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Your home goods store checklist, item by item
Q: What licenses and permits might I need to start a home goods store?
A: Good news: a home goods store is a well-trodden road, and we know its signposts. Each item below MAY apply to you, and we find out which ones do.
1. Business license: A business license for a home goods seller MAY ask what décor and furnishings you carry, whether items are new or secondhand, and how bulky stock is stored.
2. Home occupation permit: A home occupation permit MAY apply to storing décor at home, with limits on delivery trucks, large shipments, visiting buyers and outdoor displays.
3. Sales tax permit: A sales tax permit MAY be needed because furnishings and décor are taxable, and large pieces delivered to buyers can add extra reporting.
4. Product safety labeling: Items such as candles, textiles and children's furniture may need proper labels and safety statements.
5. Landlord clearance statement: A signed note allowing home-based inventory of bulky items may be requested.
6. Supplier invoices: Receipts from wholesalers or makers may be requested.
7. Employer registration: Once people are on the payroll, you MAY also need an employer ID, a withholding account and workers' compensation coverage.
8. Company papers: Depending on how you want to own and name the business, an LLC, a DBA or a tax ID number may come next; we prepare those too.
Our service fee stays put. A business license order that also needs a home occupation permit or another permit still carries one service fee for us. What we do not cover are the upfront annual tax or application fees the govt charges; we find those applications and fill them out.
The upside, with all five senses
Home goods let you turn living rooms into scenes, and soft linens, scented candles and warm wood make shoppers want to take everything home.
Opening day, imagined
Matilda propped a mirror against the wall for Driftwood & Dove Home and finished her license form while a rug dried beside her.
The reason owners form an LLC
A heavy mirror falls off a shelf and injures a buyer, who sues, so without an LLC your home could be at risk.
The numbers behind it
Business code (NAICS): 442299 (All Other Home Furnishings Stores), 449129 under the 2022 update. This page lists 8 paperwork items for a home goods store, and each one is marked as something you MAY need, since we confirm which apply.
Tip: Photograph each piece in a styled scene, because shoppers imagine it in their own living room.
Home goods are why nobody has ever finished decorating.
Ready when you are: start your order and we will find out what applies to your home goods store, fill out the applications and keep the paperwork moving. |