Liability & Legality

**Sneakyheathen** · 06-11-2008, 05:52 PM

If you are a freelancer, do you need a business license?

**colbyt** · 06-11-2008, 07:00 PM

Where are you located?

In the US no Federal license is required as long as you pay your taxes.

State and local requirements vary based on where you are.

Here the state is the same as the Fed but the local leechs require a license which is just to make sure you pay your taxes.

**willcode4beer** · 06-13-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sneakyheathen

If you are a freelancer, do you need a business license?

Best bet is to contact your local Small Business Administration. You can get lots of advice and help for free. They should know the local requirements regarding a license and zoning too.

**theguru** · 08-20-2008, 08:34 PM

Most likely it is not required, I know for New York it is not, but I have created a small business anyway just to manage my finances, bank accounts, etc. a lot easier. I am 19 so making it all simple is paramount

**Feydakin** · 10-28-2008, 02:22 PM

The other side of the coin is also a legal consideration..

By not having a business license you are effectively a guy making money.. If you get sued for any reason you have no corporate shield between you and your stuff..

Lets say you do SEO for a company.. That company gets banned from Google.. They sue "you" for everything you have.. Money, car, home, everything.. Now, if you create a business entity they can sue the "company" and takes it's assets, but it is much harder to get at you and your assets since they are treated as separate entities..

Running without a license is certainly easier, but not always safer..

**Learning Newbie** · 10-28-2008, 02:50 PM

Feydakin's post should be read a few times. He's 100 % right. Especially for anyone doing business in (*) America, which is a very litigious place. I saw a clip from a movie while flipping through the channels, where somebody asked "Are you going to beat me up?" and the guy answered "No, much worse - I'm going to sue you."

* You can be located in Canada and have a customer in the US, and still be sued. If you don't show up, you can (not necessarily will) be tried in abstentia, and very likely the other guy will win - making it much harder to do business here. And, of course, the issue is only partly legal - we're a society that likes to sue, so, regardless of what the law is, it's more likely to happen.

**johniman7** · 11-01-2008, 02:38 PM

Technically I'm not sure, but I doubt anyone will say anything is long as you claim the earnings as personal income. I had someone do my taxes last year and they did the same thing with my adsense earnings as they did with my day job earnings. There may have been a little less tax on my personal income than from an employer, but I am no expert at these things.