I’ve had several businesses and have had a federal taxpayer ID with and without employees.
You might need to check local zoning restrictions. And whether or not you’re required to have a license.
If you sell in Texas, you’ll need to setup a sales tax account with the Comptroller.
And don’t forget that you likely (I’m not in Tarrant County, so I don’t know for sure) need to file a business personal property rendition with the local property tax appraisal district.
It may well be worth it to find a CPA and get your books setup right from the start. If it’s a relatively simple business, you can do the bookkeeping and let the CPA check it all once a year when you file your annual tax returns. He can also advise you as to what interim tax forms you may need to file. And, if you have a relationship with a CPA, you can always call when you have a question. You can also get some guidance about what business form to take (sole proprietor, some form of corporation, etc).
If you’re going to be a sole proprietorship, at the least file a DBA with Tarrant County.
And you’ll want to consider insurance - a commercial insurance broker can tell you what’s involved.
A couple more thoughts. Above I’ve mentioned a CPA and an insurance broker; you might want to seek some counsel as to business form from an attorney - especially if you incorporate or have any partners or investors. And you’ll at least want to know who you’re going to call should the need for an attorney arise.
It occurs to me as I look at the above that my long time attorney, who has served as such for more than one business, is my best friend from childhood, the insurance broker who protected two corporations for many years was a high school buddy’s younger brother whom I hired, for that reason alone, to work for me when I was just out of college - we’ve long since become friends - and my CPA, who is still my personal CPA, I inherited from a friend.
My point is that the personal relationships I’ve enoyed with those three professionals definitely greased the skids several times over the years. So, don’t just plop open a phone book and pick a CPA whose name you think you can pronounce. Work your friends and acquaintance for contacts and recommendations first.
And last, but hardly least, you need a business plan. It doesn’t have to be a formal document that will withstand some kind of 3rd party’s scrutiny. It’s for you. It can be quite brief. But you need to go into this knowing exactly what you are trying to do, an approximation of what you think you can do, and the costs involved. If you’re more given to brevity than I, I suppose you could do it in three sentences (or one long one).
Well, OK, that was second to last. Another thought. I get the impression you’re contemplating a sole proprietorship wherein you make and sell, and possibly resell, novelties. A serious marketing effort may well require resources to generate sales that go beyond what you’ve experienced as yet. Not that it’s necessarily right for you, I’ll note that I took on as a full partner a dedicated marketer in one effort, and we wound up with additional marketing staff - it was worth it.
Anyway, bloviation attack is over now.
Good luck, Bad News Baboon!
