Saturday, April 12, 2008

DBA is not a business entitiy.

June,

I read your website column, How does a self-employed pay himself? and need to know if the answer to that question applies for DBA businesses as well.

I opened a business checking account under the name NY Techquest, and I have deposited all payments to the business into this account. My question is: Is it legal for me to withdraw these funds to use for personal purposes?

Everything is under my personal SSN, and I have not applied for a business license in the state of NY.

Please advise.

Thank you,
Janet
New York City, NY


Dear Janet,

Before you do another thing regarding your business you need to get a lot more information. DBA is not a kind of business structure. DBA stands for "doing business as" and simply means that you are not using your own name as your business name.


Go here DBA - Doing Business As to view several posts on this blog about DBAs.

After you know what business structure you are -- for instance, sole proprietorship, partnership, S-corp -- then you can determine whether you can just take money out of the account or whether you need to be n payroll.

Best,
June

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