Legal Question in Business Law in Tennessee

A tax exempt and tax ID number are two different things. A tax exempt number allows you to buy items for resale without paying sales tax because the sales tax will be collected from the end purchaser. Otherwise, the same item could be taxed dozens of times from manufacturer to consumer.

A tax ID number is basically a social security number for a business.

You should have both.

A word of caution - if you do nothing and just start this business and something goes wrong - a pallet you sell breaks and hurts someone or something expensive - you could loose everything you have and even income in the future.

If you really want to do this - you need to set up a limited liability company to protect your personal assets from a problem that happens in the business. It is very inexpensive to do and can save you from so much grief. You can even do it yourself - get the forms off the internet and file them with the Secretary of State. I suggest you contact a lawyer but if you cannot afford to do that - do it yourself.

Good luck ...