How To Get A Business License, Tax Id, and Resale Number

Those of you who don't know how to get a business license or tax id should read this article I wrote. Having a legal business allows you to purchase wholesale goods from legitimate wholesale sources. You can read the article by clicking here.

 

You should also tell people they can set up business under real name and use personal tax number instead of setting up DBA untill they know they will make money.

 

A lot of wholesalers won't accept you if you do business under your actual name. I think the extra $50 for a ficticious name is well worth the money.

 

You get a business license from your local government. You can contact your "county clerk" to get more information on forms to fill out and what the fees are. It's normally very cheap to file a DBA. Then you fill out a form for the IRS and get a TIN.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html

I guess that's about it really to get started.

 

There are lawyers and incorporation firms that are more knowledgeable to handle your business registration...

 

I don't find it necessary for a small business to hire a lawyer. Unless of course you plan on building up a large company.

 

Your article is hardly a substitute for legal advice. I find it funny how you presume to give the same business advice to everyone reading your article to form the same type of business. The advice in the article is rather poor and likely to get someone into trouble in my opinion. This passage sums it up for me,

"If you're going into business by yourself, the best type of business license for you would be the "sole proprietorship". This basically means that you're the sole owner of your business. If you have one or more business partners a "partnership" would be the appropriate license. In my opinion, I think you should always go into business on your own and hire your friends and relatives as employees."​

 

^^ LOL good find

 

Wow, I have been involved with a lot of businesses for over twenty years and that includes my own start-ups and being on the board of directors of other companies. I have never seen such horrible one-size-fits-all, business advice in my career. Caveat emptor.

 

Obviously you have no idea how to explain things to somebody that is NEW to this. Throwing too much information in somebody's face will likely get them confused and they will not want to go through with. This article was written to give newbies advice as to where they should start at. If they want to learn EVERYTHING they should go to Amazon.com and buy a book.

 

There seems to be a lot more to this than what I thought. Thanks for that

 

hiring friends and relatives is the worst thing you can do

it's just hard to fire them

 

There is a difference between giving basic information and giving bad advice. Unfortunately, you have done the latter. You do that by not just giving information but pretending to give qualified give advice as to which form of business is better.

 

A sole proprietorship is just right for somebody who wants to start a small ebay business or internet store.

 

Not true for everyone. Your one size fits all solution is the problem. I don't know why you continue to insist otherwise.

 

This thread is borderline spam.

 

I am all for keeping things simple for newbies. I just don't like bad advice, such as "a partnership is best with multiple owners" or "you should always hire your relatives". Those statements are just plain silly. Let me explain in detail:

1. A partnership is a specific legal entity with certain control, tax, and liability issues; an S Corp or an LLC are other options for small businesses that offer different benefits depending upon the nature of the business that is being contemplated. If you think that those issues are unimportant to a newbie, then you are obviously inexperienced, yourself. So let me ask, how many sole proprietorships, partnerships, S Corporations and/or LLC's have you set up in your career? Obviously, it must be quite a few of each for you to be able to so heartily recommend one or two of them exclusively to newbies.

2. 'Always hire relatives or friends'. This is just plain silly and another sign of what I now suspect is your own inexperience. A newbie businessperson, in particular, should be looking to hire the best people to accomplish the goals of the business. It is much more important that the hires have the skills and experience be able to make the business a success instead of having the right bloodline or connections. The marketplace is full of family-owned businesses that failed miserably specifically because of the personal relationships involved. Why would you steer a newbie down such a risky path? How many businesses have you started with family/friends and how many businesses have you started with simply the best people for comparison purposes to make the judgement call that you have done? Must be quite a few. Otherwise, you are offering advice based upon no real data or experience.

So, again, I repeat, I have never seen such bad business advice in my career.

 

Hiring you friends or relatives would be an alternative to having them as an actual business partner. If you have problems with them you can fire them. I think most people will realize that's where I'm trying to get to.

P.S. If you're starting a small store or Ebay business I don't think it's necessary to go searching for the most qualified people because most people are not stupid and can learn anything you teach them. I think you're the type of person who will interview 10 people before you decide on who will be your new cashier.

 

Okay, I think that your comment above and the lack of answers to my specific questions just about says it all. No need for further discussions.

 

I know. I think you should stick with giving business advice to people who went to the top business schools in the country. Not beginners who can easily become confused.