business license

dbgpowerwash

New member
what kind of business license do most pressure washing contractors have? just a contractors license, does an LLC cover what you should have?
 
The license requirements vary from town to town and state to state. You need to talk to the courthouse in the areas that you are working. They will tell you what you need in order to be legal.

+1

Some areas it is just a plain ol' business license. But I know in some areas you have to get a contractor's license because it can be considered home improvement.
 
Adam,
In Arizona, since you are providing a service, you do not need to have a tax license. If you are involved in heavy duty graffiti removal, you will need a contractors license. If you have a contractors license, you will need a tax license from the state, and from every city you work in under your contractors license. So say you are doing a $900 graffiti job in Phoenix, you will need a contractors license, and a tax license, and pay sales tax on what you did. If you go to Mesa, and do the same thing, you will need to do the same thing, but for Mesa. If you are just cleaning something, pressure washing, etc. You do not need to pay sales taxes. on it.
I have a contract that on some parts of the work, I need to pay the sales tax, and on the other parts, I don't, so I need to separate them out. This is done fairly easily in quickbooks.
is that clear as mud???
 
yeah i get it... why do you need a contractors license for graffiti removal and why do you have to pay taxes on that? i do a lot of heavy equipement and a couple guys stopped and had me wash their trucks. i billed them and got a call from accounting saying i needed to charge sales tax for washing the trucks but not the equipment. i guess i just dont see where it is needed and where it is not.
 
The sales tax would probably be your state comptrollers' office, here in Texas that is who you get your sales tax permit from.

Back in the 1980's they started having service companies start charging sales tax on lawnmowing, landscaping, tree trimming, etc......

Unless it is city, state, federal, church, or an organization that has a certificate to not pay sales tax, you have to charge and collect sales tax here on pressure washing.
 
I love living in the land of the semi-free (as long as you don't make any furtive moves).

We have a $200 state license.
We have two jurisdictions here and you get one license in whichever one you live in and can otherwise work all over the state.
We have no taxes on services.
No corporate income taxes.
No state income taxes.
Workers comp isn't cheap but it isn't ridiculous.
Incorporation is cheap and easy.
OSHA is easy to work with.
EPA (local) is easy to work with.
NDOT does not require any DOT stuff at all as long as you aren't over 22k lbs.

Overall, just as wonderful place to do business.


Thank you for all the money you guys around the nation throw into the slot machines!
 
The sales tax would probably be your state comptrollers' office, here in Texas that is who you get your sales tax permit from.

Back in the 1980's they started having service companies start charging sales tax on lawnmowing, landscaping, tree trimming, etc......

Unless it is city, state, federal, church, or an organization that has a certificate to not pay sales tax, you have to charge and collect sales tax here on pressure washing.
chris do you charge a sales tax? i don't charge sales tax. I do pay taxes though on my income, how is this going to turn out for me at the end of the year?
 
I have to charge sales tax because where I live, services like what I offer are taxed. A lot of places don't charge sales tax on services, you have to find out when you register your business and take care of all the paperwork.
 
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