I habe been with my hosting name, and having a reseller account for a little while now. I never made any money off it, just enough to cover cost of the server, never making money I could put into my pocket, I just like to help friends, local people ya know, good intensions at the moment.

But I am looking into making a business out of it. I can support it, with the customer base I have. I need to know what to do. I am a single man server operation.

Do I need to go get a tax license from the county I reside in.?
Do I have to file under a different than I would since I am under 18?

I have no clue on this end what to do...if anyone can point me to the right direction who has had this same problem. Please post your suggestions.

Thanks for your time.
Chris

Well, you have to be 18 to be in a legal binding contract, I know that much.

You also would probably need a DBA/Trade Name through your state. Most states don't tax web hosts since no actual tangible good is exchanged, just a service. All you would have to do is file all profits with your state and federal income tax.

As a sole propr. you can use your social as the EIN.

Well for the 18 part, I totally agree, and since I will be 18 in just a few months its not too big of a concern, but I did not know if they meant anything to the tax people.

All I have to do is pay state and federal taxes which is a good thing correct??

Do I have to get a Business License as well?

Who can I contact about this? The IRS? Is there a site on this?

Get your DBA from your local county clerk. You can get the forums from any legal stationary store in your city.

Call your city administration office and ask if you need to file any forms or get any licenses for your business.

Call your county and ask the same.

Then call the state's department of revenue / commerce / licensing (these might be separate departments) and ask them the same.

Try looking up your city, county and state on the internet... I would imagine some of this information would be online under the likes of "how to start your own business."

Most will require that you are 18. ;) Each government (city, county & state) should also have info on what you will have to file, when, in the matter of forms/reports. If you'd like a quick & dirty "help me climb thru the paperwork jungle" I would recommend calling a CPA and tell them you need a 30-60 min. crash course... ask them how much it will cost for someone to meet with you to get all the paperwork and schedules and everything explained. It might be like $100-150 which seems like a lot, but it's a small price to pay really... because not filing the appropriate paperwork is a huge headache, not to mention the aggravation of knowing you have something due "somewhere" and not knowing where, how or why!!! :(

I went that route and it was the best thing ever. The CPA's wife (who works in his office, hehe) met with me and laid out each form, each thing, that needs to be done monthly, quarterly, annually... it was super.

:D Bailey

Originally posted by xnet
Well, you have to be 18 to be in a legal binding contract, I know that much.

You have to be 18 to be in an enforcable legal contract. minors can sign contracts, but not things like car loans, etc.

TheComputerGuy: You might want to go to a bookstore and buy a few small business books, they can be very helpful.

I don't know what the situation is in the US, but here in the UK I found a company that specialised in setting up companies, and they set my company up for £120, which saved me a lot of time and hassle. It was worth the money.

Originally posted by TheComputerGuy
Do I need to go get a tax license from the county I reside in.?
Do I have to file under a different than I would since I am under 18?Yes, you have to get a tax license. Both State and Federal. If you are under 18, a parent would have to sign. Go to the County Office, and tell them. I'm sure someone will help you. In fact, when I went to do mine I couldn't find anybody so I asked a security guard, and he said "Oh, down the hall, take a right". Walk in, there's a couple of people, and some conference rooms. I said what I needed, the clerk handed me the stuff after a couple of minutes, and I was on my way after paying the fee's.

It all depends of the country you live in. Here in Belgium things are a lot more complicated if you want to start your own business.

That's true about Belgium. It always amazes me when I hear how easy it is to start a
business in the States. Here in Belgium you have to first have your certificate to prove you have
business knowledge, ("distribution attest") or at least your high school diploma with
enough hours of business courses.
Then you have to have your account books marked when you go to sign up for your
business license. You must have a business bank account not just a private one , and
you have to join and pay monthly dues for your social security as an independent.

This is all just to run a sole proprietor business.( Did I forget something here? )
If you go bankrupt, you don't just loss you business but you can loss all your
belongings, house , car, furniture , the lot!
If you want to be protected from that ( limited liability ) you have to cough up at
least over 6000 dollars! So you see here in Belgium, people think twice before
taking the leap. And under 16 it is illegal to work at all! So technically any one under
16 is breaking the law, ( not that it stops them .)

Maybe a bit off topic , but then you didn't say from where you were. Each country
has it's own and different laws.
rinnando