My income has recently gotten to the point of needing to separate business expenses/income from personal expenses/income.

To do this, I have decided that the best way to do this is to get a business license and DBA...

First of all, however, if this is not what should be done, please let me know. I am new to the world of business, and I'm not sure what the procedures/expenses are...

All income is in the form of digital goods (both local clients and remote). Having local clients be able to make their checks out to my business name is much more professional than having them made out to my personal name, and gives a better impression, which is why I want the DBA.

My main thing is that I'm not sure if I really need the business license. Do I have to have the business license to get the DBA?

If my assumptions are correct, and I need both a business license and the DBA, where do I go to get these things done? Is it at the city courthouse or are they filed at a state level?

I just want to go with the best option for my situation. My monthly income ranges from 3000 to 4000, and I'm tired of having all of that thrown in to my personal checking account with no separation between personal finances and business finance...

Any and all advice is appreciated...

Kevin

PS - What did it cost you to get your small business license? I'm trying to find the cost online but I can't come up with anything..

If my assumptions are correct, and I need both a business license and the DBA, where do I go to get these things done? Is it at the city courthouse or are they filed at a state level?
DBA you get from your County Clerk's office. In my county, it costs around $30.
Not sure what kind of "Business license" you are referring to.

If you want to make your business a seperate entity tax-wise, go on the IRS website and get an Employer Identification Number, and use that when setting up your business bank account.

What I do is have my DBA, and file my business income/expenses on a Schedule C with my personal taxes.

According to my city authorities, if I am operating a business under the business name, I must file for a business license from the city...

But the woman I talked to didn't seem too terribly competent, and I'm not sure if this type of business actually needs to file for a license, since there is no brick and mortar location, nor taxable goods being sold.

I certainly wouldn't be counting on good information on this forum for legal advice.

You should really be talking to an attorney that knows what the laws are and the best way to proceed for you

According to my city authorities, if I am operating a business under the business name, I must file for a business license from the city...

But the woman I talked to didn't seem too terribly competent, and I'm not sure if this type of business actually needs to file for a license, since there is no brick and mortar location, nor taxable goods being sold.

The only thing I could think of is a zoning variance, but since you won't be operating a public establishment, I don't see why you'd need that...

Depends on what state you live... what county... city, etc.... Every place is different. We really need more info.

Actually, I believe the range is anything over 4 or 6k a year you must have a dba/business license... this is for tax purposes... plus, you should do this since you can deduct business expenses from your taxes. If you go it alone, you only report your earnings, and no deductions. That would suck.

What I normally recommend to people is to shell out about $50 to $100 and sit down with an accountant and have them set this up for you or provide you with the proper way to set this up in your city/county. You could go with a lawyer, but normally, the accountant has done this before (at least the ones in GA, SC, NC, and MS). That money is well-paid rather than sitting on a forum asking a bunch of people who don't really know jack. I've seen some odd responses on this forum.... trust me....

PS - What did it cost you to get your small business license? I'm trying to find the cost online but I can't come up with anything..

Go to your state's website.... I went to http://www.sc.gov/ to start ... then drove down the local state agency to submit my paperwork (sole proprietorship). Of course, for one of my INCs, I had an accountant do that... but later set one of those up myself... fairly easy once you understand the BS.

specifically: http://www.sc.gov/Portal/Category/STARTINGABUSINESS ... your state should have something like this...

Thanks for the info hekwu and everyone else.

I understand that I'm not going to lose anything by doing this, and the benefits are great, but I was just unclear as to the process (I should have paid more attention in those college business classes)...

Making some calls tomorrow...
Kevin

Thanks for the info hekwu and everyone else.

I understand that I'm not going to lose anything by doing this, and the benefits are great, but I was just unclear as to the process (I should have paid more attention in those college business classes)...

Making some calls tomorrow...
Kevin


Please oh, please go to the irs website... download the info on business deductions.... you would be surprised at how much you can deduct... the paperwork is a pain, but if file quarterly (like you should), then the end of the year stuff will be a breeze.

Just to kick in, a friend who has a business got audited... he has to pay a little over $12,000 in taxes since he was not setup correctly... irs will get you.

Wow...some nice, very useful info in that document....