Register With the State and Obtain a County Business License
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Most states have links on their websites about small businesses or starting a business. Your states website (in almost all cases) will be http://www.state.__.us/ (use your state's two letter postal code in between the "state." and ".us". For example, Virginia's state web site is www.state.va.us.
Once you locate your state's web site there will be a lot of information about how your state deals with new businesses. This includes everything from forms to fill out, to taxes, to employee rights. If you do not see a direct link on the main page that goes to "starting a new business" search for that on the site.
Don't be scared of these sites and don't be afraid to look around. Though you may be going there to find out how to get a county business license, you may get a lot more information than you had expected by flipping through other pages. These sites are built to make the life of the small business owner easier.
By doing a search on "starting a new business" this should lead you to a number of links that can be valuable. For example, in Virginia the link http://www.dba.state.va.us/launchpad/, gives users a step by step guide of starting, expanding or relocating a business in Virginia.
County Business License
To obtain a county business license, you must go through the specific county that your business will be located within. Since the licensing regulations vary greatly by county, please visit the web site or contact the local office for your county.
For the sake of obtaining a county business license you can find places on most state web sites that will give you detailed descriptions of how to obtain these.
For Virginia, you can take a look at http://www.vipnet.org/vipnet/portal/government/localgov.htm and type in the zip code that you are opening your business.
For Maryland start at http://business.marylandtaxes.com/newbusiness/new.asp and link from there, you will find a great deal of valuable information on this site.
For the District of Columbia, start at http://brc.dc.gov/start/cklst/start.asp and review based on the type of business you are starting.
This will bring you to your local government's site, where you will invariably find information about starting a business. This process may seem a bit long winded, but finding the proper way to start a business is a huge step and one that takes much more total research than just finding out how to get your license.
Also remember that once you get a license there are a number of other forms that you must fill out before you may become a business. In Alexandria, Virginia and many other counties throughout the country, you must go through the zoning commission, especially when you are starting your business in your home. Make sure you read the requirements for your county carefully and cover all your bases. It's always better to do it correctly the first time than have to go back and do it again!
In some areas (such as in Alexandria, Virginia), you will be required to pay an annual tax based on the gross revenue of your business and also a property tax based on property you acquire for the business. Other jurisdictions may simply charge a set fee for the privilege of having a business license.
While your business name may be registered with the state and county you are part of, this registration does not protect it's use in other areas. A federal trademark is intended to do this nationally. You may be able to register your company's name with your state and then find out later that someone else has a federal trademark on the same name. Therefore, I would recommend searching through the trademark database and perhaps securing the trademark as you complete the state and county business license application to make sure you are covered.
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