BUSINESS LICENSE for EVERY CITY YOU WORK? Threatened by City Employee!

So here’s my experience with Business Licences. I waited in a small line at my City office where a small sign read business licenses. I greeted the women behind the plexi-glass and explained to her I was interested in getting business license but didn’t know where to start. She asked" Are you doing business in Oceanside." “Yes” I said… She then brought out an application and began talking very fast, “You must pay a $50.00 fee, then in six months you must renew your license, then after a year you have to renew it again. You will also be required to report all your earnings and pay 10% of your revenue to the city.” obviously I was overwhelmed with information and became a little upset listening to this women make a seemingly simple process sound like gigantic burden. Hoping to get a some clarification about all the different fees she mentioned I replied, “Wow I didn’t know it was so burdensome a process to want to start your own business.” She bitterly quipped, “If your working in the city of Oceanside without a license, you will be issued a misdemeanor citation and have to pay a fine.” She then asked for the property locations I was working at as if I was already in trouble. I asked her if I have to get a license for every city I worked in. She said yes and I told her that doesn’t make any sense; that would mean weeks and weeks of paperwork and thousands of dollars just for a business license. That’s when she took the application from me and said “then I guess you can’t work at all.” I told her she doesn’t know what she’s talking about and began walking out the door. That’s when I noticed her storm over to the emergency door and approach me. She whispered loudly in my ear (creepy) that there was an officer outside waiting for me. She followed me out to my truck and starting writing down my license plate number. I just had some business magnets made so I really thought she was going to screw me somehow. I drove off completely in shock. There’s thousands of Illegal aliens working without business licenses everyday and I’m the criminal for being a hard working American just trying to get ahead. SO even if I wanted to go back and get the license for my new business, I might be hunted down by some disgruntled city employee… It must feel the same way for someone trying to work in the Old Soviet Russia… So thats my experience with my local city Government :eek:

…Continued from above: Window washing has recently expanded from a part time family and friends operation to a more profitable opportunity so I want to make sure I do everything by the book from the start. I still have not found a complete and accurate list of all the requirements I need to grow my business properly. Apparantly everyone has their own opionion on the matter. Here is the list I’m working with so far, still trying to figure out which are ones are neccessary and which are not…#1 GL Insurance #2 DBA #3 [U]Business license [/U]#4 Workers Comp #5 Bond…
I took care of the DBA no problem. Next on my list was the business license and this is where it got scary! (story above) Can someone please post a list of complete requirements: I plan on having employees and targeting large corporate businesses… Also just wanted to say HI to everyone on WCR (I’m New Here :slight_smile:

Why is it always someone else’s fault?

That’s right Larry unless you’re a business owner, then it’s always your fault. That’s why you has to cover your a** with legal paperwork.

Here is your answer. Go to the Small Business Development Center at your community college or Economic Development Council. You might even get someone at the Chamber to direct you in the right direction. The Small Business center has professional people who can tell you exactly what licenses and fees you need to conduct business in your area.

I can’t believe a city government feels like they can extort 10% of your gross sales?? I would definitely check that out.

Use the resources you are supporting with your tax dollars. I would also call your city commission member and complain about the unprofessional and rude behavior exhibited by your “public servant.” That kind of A**hat behavior won’t change until people stand up and stop taking it from “public servants” living on taxpayer dollars

Hey Damers, give me a call in the morning. I am in San Diego too. I am up at about 4am and will be in Oceanside at about 6am. You can either come meet me at the site or just call and I will give you the run down. Don’t worry about that psyco. She was just having a bad day. (619)634-9580 call me after 4:30am after I got my coffee I.V. in and we can talk.

… and you wonder why the economy is sh*t

It could be worse! I have a friend who owns a catering company. He had to deal with the Building and Health Departments at the same time. Want to talk about a red tape nightmare. Hope that lifts your spirits a bit :slight_smile:

Yuo guys are awesome… Thanks for the help, advice and consolation. Tory I’ll definately be in touch!

Any time Damers

my state told me over the phone, in ohio, I only need to get a service vendors license. this license allows me to collect and report taxes in all counties.
I would think most states are the same.

CA is different.

A business license is not for tax collection. CA does not require tax on WC’ing services, but municipalities might require one to possess a business license in order to conduct businesss within their geographic boundaries.

Is there sales tax on window cleaning service in Ohio?

yes. they consider it janitorial services. and I am required to get a vendors license only so I can charge tax. but I can work in any county with one single license. they also don’t require a general business license in ohio.
surprising since ohio is usually one of the more uptight states when it comes to things like this.
see first paragraph
http://www.development.ohio.gov/Entrepreneurship/faq.htm
but, I have to charge the appropriate taxes for each county. some are 1% some are 1.5% etc. and the state is 5.5% on top of the county.

from what I’m gathering I have to report the taxes to the state, each county, and fed.
I need to find out what I have to do to work in Kentucky and indiana. since I live within 5 miles of both. I’d hate to lose out on all the potential work.

Hello. I am a newbie and new to the site. I am in the works of getting all my stuff done. A 10% comission paid to the city sounds like garbage to me and I would not be working there. I would try protesting or moving. This is what the mafia did years ago. A cut for “protection”. In this case protection from being fined by the Brownshirts of Oceanside. I live in Kansas. Just have to do DBA, city home based license ($35 per year) and 300K of insurance which is only around $180 a year. The lady at the city office was nice and gave me many options of doing it. Including the internet. I was also looking into Legal Zoom.com for an LLC.

Ah, the lady he was talking about was just having a bad hair day. Its true, you are supposed to get a license for every city you work in, but you just need to go to where you are based out of and pay for a year, you could pay for 2 and that only costs like 50 bucks. The city sends you a bill every year for the tax;s and thats only like 300 per year.
Willful ignorance. If you had a license for every single city and pay tax on every single city? We would be out of business and California would be in worse shape than it is now.
Who is gonna fine you? Please. They got people being robbed at gunpoint every day in O-side. I don’t think they give a sneeze about a window cleaner trying to make a living.

I am still going to try it.