Legal Question in Business Law in Virginia

Re: Doctrate Degree

There are a number of things that you need to do and I a not sure that you can cover everything in a question like this. I would not consider this a complete answer without more checking around and possibly seeing an attorney.

However, to open any business you must get an occupational (business) license from your County where you will have your primary office. This is essentially just registering to pay taxes, despite the grandiose name. For the privilege of paying taxes, you get a "license," but this applies to ANY business and is NOT the same as a license to practice a profession like counseling or law or medicine, etc.

Note that after you register with your County Commissioner of the Revenue for a business "license," they will bombard you periodically with demands to know all of your "inventory" and business equipment -- all of which is taxed based on its VALUE in addition to your income. So all things considered it is best not to own anything valuable for your practice that you don't actually need. You will pay tax on the value of any inventory (not applicable to you) or business equipment (including computers).

First, you should decide what business form you want to use, such as sole proprietorship or professional corporation. To create a corporation, you must go to the State Corporation Commission. A corporation for professional services such as yours requires a special form and process to set up a Professional Corporation.

If you do NOT incorporate but use a name for your practice other than your own name, you must file a form with the circuit court where you have your primary office registering the "fictitious name" (doing business as name).

You will not need to worry about sales taxes, fortunately.

Your biggest headache will be dealing with commercial real estate, which can be expensive. To get started you might want temporary office arrangements or an "executive suite" arrangement. I know of some such companies. That might help you get going, so that you can afford a full office after getting some money coming in.

As far as professional licensing is concerned, I am not familiar with the licenses required for counseling. Depending on what you are doing, you probably need to get licensed in Virginia, but your school might have the best contacts for their profession.

See: � 54.1-3500.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+54.1-3500