Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Need a business license?

Business license requirements are dependent on the laws/ordinances of your local city and/or county. You should check with your local government, such as a city/county clerk recorder's office. Some of these have requirements--and even forms--available online. You may also need to register a fictitious business name (if not using your individual name) with your county office--again, check with the county. These licenses, etc., are generally minimal in cost.

Re: Need a business license?

Typically anyone conducting a business will need to have a business license issued by the municipality. I need more info on location and the specific claims made by you concerning the beads to customer to better respond. Please contact me if you have any other questions.

Re: Need a business license?

If the business is largely operated from Petaluma, the city will expect her to have a business license. They aren't expensive. The fee is based on dollar sales volume. Rather than spend money on lawyers, I suggest a paperback self-help book on how to manage a small business.

After a business license, the next thing that a sole proprietorship involved in retail trade should investigate is a sales tax license. See the Board of Equalization.

When income tax time comes, you will probably need to file a Schedule C with your tax return.

There are numerous other requirements, but truly small businesses generally ignore them without serious consequences while their sales are in the hundreds-of-dollars-a-month category. When you start grossing in the thousands, you need to reassess any informalities and think about taxpayer ID numbers, insurance, fictitious business names, and so on. I'm not advocating taking shortcuts, mind you -- I would love to incorporate her business -- merely saying many very small businesses "get away" with some organizational informalities.

Re: Need a business license?

Depends on location, city, county, etc. Usually cost is minimal.