Business Basics; Setting up a business in the US

This section is about the very basics of setting up your business. If you have owned a business before you can skip this Topic. For those of you who have never owned a business, this topic will get you started in making a list of things to do.

Setting up your business can be very a trying experience, just get started and before you know it you will be done. Keep in mind that most of the things required to start your business are one time issues and once done they do not have to be repeated. If complying with the government reporting requirements troubles you? I suggest you use a bookkeeping service. They will take care of keeping you in compliance. Later, when you are more experienced, you can revisit the area of compliance and reporting to see if you want to do those functions yourself.

Each business type will have specific requirements not listed here that you have to learn about. The industry specific knowledge usually comes from some experience in the field. If you are entering into an area where you have no experience at all, then proceed with caution and learn to ask lots of questions.

Just get started and one thing will lead to another and before you know it you will be well on your way.

This is a list of the things you will need to do to start your business.
(A brief description of each follows.)

1. A business License. ?
2. A state sales tax permit.
3. Occupancy permit or C of O.
4. Special license/permit(s).
5. A federal tax I.D. or S.S. number
6. A bank account & credit card merchant account.
7. A " D.B.A." (doing business as).
8. An accounting system.
9. A fax machine and fax number.
10. Choose a form of doing business.
11. Government reports.