Registration
Registering a business: the order, the offices, the deadlines
General information on the law in the United States (as of August 2026), not legal advice. Other countries regulate this differently.
Registering a business in the United States is not one act but four, at three levels of government, and none of them tells the others. Choose the structure, file with the state if you chose an entity, get the EIN free from the IRS, then open the state tax accounts and register with your city. A Portland business has 60 days for the city registration and needs no sales tax permit, because Oregon has no sales tax; twenty minutes north in Washington it would need one before the first sale. Since 11 August 2026 companies formed in the United States no longer file a beneficial ownership report.
Nothing forwards, and that is the whole problem
Ask ten American founders whether their business is registered and nine will name the state filing. It is the visible act: a fee, a confirmation, a certificate with a seal on it. What it does not do is open a single tax account, notify a single city, or produce a single licence. Three levels of government are involved in registering a business here, and not one of them tells the others what you did.
That is the mirror image of how it works in Germany, where a single trade office notifies everyone else. Neither system spares you the work. The German founder mistakes the forwarding for completion; the American founder does not know the other offices exist. The list below is the one thing worth reading before you pay any fee at all.
Who finds out, and who does not
Your state (Secretary of State)
Only if you do it
Where an LLC or a corporation legally comes into existence. A sole proprietorship skips this step entirely, which is why many founders think they have registered when they have not.
The IRS
Only if you do it
The EIN is your federal tax number. It is free, it takes minutes on irs.gov, and no state agency requests it on your behalf. You need it before payroll, before most business bank accounts, and before most state tax registrations.
State department of revenue
Only if you do it
Sales tax permit, and payroll tax accounts if you hire. Forming an entity does not open a single tax account for you. In most states you must hold the permit before your first taxable sale, not after it.
Your city or county
Only if you do it
The step most often missed, because nothing prompts it. Portland and Multnomah County expect a registration with the Revenue Division within 60 days of starting, for a one-time 62 dollars.
Licensing boards
Only if you do it
Trades, food, childcare, health and transport are licensed separately, usually at state level and sometimes at city level as well. Nobody checks this during formation.
Workers' compensation
Only if you do it
Required in almost every state from the first employee, in a few from the first day. It is insurance, not a filing, and it sits outside every other registration.
Your bank
Only if you do it
A separate business account is what keeps the liability shield of an LLC intact. Mixing personal and business money is the single most common reason that shield fails in court.
FinCEN (beneficial ownership)
Nothing to file
The one step that got easier. Since the final rule of 11 August 2026, companies formed in the United States are permanently exempt from beneficial ownership reporting. Mainly foreign-formed companies registered to do business here still file.
Exactly one green line, and it only turned green in August 2026. Every red line stays open until you open it yourself.
General orientation, not legal or tax advice. Requirements differ by state, county and city, and the ones for your trade may be stricter than the ones described here.
The deadlines nobody sends you a reminder for
None of these arrives as a letter. They run from the day you begin, and the first sign that one was missed is usually a bill with interest already on it.
Counting from day one
City or county registration (Portland example)
60 days
Penalties and interest on the business licence tax, backdated to the start.
Sales tax permit, where the state has one
Before the first sale
You owe the tax whether or not you collected it from the customer.
EIN and payroll accounts
Before the first payday
No lawful way to withhold and deposit payroll taxes.
Workers' compensation cover
First employee, day one
Fines per employee per day in most states, plus personal exposure to the claim.
The bars illustrate how much time each step leaves you, they are not measured data. Shorter bars are the tighter deadlines, and the tightest one has no deadline at all: it simply has to be in place on the first day.
The decision that comes before any of this: choosing a legal structure, liability, capital, admin →
The order that saves the most money
Two to six weeks in total for most businesses, and most of that is waiting on other people. Steps 1 and 2 decide what the rest costs; the sequence matters more than the pace.
Decide whether you need an entity at all
One hourA sole proprietorship exists the moment you start working and requires no state filing. An LLC is worth its yearly cost when a customer, a vehicle, a lease or an employee could produce a claim larger than your savings. Choosing after registering means paying twice.
A decision you can justify, not a default.
File with the state, if you chose an entity
One day to three weeksArticles of organisation or incorporation with the Secretary of State, a registered agent with a street address in that state, and a name that is actually available. Filing fees run from about 40 to 500 dollars depending on the state, and several states charge an annual fee that dwarfs the filing fee.
A stamped filing and a state entity number.
Get the EIN, free, from the IRS
15 minutesApply directly on irs.gov and the number is issued at the end of the session. Every site that charges for this is reselling a free government form. A single-member LLC with no employees can technically use a social security number, but an EIN keeps that number off invoices and forms.
Employer identification number, immediately.
Open the state tax accounts you actually need
One to five daysA sales tax permit if your state taxes what you sell, and payroll accounts if you hire. Neither opens by itself. Oregon has no general sales tax, so a Portland bike workshop skips the permit; the same workshop in Washington, twenty minutes north, would need one before its first repair.
Permit numbers and filing frequencies.
Register with your city and county
30 minutesThe step nothing prompts and everyone forgets. Portland and Multnomah County want a Revenue Division registration within 60 days of starting, for a one-time 62 dollars. Most cities have some version of this, and many enforce it through the business licence tax years later.
A city account number and a filing obligation you know about.
