Multiple State Business Licensing

[Anonymous]

Hi Dan & Folks,

My name is Charles, from Denver, Colorado.

Great forum! I’ve enjoyed both learning and sharing info.

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My question is, what can I do about licensing for work in multiple states?

Do some states accept licensing from other states, or do they all need to be of their own issue?

Which states might be tougher than others?

I like to travel in my rv and find work where I can. It’s fairly easy to do and it’s a lot of fun. Especially now with Google Earth. It’s like having my own helicopter. I just cruise over town and pick out jobs to go look at.

Up ’till now I’ve been flying under the radar without any problem. I am a small one-man show and I don’t expect anyone would be too upset, but you never know.

If there is a good way to go legal I’d love to find out about it.

Thanks for all your great insight into this thing we call putting paint on the ground!

Best regards, Charles Dickinson

Freedom Striping Company

Denver, Colorado

Please see pics @ flickr.com/freedomstriping

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here’s a copy of my PavePro Bio…

ID, Charliestripe

Rollin’ round the USA! Havin’ fun!

20 year striper, wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Got paint on the ground in over 25 states!

Have five tanks on three conventional machines. Never switch colors, ever.

The easiest answer is usually the best answer.

[Anonymous]

I have been wondering the same about tax licenses. I think that, without checking each state, you would need a tax license in each state. I checked with a businessman that basically works in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. He needs to have a license for each state, and says that he thinks it costs about $200 per state. Now that may put a stop to my idea of heading south in the winter, to do some striping, and maybe just stripe enough to pay a little expense. At least, it would minimize the number of states where I would do work.

Have you found any info? I am also questioning whether you have commercial plates? If so, I believe that a person would have to pay fuel tax in each state? It suddenly doesn’t sound like so much fun. Flying under the radar may be ok, but it could end up being problems. Maybe if a guy did it cheaply enough, there may not be an issue, but I talked to a UPS Store that had a “fly by night” due their lot. The state of South Dakota is trying to track this “fly by night” down. It seems that he either charged sales tax and didn’t give SD the split, or didn’t charge taxes on the labor or paint.

I’m not so sure that every state charges taxes on labor. Now those would be the states to visit. Thanks.

[Girish C. Dubey, President STAR, INC.]

Hey Arcee
How are you?
I see this post…but I’m not the guy.
Here’s what I’d say though…
1) It sounds like everything you speculate…is right…I think.
…but…it still sounds like a cheap price to pay.
2) If each state is different…just call each state. It sounds like you may be on hold for a while…but…if you’re interested in warmer weather…striping…why not? I wouldn’t blame you for, at least, finding out. Then decide.
I’m sorry I can’t help beyond that.
Maybe it’s a simple as filing for a Vendor’s license. Again…I’m not the expert on taxing for different states.
…South Texas sounds nice though…doesn’t it?
Dan

[Anonymous]

I guess I’m “legal” now. South Dakota does not have sales tax on line striping, so I didn’t need to get a sales tax license. I did, however, have to get a Contractor’s Excise Tax permit. Line striping is considered general improvemnet, so instead of sales tax, I am charged 2%, and need to pay this quarterly. I still need to pay sales tax, myself, for paint.

[Girish C. Dubey, President STAR, INC.]

Arcee…I’m tellin’ ya…I cannot wait to hear about your first job.
Congrats on all this.
That said…I need to blast out of here…but…keep in touch on that first job.
Let me know when it is.
Dan

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