Most towns require an occupation license for any business. Since, you will have to collect sales tax they will find out about you when you apply for a sales tax number and account.
you better check with local zoning to see if you are even allowed to operate a business like that in your basement you would a business license for your proposed business, or you won t be able to get anything wholesale - state sales tax license and sales tax exemption certificates also
Assuming you are in the United States. You should register your business as soon as possible. You can chose to run it under your own name and SS number for a while if you chose but ultimately will want to change that over to an LLC or Corp. Probably an LLC will be most effective for you. It is quite easy to do and you can probably do it yourself online. You do need to register for a federal identification number then. Look, there is no certain profit margin that dictates when you have to do it but certainly you don t want the feds finding out that you didn t do it. If you run for a while under your own social security number, I would suggest going to your local county building and registering a d/b/a, which is doing business as and give yourself a company name. Before too long, you may want to trademark your brand name and logo. If you become popular (as I am sure you hope to), you don t want someone stealing your ideas. In that arena, it is literally first come, first serve. So, even if you have been using your brand for years and didn t trademark it - anyone can take over the rights to the brand name just by registering it.Good luck in your new venture!!www.trysomethingobvious.com
