We have a corporate customer that opened an account titled “John Doe Corporation d/b/a John Doe Systems.” This customer attempted to deposit a check made out to “John Doe Enterprise” into that account. Should we accept the deposit into that account?

Before you deposit checks made out to “John Doe Enterprise” into the “John Doe Corporation, d/b/a John Doe Systems” checking account, you should confirm whether John Doe Enterprises is an assumed corporate name for John Doe Corporation. It is possible for a corporation to have more than one assumed name, provided the corporation filed a separate application to the Secretary of State for each assumed name.

If the corporate customer can establish that John Doe Enterprise is an assumed corporate name for John Doe Corporation with documentation that you can associate with the corporate account, then we believe you may deposit checks made out to John Doe Enterprise into the John Doe Corporation, d/b/a John Doe Systems account.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • 805 ILCS 5/4.15(a) (“A domestic corporation or a foreign corporation admitted to transact business or attempting to gain admission to transact business may elect to adopt an assumed corporate name that complies with the requirements of paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (9) of subsection (a) of Section 4.05 of this Act with respect to corporate names.”)
  • 805 ILCS 5/4.15(b) (As used in this Act, “assumed corporate name” means any corporate name other than the true corporate name, except trademarks and names of divisions not separately incorporated)
  • 805 ILCS 5/4.15(c) (Requiring corporations to submit an application for each corporate name it wishes to transact business under)