Start a Business
This hub covers the money decisions in getting a small business off the ground: which legal structure to choose, the registrations and forms each one needs, and what it really costs to start. Requirements trace to the IRS, the SBA, and state agencies. It is free, and there is nothing to sign up for.
Structure is the first real decision
How you register shapes your taxes, your paperwork, and whether your personal savings are exposed if the business is sued. A sole proprietorship is the default and the simplest, but it offers no separation between you and the business. The LLC, S-corp, and sole proprietor comparison lays out that trade-off, and it is worth settling before you spend on anything else.
What actually costs money, and what does not
Some steps carry a real fee and some are free, and the two are easy to confuse. A federal tax ID is the clearest example: you can get an EIN free from the IRS in minutes, yet plenty of sites charge to file the same form for you. Knowing which registrations cost what keeps you from paying for things the government hands out at no charge.
Do the paperwork in order
The registrations stack in a sequence: pick the structure, register it with the state, get the tax ID, then open a business bank account so your money stays separate. Done out of order, steps have to be redone. The guides here walk them in the order that avoids that.
Forming an LLC, state by state
Most small businesses form an LLC, and the cost depends heavily on the state. The filing fee, the annual report, and whether the state adds a franchise tax all vary. See how to form an LLC, with cost and steps by state for the side-by-side comparison and a full guide for each state.
Hiring your first employee, state by state
Registering the business and being allowed to employ someone are different jobs, and the second one is bigger than most people expect. Hiring one person in a state usually means three or four separate registrations with three or four agencies that do not talk to each other, and a combined application, where a state offers one, almost never covers unemployment insurance and never covers workers compensation.
The field that catches people out is workers compensation, because it is not a headcount question everywhere. It is optional for most private employers in Texas, South Dakota and Wyoming, keyed to payroll size rather than employee count in Kansas, and required from your very first employee in most of the rest. See what each state requires before your first payroll for the comparison and a full guide for all 50 states and DC.