San Diego small business start up costs (sales, hair salon)

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Anyone do this recently? How tormenting was the licensing process? Delays? Overall costs?

[shmoov_groovzsd]

We did it here in LG last year, but filed our DBA with the County beforehand so when we registered as a home business, it was all hunky dory.

What kind of 'small business'? Home based like a consultancy or contractor?

[lrmsd]

Depends on the kind of business. Are you selling only online, not selling but consulting, no foot traffic at the location, etc. Sole proprietor vs. LLC, etc. My experience is that it was largely a formality, no delays, just paperwork and not something to fret over. BUT, it really will depend on what type of business and if you need a business license of a particular kind in order to operate.

It's actually just a business 'tax certificate', the license would be to do certain activites [hair salon, food, liquor, etc etc] not to operate the business itself which is just paying taxes. If you want to establish yourself for tax purposes under a vanity name DBA, then you'd simply apply [and I think they still require to to list your chosen name in a local paper for 4 weeks, some kind of old school thing to ensure that no one objects or is already using that name, from what I understand.]. Same if you want to file as LLC vs. sole proprietor.

Also, if you are located in an area designated as an improvement zone, there may be incentives [again, if you'll have foot traffic].

If you resell items [anything that you charge sales tax on], you'll need a sales tax permit-this is applied for [it's free] through the state of CA, a 'seller's permit' and you pay taxes on your sales to them on a quarterly basis. You receive this through the BOE-board of equalization:
http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqseller.htm
Apply online, fast, easy, free to apply....

If you operate entirely online and will not have foot traffic or a physical location that people will come to, it may not be necessary to apply for a tax certificate with the city [essentially applying for the ability to pay them a tax.] So, check the fine print...

Essentially, it can be very easy and low cost, or a little more time consuming and costly, depending on how many different licenses or permits you need, insurance if you have people on site, etc.

You've probably already checked this out, but just in case:
https://www.sandiego.gov/directories/business.shtml

Also, this:
One of the main reasons any business owner is required to carry a license is so that revenue can be tracked for taxation purposes.
Run a Home-Based Business?
Don't sweat it-you just want to cover you base in terms of liability to customers and taxes paid to the city, state and feds. You need a 'license' in order to sell certain things, for taxation purposes, not to actually do them per se but to be able to 'sell them'-ie, you are engaging in transactions and this is what you need to have 'permission' for.

Here's the business tax certificate application info; you can apply online and it's a little over 50 bucks-you must do it within 15 days of opening your business.
https://www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/t.../btaxhow.shtml
Obviously, if you provide personal care services, sell alcohol, food, etc. you may need separate permits. The tax certificate is just the basics.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

All great points lrmsd as usual. You covered all the points pretty much and as you point out, it totally depends on where 1ATP is looking to set up the business and structure it (LLC, Sole Proprietorship, S-Corp etc.)


1ATP, in addition, if you are looking to open an actual office are you in need of SBA assitance in terms of financing etc? All these things add up.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

I'll be selling items crafted out of a woodshop. It's something I've wanted to do all along. Probably will be selling firewood too so it would go well together. It will be just me and out of my existing residence.

[Think4Yourself]

I imagine the costs will be highly dependent upon exactly what sort of business one is contemplating starting. The generic averages are largely worthless and instead specifics are required because opening a nuclear reactor requires a whole different amount of regulatory compliance to opening an auto parts store (just to show one extreme example). So what line of business are you thinking about so we can actually give you solid feedback?

[1AngryTaxPayer]

See above. I have a wood shop and will be selling items local and online plus firewood for starters. This is for starters. If it goes well I may keep at it. I have a good paying, full time job but it is a stress factory so I'm looking for a plan b. One that doesn't involve 10 hours a day in an office.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Ok great, sounds like a really great idea especially if its something that pacifies you.

So technically it sounds like you want to start your business from home (eg. be a sole proprietor or LLC? but sell at weekend type of events or online? Is that correct?

Yeah you would need to specify to the City what line of business it will be. There are guidelines in regards to what you can and cant do from your home address being used as an office for your business no matter how big or small (like having an actual lumber yard in your backyard lol.)
My suggestion would be to think about how you want to structure the business first. This is important for many reasons.

I would look at setting up a PO Box and DBA for your business as a start. Even its 1ATP Industries and you are the sole proprietor or LLC. While a SP structure is the easiest it wont prevent you from being sued directly etc. But at this point unless you have are planning on selling wooden devices that harm the user or others, I would not worry too much right now. But it was just an example.
Setting up the DBA us to protect your identity and privacy (somewhat) by setting up the PO Box in the business name. Its cheap to set up a PO box as well as file a DBA.

For example my wife has her own firm. These were the first steps we did. PO Box> City license> DBA> Bank/Credit Account in business name etc. She is still the SP but can make the switch to LLC any time we feel is necessary. She is a consultant and really gets paid on consulting for whatever firm she works for, so any legal mombo jumbo will be totally different to what you are looking at doing.

https://arcc.sdcounty.ca.gov/Pages/fbn-info.aspx

https://www.usps.com/manage/get-a-po-box.htm

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

Ok great, sounds like a really great idea especially if its something that pacifies you.

So technically it sounds like you want to start your business from home (eg. be a sole proprietor or LLC? but sell at weekend type of events or online? Is that correct?

Yeah you would need to specify to the City what line of business it will be. There are guidelines in regards to what you can and cant do from your home address being used as an office for your business no matter how big or small (like having an actual lumber yard in your backyard lol.)
My suggestion would be to think about how you want to structure the business first. This is important for many reasons.

I would look at setting up a PO Box and DBA for your business as a start. Even its 1ATP Industries and you are the sole proprietor or LLC. While a SP structure is the easiest it wont prevent you from being sued directly etc. But at this point unless you have are planning on selling wooden devices that harm the user or others, I would not worry too much right now. But it was just an example.
Setting up the DBA us to protect your identity and privacy (somewhat) by setting up the PO Box in the business name. Its cheap to set up a PO box as well as file a DBA.

For example my wife has her own firm. These were the first steps we did. PO Box> City license> DBA> Bank/Credit Account in business name etc. She is still the SP but can make the switch to LLC any time we feel is necessary. She is a consultant and really gets paid on consulting for whatever firm she works for, so any legal mombo jumbo will be totally different to what you are looking at doing.

https://arcc.sdcounty.ca.gov/Pages/fbn-info.aspx

https://www.usps.com/manage/get-a-po-box.htm

This is good stuff here. Thanks. Do you really need another mail box address or is it just smart?