (e.g. ABC Construction Services where nature of business is recruitment, a business name carrying another person’s name).
- not composed purely of generic or geographic words (e.g. The Laundry Shop, Bacolod);
- not the same or nearly the same as an existing registered business, company, partnership, corporation (Securities and Exchange Commission), cooperative name (Cooperative Development Authority); nor it infringes on any trademark, service mark and tradename (Intellectual Property Office0 (e.g. Anne Dok’s Lechon, Jolibee, Starbax Cafe);
3. Fill out the forms.
It took me several attempts to successfully register my business with the portal. There is a little trick that you need to do with their e-form.
IMPORTANT! When you reach the “Town/City/Province” part of the Residence Address, type in the first three letters of your municipality or town and wait for it to give you a drop-down selection. If you just type in your town or city address, you will not be able to select your Barangay and you could not complete your registration (I found out about this when I personally called the DTI Office.
4. Pay.
There are three options: Bancnet, DTI Teller and GCash. In my case, since I wanted to get my permit immediately, I opted an online transaction via Bancnet.
5. Print your registration. Your business name is now registered for five years!
See! Easy, right? Have you tried the BNRS Portal of DTI yet? Why don’t you check it out?
Cheers,
Balot
