Washington LLC Business Names: Rules, Search, and Registration

Filing fee: $200 (online filing fee for Articles of Organization with the Washington Secretary of State)

Processing time: Typically 2–3 business days for online filings

State agency: Washington Secretary of State, Corporations and Charities Division

Annual report due: Annually by the end of the LLC's anniversary month

State tax rate: No state income tax; Washington imposes a Business and Occupation (B&O) tax on gross receipts

Washington LLC naming rules require that your business name include an approved entity designator, be distinguishable from all other names already on file with the Washington Secretary of State, and avoid restricted terms that imply a different entity type or a regulated profession. These rules apply to every LLC formed in Washington.

Most naming mistakes happen at the designator or uniqueness step — both are worth getting right before you file.

Required entity designators

Your Washington LLC name must end with an entity designator that identifies it as a limited liability company. Washington law accepts the following forms:

• Limited Liability Company

• Limited Liability Co.

• LLC

• L.L.C.

The designator must appear at the end of the name. It cannot be the only thing that makes your name different from another entity already on file — the rest of the name must be distinguishable on its own.

Restricted and prohibited terms

Washington prohibits LLC names from including words that suggest a different entity type or a regulated industry without proper authorization. The following terms and abbreviations are not allowed in a Washington LLC name:

• Corporation, Corp., Incorporated, or Inc. — these imply a corporation

• Partnership, LP, L.P., LLP, L.L.P., LLLP, or L.L.L.P. — these imply a partnership

• Cooperative — this implies a cooperative entity

Terms that imply a regulated profession — things like "bank," "insurance," or "attorney" — may require additional state approval or licensure before the Secretary of State will accept the name. If your business name includes any of these, check with the relevant licensing authority before filing.

Before filing your Articles of Organization, search the Washington Secretary of State's Corporations and Charities Filing System (CCFS) to check whether your proposed name is already in use. Washington's distinguishability standard means a name can be rejected even if it isn't identical to an existing one — a name that sounds or looks too similar may not pass.

For the broadest results, search using the core words of your proposed name rather than the full name with the LLC designator. The CCFS search tool instructs filers to omit the designator from the search term.

How to reserve a Washington LLC name

If you've found an available name but aren't ready to file yet, Washington allows you to reserve it before submitting your Articles of Organization. A name reservation holds the name for a set period so another business can't claim it while you're getting ready to file.

A clean result in the Washington Secretary of State's database doesn't mean your name is free to use everywhere. A business in another state could hold a federal trademark on the same name, and using it anyway can put you on the hook for trademark infringement — even if Washington approved your LLC.

Search the USPTO's Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) before you commit to a name. If a registered trademark conflicts with your proposed LLC name, you'll need to choose something different regardless of what the state database shows.

In Washington, your LLC can do business under a name that's different from its legal name by registering a trade name — also called a DBA (doing business as). Trade name registration in Washington goes through the Washington Business Licensing Service, not the Secretary of State.

To register a trade name, file a Business License Application with the Washington Business Licensing Service, either online or by mail. Once approved, the trade name is valid for use throughout Washington. The trade name can't be the same as or deceptively similar to a trade name already in use in the state.

Before filing, search existing Washington business licenses, Department of Revenue records, Secretary of State records, and Washington state trademark records to check for conflicts.