Who Are You?

• Are you going to be a Sole Proprietor, an LLC, an S Corporation? These are some options for how you run your business. Based on this, you either use your own name or set up a name for your business

• If you are a Sole Proprietor, you may just use your own name.

• If you set up a corporation, you must choose a business name.

  • To do this, you must first search the Corporation Commission and do a Business name availability search to see if the name you would like to use is available. If the name is available, you can register the name.

  • In Utah, you go to corporations.utah.gov and search for Business Name Availability or click here (https://secure.utah.gov/bes/)

• Next, you register the new Business.

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Are you legal? Are you a member of an accrediting body such as AFZPA?

• Are you an accredited member of an organization like AFZPA? In Utah, as with many other states, you are required to be an accredited member of an organization that will certify that you are up to current standards with state requirements to practice in your field.

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Get an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS

• If you are a Sole Proprietor, you can just use your Social Security Number.

• For a Business, you must get an EIN, no matter if you will have employees or not. You can just go online to IRS.gov and search Apply for an EIN number. It will take you to an application screening and then to the actual application. You can also click here.

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Go to the State Tax Commission and Get a Sales Tax ID number

• You must next go to the state that you live in and get a Sales Tax ID number.

• In Utah you would go to tax.utah.gov and go to How Do I get a Sales Tax ID Number? or click here . There you can apply for a sales tax number.

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Go to the City your business will be located in and apply for a business license.

• You will need a business license

• You can go to your city website and download and fill our an application. Most Cities take a week or even 30 days to approve your business license.

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Insurance

Although not required, it is my recommendation that you have some type of insurance to cover any exposure/liability you may encounter. Most home based practitioners can accomplish this with an umbrella policy. This covers you and your home in the event of a problem.

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Suggestions

It is my suggestion that you set up a separate bank account for your business. This keeps things really clean for tax purposes.

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It is my suggestion that you get business cards and get your name out there. Your clients may want a reminder card. Your business card is a great reminder card and you will be surprised how many end up getting passed on to others.

More than anything, have fun! Enjoy helping people by giving them a quality treatment and they will be your best advertising.

 

♡ Tami Baugh McWhorter