My business just got wings

GT-6 Racer said:
At least for me they needed to have an EIN from the feds and Ohio requires you to have a vendors license and collect income tax (or exemption forms) from your customers.
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Well, ya, OK. Every business has to have an EIN or really small ones the owner just uses his SSN. And sales tax exempt certs are standard as well. No 'vendors license' in NYS, so not familiar with that. Sounds like a money grab.....:cool:
 
DKMC said:
Well, ya, OK. Every business has to have an EIN or really small ones the owner just uses his SSN.
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If it's just you in the shop, use your SSN.

If you intend to do business under any name (other than your own), you will need to file a DBA (Doing Business As) with your local county. I simply bill my customers (the few there are) with an invoice with my name at the top.

Sales tax license is nice to have, which you need to bill and charge tax to individuals for work/products sold to the general public.

However, if you invoice other legitimate business, you can bill the wholesale and avoid charging tax.

Skipping a sales tax license, you loose out on being able to avoid paying sales tax on items you buy that are 'cost of goods sold'.

The work I've done for universities was as a consultant. That required I believe a w-4 (I think? It's been a year or four), and that's so they can report your billing to the IRS in a 1099 form. (Pretty much everyone who isn't on payroll, like consultants, or contract employees gets one...)

Really nothing special needed to do a little work on the side. If you need an EIN you are probably not a hobby shop anymore, and you'll know it.
 
matthewsx said:
I've always found good professional services worth more than they cost....
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Agreed.

However you should have an idea of what you want to do before consulting them. If you're going to do $500 a year, that's different than $20,000 a year in side work. For the $500 a year shop, a 'one man show' tax person may be all you need.
 
Janderso said:
After a year of retirement, I decided it was time to look into starting a business.
Heck, I’m retired, I have time and I’m getting bored.
My wife helped me to set up a Facebook business page. She made up flyers and ordered business cards.
In other words, the lights are on, the door is open and I’m just waiting for the business to just start rolling in.
I went out this morning with one thing in mind, find a customer.
I did. An equipment rental place near me was my first stop. I went in and said, I’m retired, I’m bored, I’m a hobby machinist looking to help you out.
All of a sudden the questions started flying. Can you do this?, do you have a surface grinder?
I think I have some work coming my way.

They send out their tooling that needs to be sharpened. The carbide cutters go in a stump grinder. I was told, if you can sharpen these every rental place in three counties will be calling you.
The jack hammer tool needs to be reground, then heat treated.

I have some fixturing to do but I know I can perform what is required.

Sorry for the long thread. I’m pretty jazzed!

I’m on my way :)
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Awesome! Good for you!!
 
Janderso said:
I’m concerned about telling the city I’m running a machining business out of my residential garage.
Hey, lots of businesses started in a garage!
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That's a good concern. There's a lot to be said for staying below the radar.

24 years ago when our daughter was born, I lost my home office to the crib and changing table. So I rented a 1-room office a couple blocks away... Landlord was a super nice guy. Upon giving me the keys, he told me to watch out for the "city lady."

The "city lady" was a civil servant with seemingly no other job than sniffing out self-employed smucks like me, operating within city limits without a business license. She's was a master at finding every new LLC, DBA, tax ID change of address, etc. He said she would periodically make rounds knocking on doors of all the small office properties in the area looking for new tenants. She'd act like a friendly neighbor asking about where you were from and what you did. Once she learned enough to know you should have a business license, she'd ask to see it.

"Best to just not answer the door," he said.
 
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OCJohn said:
That's a good concern. There's a lot to be said for staying below the radar.

24 years ago when our daughter was born, I lost my home office to the crib and changing table. So I rented a 1-room office a couple blocks away... Landlord was a super nice guy. Upon giving me the keys, he told me to watch out for the "city lady."

The "city lady" was a civil servant with seemingly no other job than sniffing out self-employed smucks like me, operating within city limits without a business license. She's was a master at finding every new LLC, DBA, tax ID change of address, etc. He said she would periodically make rounds knocking on doors of all the small office properties in the area looking for new tenants. She'd act like a friendly neighbor asking about where you were from and what you did. Once she learned enough to know you should have a business license, she'd ask to see it.

"Best to just not answer the door," he said.
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Man, that "city lady" sounds like a stealthy hawk! I reckon it's tough being under such scrutiny, especially when you're just trying to hustle in peace. I've heard a bunch of stories like this. Makes you realize how crucial it is to dot your i's and cross your t's when setting up shop. :rolleyes:

Funny enough, my cousin had a somewhat similar experience. He started a small graphic design studio downtown, and he got a surprise visit from a similar "official" one day. The encounter had him scrambling for all his paperwork. It was a real wake-up call, you know?
 
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