Business Licenses and Permits

When determining if a business license is needed, one should never just assume a license won’t be needed. Cities and towns across the country have varying business license regulations so it’s important to call proper authorities to inquire about licensing requirements. In one type of situation, you would think a business license would not be needed, but depending on the town that’s not always the case.

Many companies have employees that work from home as W-2 employees. These individuals aren’t running their own business, there are no signs or advertisements and they don’t have clients come to their home. They simply work out of an in-home office. This certainly doesn’t seem like a situation that would call for a license.

In most cases a license would not be needed, however some towns view these in-home offices as extensions of the company these individuals work for. Towns with this policy argue the company is using an individual’s home as office, thus a license would be required.

Ryan Julson, Business License Research Analyst, Corporation Service Company

Tags: business license, Corporation Service Company, in-home office