Should You License Your Business?

Accordingly to LegalZoom.com, there are 3 main reasons for licensing your business.

First, make a formal statement that you are operating a business. 

Second, provides buyers with consumer protections if needed. 

Third, potentially protect you should legal action be taken against you. 

By obtaining a business license, you are taking the initiative to operate your business legally and tell the world that you are in the business for the long haul.

Contact your state department (licensing is most notably done at the state level) on where to get a business application.

Chances are the business licensing application will take less than 15 minutes to complete and fees will range from $20 up to $100 or more, depending on the type of licensing you’re required to obtain.

It’s easy, inexpensive, and a painless process, so why not?

Should You Get Liability Insurance?

In addition to business licensing, look into enhancing your current insurance coverage or piggybacking another policy to cover assets — especially if your business and residence will have the same address.

When referring to business insurance, I'm referring to Errors & Omissions and General Liability Insurance, which covers your assets should something unfavorable happen. 

Contact your insurance company to adjust your homeowner’s or renter’s coverage accordingly.

Yearly rates run up to several hundred dollars. Well worth the investment if you plan to stock your office with quality, and possibly expensive, office furniture or equipment — or if you plan to see clients in your home office. Covering your assets from an unforeseen lawsuit, fire, accident, and so on, can give you added peace of mind.

Is liability insurance necessary for a resume-writing firm?

You only need to hear horror stories of mom-and-pop establishments being sued over something nominal. Take the case of a man angry with his dry cleaner over a pair of lost pants. The man subsequently sued the dry cleaner for $65 million (he must have loved those pants!) on behalf of himself and two additional defendants who also had a beef with the dry cleaning company.

The man missing his pants was none other than an Administrative Law Judge in Washington. The owners of the dry cleaning business attempted to settle the case several times, offering the customer settlement amounts ranging from $3,000 to $12,000.

Now, what's of importance concerning this case is one pair of pants (and let’s not forget the grief experienced by the two added defendants who also lost pants? … not sure exactly as the details of why two additional defendants were added to the lawsuit never did become public) has cost the dry cleaner legal fees, and may potentially cost several thousands more in settlement money.

It's a prime case of how people can get in a tizzy over something small, so cover your butt.

Must You Collect Sales Tax?

Every state and governing body has different requirements pertaining to sales tax, so check with your taxation department to determine whether you must collect sales tax on behalf of your business. 

Some states stipulate resume writing as a tangible product, regardless of whether the resume is provided as a soft (computer file) or hard copy (printed document), so sales tax must be collected in those cases.

Check and Double Check

Don't laugh, but call and ask a state taxation rep, not once, but 2-3 times spread over 2-3 calls. 

You might find this suggestion strange... but, state departments are rumored to give different answers at different times to the same question. To ensure your business meets state requirements, contact the tax department over a two- or three-week period and speak with different representatives.

When it comes to tax compliance, a person can never be too careful, in my opinion.

Also, learn the classification code assigned to your business. The classification code plays a primary role in determining when sales collection is necessary — and if your business has been classified incorrectly, well, you might find yourself collecting sales tax unnecessarily.