I was looking at the government site for Clarksburg, WV (I don't live there now but plan on it in the next few months) to see what the laws were governing businesses within city limits. It said that in order to get a business license you first had to get a Certificate of Occupancy (or a Certificate of Home Occupancy if you run a business out of the home) which requires about 4 inspections (Building, Fire Code, Health Code and police code). It doesn't seem like any of this should apply to us since we're virtual and have no clients running back and forth or on-site employees. Basically, nothing is any different than if you were telecommuting or just had a full-service home office for your personal use. I was just wondering if anyone else has run into this situation and how was it handled. Did you have to go through all of this or were you just able to explain what you were doing?

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

You may want to call the city office. When I moved I checked into that and since I was not having traffic to or from my home I was exempt. The laws applied to home business who serviced clients/customers in their residence.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I do have a business license and did need to get approval for working out of my home. I've done this in four different cities that I've lived in.

The process always sounds more complicated than it is.

They usually just want to make sure that someone is not going to open a business that will be disruptive to other residents in the area. There are also many cities that do not allow you to have employees (other than relatives or other residents at the same address) work out of your home.

Your business license is based on where you actually perform your work not on the location of your clients.

You could probably get away with not having a business license but may subject yourself to fines if you are caught operating without one.

This is a way for cities to get more revenue so they usually come across you one way or another.

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Jeanette
http://www.WestCoastVA.com

Their city site says you need to go through the state first. Have you been to www.Business4WVcom yet?

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Jeanette
http://www.WestCoastVA.com

I'm not sure if you said you were buying or renting. But, some property management firms take into account the home-based business in their leases. So, if you're renting and know which management company is involved, you may want to preview their lease. Similarly, you may want to call the local IRS office for clarification as well. I visited their site but only found links on home based business tax fraud schemes.

Originally Posted by West Coast Virtual Assistants

Their city site says you need to go through the state first. Have you been to www.Business4WVcom yet?

Yeah, I have. I was just wondering about the city part of it. Chances are, we'll be living outside of city limits, so it really shouldn't matter. Crossing my fingers on this one...lol

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Originally Posted by A_Virtual_Jewel

I'm not sure if you said you were buying or renting. But, some property management firms take into account the home-based business in their leases. So, if you're renting and know which management company is involved, you may want to preview their lease. Similarly, you may want to call the local IRS office for clarification as well. I visited their site but only found links on home based business tax fraud schemes.

Thanks for the property management tip. We will be renting but the chances are VERY slim that we'll be going through a property management firm of any kind. But, I'll definitely read the list just to make sure

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Once I moved my home (and office) out of the city and into the county, I had to then get a county business license. Once we got in the system, then we were required to file a property tax return too, to pay annual taxes on our equipment and furniture.

Every county, city and state will have different rules. Call and ask. Do NOT tell them who you are or if you have clients coming to your house or employees. Tell them you are just gathering information. Then decide how to proceed.

I have one client in SC who hired four virtual stock brokers who worked out of their houses. They were considered employees and I needed to get business licenses and state withholding and unemployment tax Id numbers for NJ, NC, VA and MD. What a nightmare. They all eventually moved to SC. Thank goodness!

I have to have a city and county license. I also had to get the city's approval in terms of fire, etc... but it was really just a matter of carrying the paperwork to the people for a signature. That's it. No biggie.

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Stephanie L Watson - VA

I have to apply for a Certificate of Home Occupancy permit every year. All I have to do is fill out a 1 page application and pay $10.00 and that's it. I live in Ohio.

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Blessings,
Carol