Licences, permits and insurance for what you actually do
Two weeks to three monthsTrade, food, health, childcare and transport licences sit with state boards. Workers' compensation cover is required from the first employee in almost every state and is bought, not filed. General liability cover is what a landlord or a corporate customer will ask to see.
The documents a customer or an inspector can ask for.
Separate the money, then keep it separate
One dayA business bank account in the entity's name, funded by a documented transfer, and never used for groceries. This is not bookkeeping hygiene. It is the condition on which the liability protection of an LLC rests, and mixing the two is the most common way founders lose it.
An account, and a rule you keep.
Fees and timings as of August 2026 and typical rather than binding. General orientation, not legal or tax advice.
The free step people pay for, and the one that vanished
Two things are worth knowing before you spend anything. The first: the EIN is free. It is issued in a single session on irs.gov, and every service charging 79 or 200 dollars for it is reselling a government form, usually bundled with a registered agent subscription that renews quietly.
The second: the beneficial ownership report is gone for you. FinCEN issued a final rule on 11 August 2026 that permanently exempts companies formed in the United States, and US persons, from reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act. Foreign-formed companies registered to do business here may still file. Nearly every checklist written in 2024 or 2025 still lists this as a hard requirement with a deadline, which is why it is worth stating plainly.
The Act has not been repealed, only its reporting duty for domestic companies, and it has changed direction several times in five years. Check the current position at the source before you file anything, and before you pay anyone to file it for you.
The tax question that depends on a state line
Whether you need a sales tax permit is not a question about your business. It is a question about geography. Oregon has no general sales tax, so a mobile bike workshop in Portland registers with the city, opens no permit and charges no tax. The same workshop across the river in Vancouver, Washington, needs a permit before its first repair and files returns on a schedule the state assigns.
Founders selling online discover the second half of this late: economic nexus rules mean you can owe sales tax in a state you have never set foot in, once your sales there cross a threshold. The threshold is commonly 100,000 dollars in sales, sometimes counted in transactions instead, and it is set by each state separately.
Neither question has a default answer, and both are cheap to get right at the start and expensive to correct two years in. This is the point at which an hour with an accountant pays for itself several times over.
What each office costs, and what happens if you skip it
The fees are small. The consequences of skipping are not, and they almost always surface later, with interest attached.
| Office | Cost | If you skip it |
|---|---|---|
| Secretary of State (LLC or corporation) | About 40 to 500 dollars to file, plus an annual report in most states | Administrative dissolution. The entity stops existing and the liability shield goes with it. |
| IRS (EIN) | Free, always | No payroll, no business bank account at most banks, and a social security number on your paperwork. |
| State department of revenue | Usually free to register | You owe uncollected sales tax out of your own margin, plus penalties and interest. |
| City or county | Portland and Multnomah County: 62 dollars once, then an annual tax filing | Back taxes and penalties, often discovered years later through a permit or a licence renewal. |
| Workers' compensation carrier | Premium by payroll and risk class | Fines per employee per day and direct personal exposure to an injury claim. |
Figures as of August 2026, typical rather than binding, and state and city amounts vary widely. General orientation, not legal or tax advice.
Five mistakes that cost real money
None of them comes from carelessness. Each one comes from assuming that some part of this system talks to another part.
Treating the state filing as the registration. It creates the entity and nothing else. The tax accounts, the city registration and the licences all sit outside it, and none of them is triggered by it.
Paying for an EIN. It is free on irs.gov and issued in the same session. The paid versions are resellers of a government form, and several of them also sell you a registered agent you did not need.
Skipping the city. Nothing prompts it, so it is the step that surfaces three years later, when a licence renewal or a permit application turns up an unregistered business and a backdated tax bill.
Still filing a beneficial ownership report. Since the final rule of 11 August 2026, companies formed in the United States are exempt. Advice written in 2024 and 2025 says otherwise, and people are still paying services to file something no longer required of them.
Running the business through a personal account. For an LLC this is not untidiness, it is the argument the other side uses to reach past the company and into your savings.
Frequently asked questions
In what order do I register a business?
Choose the structure, file with the state if you chose an entity, get the free EIN from the IRS, open the state tax accounts you need, register with your city or county, then add licences and insurance. Nothing in that chain triggers the next step automatically, which is why the order matters more than the speed.
How much does it cost to register a business?
The state filing runs from about 40 to 500 dollars depending on where you file, and many states charge an annual fee on top that is larger than the filing fee. The EIN is free. Sales tax registration is free in most states. City registration is small and easy to miss: Portland and Multnomah County charge 62 dollars once, then expect an annual business licence tax filing.
Do I need an EIN if I have no employees?
Not always, but you almost certainly want one. A single-member LLC with no employees can use the owner's social security number for federal tax purposes. An EIN keeps that number off invoices, vendor forms and account applications, and most banks ask for one before opening a business account. It is free and issued within minutes on irs.gov.
Do I still have to file a beneficial ownership report?
If your company was formed in the United States, no. FinCEN issued a final rule on 11 August 2026 that permanently exempts US companies and US persons from beneficial ownership reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act. Certain foreign-formed companies registered to do business in the United States still report. The Act itself has not been repealed, so the position is worth rechecking rather than assuming.
What happens if I skip the city registration?
Usually nothing, until it does. Cities enforce these registrations through the licence tax, and the bill tends to surface years later during a permit application, a renewal or a routine data match, backdated to the day you started, with penalties and interest attached. In Portland the window is 60 days from starting.
Read next
Worth registering at all?
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