Registering a New Company in Arizona

There is no national registration of companies in the USA. All businesses are registered at the county or state level. Listed below is how to register in Arizona. The state or counties will not check (or care) if your name conflicts with names of other businesses in other states! 

Sole Proprietorships and Private Partnerships are registered at the County level in Arizona. This includes Fictitious Business Name statements (also known as “DBA”s). In most cases the fee is under $50 and anyone can register a business simply by visiting your county business office and completing the right paperwork.

The counties of Arizona are Mohave, La Paz, Yuma, Coconino, Yavapai, Maricopa, Gila, Pinal, Graham, Navajo, Apache and Greenlee.

Corporations (both for-profit and non-profit), including C or S Corps, Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), and Limited Liability Corporations (LLC) are only valid when registered with the Arizona Corporate Commission – which is an office of the State.

Arizona Corporation Commission
Corporations Division
1300 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2929
– or –
400 West Congress
Tucson, AZ 85701-1347

Extensive information, including name checks, is available online through the Corporate Commissions website at:
www.cc.state.az.us

NOTE: These notes are on registering the business only. You may also need a business license for any regulated businesses, and may also require city permits or licenses. These vary greatly from city to city.

Trademarks: Arizona refers to trademarks and tradenames just like dba’s (fictitious business names). These provide you no protection outside your county or state, so Arizona also recommends proper federal trademark filings with the US Patent and Trademark office. Save yourself time and money by having a full trademark search done first through a naming agency (like this one in this site) or through a low cost online legal service. If your trademark application is rejected you will lose your filing fee.

Sales Tax: In Arizona, actual retail sales tax varies by city and area, as they can independently add to the state sales base tax rate. If you will be selling taxable goods or services (which is often the case unless you only sell to resellers or sell intangibles), you will need a tax id from the state franchise tax board. They have offices in all major cities.

Largest Cities: Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Peoria, Yuma, Flagstaff. Telephone area codes for Arizona include 480, 602, 928, 623 and 520.

Brighter Naming provides name consulting services to Phoenix, Tucson and all other parts of Arizona.

<– Back to Name and TM ®esources

 Arizona is named after the Spanish interpretation of “arizuma,” an Aztec Indian word meaning “silver-bearing.”
Also based on Pima Indianword “arizonac” for “little spring place.”
It is known as The Grand Canyon State.

Disclaimer: These are purely informational guidelines. For details in your particular case, please consult your lawyer, accountant or state/county office. Brighter Naming is not licensed to provide legal advice. The information here is provided as an informational service only.