Register a Business Name in Panola County, TX

In Texas, a DBA is an Assumed Name Certificate. Sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses (including general partnerships) file with the County Clerk — this office — in Panola County (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 71). The certificate is valid up to 10 years.

What the statute sets: § 71.155(a) has the clerk collect $2 for filing the certificate and 50 cents for each name indexed. What counties charge is more, because the Local Government Code lets them add a records management and preservation fee of up to $10 (§ 118.011(b)(2)) and, where the commissioners court adopts one, a records archive fee of up to $10 (§ 118.011(f)(1)). The 14 county schedules we read publish $10.00 (Bell) to $28.00 (El Paso, which bundles a certified copy) for one owner — $10–$28 — and most large counties charge $22.00–$24.00.

Military veterans: § 71.155(a-1) says the county clerk maywaive the § 71.155(a) fees — the $2 filing fee and 50 cents a name — for a registrant who is a military veteran, meaning someone who served on active duty and was discharged or released (Occupations Code § 55.001). The waiver is at the clerk's discretion, not an entitlement. The section names no document you must show, and it does not mention the county records fees, so ask the clerk what the waiver covers and what proof it takes.

Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 71.053(a): "The certificate must be executed and acknowledged" by each individual named in it.

Source: Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 71.053(a) ↗ — “The certificate must be executed and acknowledged: (1) by each individual whose name is required to be stated in the certificate” (as of 26 September 2026)