Business filing services in Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana is home. Our office sits at 311 W. Civic Center Dr., Suite B, a few blocks from the Orange County Clerk-Recorder, the county courthouse and the Ronald Reagan Federal Building — which is exactly why we put it there. Most of the paperwork a new Santa Ana business needs gets recorded within walking distance of where you will be sitting.

This city has one of the highest concentrations of small, owner-operated businesses in Orange County, and a great many of them are first-generation. Landscapers, mechanics, food vendors, cleaning crews, barbers, truckers, contractors. We have been filing for that exact crowd since 2001, in English and in Spanish, and we tell people plainly when a $70 DBA is all they need instead of an LLC.

What a Santa Ana business usually needs

• A City of Santa Ana business license — nearly every city in Orange County requires one, including for home-based businesses
• A California entity (LLC or corporation) or a fictitious business name, depending on how you are set up
• A federal EIN — required for a business bank account, employees and most license applications
• A fictitious business name statement filed with the Orange County Clerk-Recorder, plus the four weeks of newspaper publication California requires
• A California seller's permit through the CDTFA if you sell tangible goods
• An Orange County health permit if you prepare, serve or sell food

Filing a DBA from Santa Ana

Orange County fictitious business name statements are filed with the Orange County Clerk-Recorder in Santa Ana — a few blocks from our office. That is the first half of the job.

The second half is the part most people miss. California requires the statement to be published once a week for four consecutive weeks in an adjudicated newspaper of general circulation in Orange County, within 30 days of filing, with a proof of publication filed back with the county afterward. Skip it and the registration is never properly complete. We arrange the publication and file the proof as part of the same job.

Working with us from Santa Ana

You do not need an appointment. Walk into 311 W. Civic Center Dr., Suite B during business hours with your ID and the name you want, and in most cases we can tell you your whole list and your total cost before you leave.