I am so confused...how do I make my online t-shirt business "legit" in California?
So I have been going through countless threads now that have tooons of info. It has been a huge help. I am so confused though. So I have my designs done already for my first set of shirts. Now, this is where I am getting confused.
I am planning on doing this as on online company so people can buy my shirts through the internet or through me personally. What I am trying to figure out is what I should do about making this a legit business. There are so many terms floating around. LLC, Trademark, Sales ID, Tax ID, i get soo confused.
This will be a company run solely by myself. So how do I go about making this official? I am in california, but Im not sure if that makes a huge difference. Should I trademark my company name? File a ficticious business name? Should I apply for my tax id? Should I get a sellers permit?
Im sorry, but I am just soo confused and I really need your help! haha.
From my experience i had file a business name, tax ID, and sellers permit. you can go to your local city hall to file the business name. I had a CPA do all the other paper work. That is if you want to go legit. and if you do an online store you would need an merchant account unless you run paypal. a merchant account requires all those documents. Hope that helps a bit.
So I have been going through countless threads now that have tooons of info. It has been a huge help. I am so confused though. So I have my designs done already for my first set of shirts. Now, this is where I am getting confused.
I am planning on doing this as on online company so people can buy my shirts through the internet or through me personally. What I am trying to figure out is what I should do about making this a legit business. There are so many terms floating around. LLC, Trademark, Sales ID, Tax ID, i get soo confused.
This will be a company run solely by myself. So how do I go about making this official? I am in california, but Im not sure if that makes a huge difference. Should I trademark my company name? File a ficticious business name? Should I apply for my tax id? Should I get a sellers permit?
Im sorry, but I am just soo confused and I really need your help! haha.
Hi,
I too am in california. doing the business by your self you would file as a sole proprietor. the things I had to have( I am in los angeles county) were a business license, dba, and resellers permit. If you want to protect the name of your company than yes trademark it. hope this helps. also when you start selling on the internet remember to never charge tax outside the state of ca for online sales as you will then owe that money to the other states you collected for, I learned that when I had to file my taxes and it made it really confusing, luckly they let me just pay it to the state of california but they would have preferred for me not to have charged it to outside state customers. I only charge ca residents tax. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
In Calif...if you are doing business under a name other than your own..you must file a DBA..doing business as..with the county where you are doing business. to be totally legal you will need a franchise tax board sellers permint and based on your city/county, you may need a business license and depending on your location..you may need a permit to do business in a residential area. In that case you would need to show you are doing mail order/internet and that no customers come to your home...and if you are screen printing..you may have issues with disposition of chemicals.
This is a discussion about I am so confused...how do I make my online t-shirt business "legit" in California? that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
I am so confused...how do I make my online t-shirt business "legit" in California? 
