Renewing your business name is important so that your details are up to date and VFSC knows that you are still trading under a business name. Renewing your business name provides you with further protection against others who may attempt to trade using your business’ goodwill and reputation. It also means that older names that are not being used anymore can be used by new businesses.

You are required to renew your business name within the ‘anniversary period’.

What is the anniversary period?

The anniversary period is the same month as the month you first registered your business name.

For example, if you registered a business name on 23 July 2015, you can renew the name anywhere between 1 July and 31 July 2016.  You must renew the name every year during these dates.

Renewing a business name is simple and can be done rapidly online, or if necessary, by paper.

The fee for renewing a business name is VT 5,000.

Late renewal

If you renew your business name during the two months after the anniversary period then you must pay a penalty of VT 5,000 if applying online or VT 7,500 if using the paper application or email. Please note that this is in addition to the usual renewal fee.  Further information about fees is found here.

If you do not renew your business name within the two month period then your business name will expire. If you later want to use the business name again you must re-apply to use it. Please note that if you trade under an expired business name then you could possibly open yourself up to severe penalties, including a fine of up to VT 100,000.