As far as I am aware, to create a new business, all you have to do is register a trade name with your county, and register for taxes with your state. Does this sound right to everyone? Thank you ! :)

This post assumes you live in the USA, btw ;)

Even less than that, if you are registering a sole proprietorship. You are taxed as standard income tax. It may vary from state to state, but all I've had to do in my state (AFAIK - maybe I missed a critical step):

* Register your sole proprietorship with the state. This basically gives you a new legal name to do business under. I think it cost me about $20 or so. You will have to renew that each year, I think. There's some additional information required, like who is the point of contact for the business, what is the business address, etc. This is often called a "DBA" license: "Doing Business As"

* Register for a doing business within your municipality. This varies GREATLY from location to location. For me, the cost of the license depended upon what kind of business I ran, whether it was located in a commercial or residential area, and whether or not I'd be running a storefront or having customers / clients come to my place of business. I think this one cost me about $35 in my new town (I just moved), but about $100 in my previous town (OUCH!) Since I haven't actually gotten this one yet (I'm not actually doing business yet) I avoided the double-charge.

You probably know this already, but take a look at:

www.nolo.com

in their small business section.

Another good source for determining specifics for your area is the Small Business Administration. Contact them, and they can tell you who to get in touch with, or give you the specifics themselves.

Best Regards
Anthony

You need to figure out if you need to charge a sales tax... It might get extra tricky I guess if you are going to put your business online. People buying stuff from your state will probably need to pay sales tax.

Originally posted by Coyote
* Register your sole proprietorship with the state. This basically gives you a new legal name to do business under. I think it cost me about $20 or so. You will have to renew that each year, I think. There's some additional information required, like who is the point of contact for the business, what is the business address, etc. This is often called a "DBA" license: "Doing Business As"

* Register for a doing business within your municipality. This varies GREATLY from location to location. For me, the cost of the license depended upon what kind of business I ran, whether it was located in a commercial or residential area, and whether or not I'd be running a storefront or having customers / clients come to my place of business. I think this one cost me about $35 in my new town (I just moved), but about $100 in my previous town (OUCH!) Since I haven't actually gotten this one yet (I'm not actually doing business yet) I avoided the double-charge.

I have two questions regarding Coyote's comments:

* Do you still have to register your sole proprietorship if you are not going to pick a ficticious name for it? Perhaps I am getting confused here. Is it true that "DBA" registration is not the same as registering a name for your business?

* What kinda business does "developing software at home with no customers coming to your door" fall under? Does it require special zoning or anything?


Thanks!

Special zoning? LOL, no, an at home business can be run from a residential area if nobody comes to it. Similarly, if you went to THEM you or they dont need special zoning.

Heh, indie shareware developer zoning laws...

"Your place of residence is now zoned as 'poor shareware developer', you may now attempt to do business"

Bwahahaha.... Sorry.. heh.. i'm better now. No special zoning required. My father is a city planner... I guess these things seem more funny to me than a normal person since I grew up listening to him go on and on and on and ON about zoning ... and traffic.

Joe

Does anyone have specific New Jersey experience with setting one up? Because according to this: http://www.state.nj.us/njbiz/s_check.shtml

It appears that I just have to go to the county clerk and fill in a trade name form, and then file with the state for tax purposes.

I just want to do the bare minimum to be legal, then if I start making cash I'll switch over to a corporation.

Originally posted by Ktulu
Does anyone have specific New Jersey experience with setting one up? Because according to this: http://www.state.nj.us/njbiz/s_check.shtml

It appears that I just have to go to the county clerk and fill in a trade name form, and then file with the state for tax purposes.

I just want to do the bare minimum to be legal, then if I start making cash I'll switch over to a corporation.

I'm in NJ, and I registered as LLC. You don't need a corporation; LLC is a lot simpler and cheaper to register (and easier to manage). I can't really help you much though, because I had a lawyer file for me. That seems to be the best way to go. It's really not that expensive -- cost me around $300 altogether to register the company, apply for a tax ID, etc.. By the way where in NJ do you live?

* Do you still have to register your sole proprietorship if you are not going to pick a ficticious name for it? Perhaps I am getting confused here. Is it true that "DBA" registration is not the same as registering a name for your business?
If you are just selling games as YOURSELF... say, if your name was John Smith and people were writing the checks to John Smith, then NO, I don't think you'd need to do that. But if you were opening a business called, "John Smith's Games" and people were writing checks to John Smith's Games, then yes, I think you'd need to get a license.

But IANAL. So I could be totally wrong.

* What kinda business does "developing software at home with no customers coming to your door" fall under? Does it require special zoning or anything?
Nope, that would be 'residential' - you are doing it at home. Some municipalities do not require you to obtain a license if you are doing that. In my town, they DO have a category for that - it's the cheapest category though. Check at your city hall (or online, if they have a web presence) for requirements in your area.

Originally posted by Fenix Down
I'm in NJ, and I registered as LLC. You don't need a corporation; LLC is a lot simpler and cheaper to register (and easier to manage). I can't really help you much though, because I had a lawyer file for me. That seems to be the best way to go. It's really not that expensive -- cost me around $300 altogether to register the company, apply for a tax ID, etc.. By the way where in NJ do you live?

Mercer County, Hamilton Township.

Originally posted by Ktulu
Mercer County, Hamilton Township.

Cool, I'm moving not too far from you to Old Bridge soon. I think that's Middlesex County. Good luck with your company, by the way.