Are You Required To Register Your Dba In Florida If You Are A Sole Proprietor

If yous're currently self-employed in the state of Florida, or if you're looking to enter the world of one-person business buying, yous've probably looked into becoming a sole proprietor.

The sole proprietorship is the simplest business organization 'format' in America, but that doesn't mean that at that place aren't rules and regulations to follow when you operate one. In improver, at that place are some limits to the functionality of a sole proprietorship.

In this guide, we'll walk yous through the steps to setup a sole proprietorship properly, and help you decide whether or not a sole proprietorship is a good selection for your business.

Guru Tip: Information technology's important to sympathise that a sole proprietorship does not offer personal nugget protection as the LLC (limited liability visitor) does. The LLC is the about popular entity for small businesses and is easy to create – by doing forming information technology yourself or hiring a cheap LLC service.

How to Become a Florida Sole Proprietor

When it comes to being a sole proprietor in the country of Florida, there is no formal setup process. There are besides no fees involved with forming or maintaining this business type. If you lot want to operate a Florida sole proprietorship, all you need to do is start working.

However, just because it'southward so like shooting fish in a barrel to become started doesn't mean at that place aren't some boosted steps you should accept along the style. While these parts of the process aren't strictly required, many sole proprietors find that they are in their best interests.

DBA Acquisition

A doing business as (DBA) name is a crucial function of many sole proprietorships, as it enables you lot to employ an causeless name for your concern, rather than your own personal name. The advantages of acquiring a DBA start with prototype ― most customers feel that an assumed name is more than professional person and trustworthy than doing business with a company that uses its owner's personal name instead.

That said, sole proprietors can sign up for a business bank account using their DBA proper noun, which is another step that goes a long way toward making customers feel more comfortable doing concern with y'all.

You will begin the procedure of acquiring a DBA in Florida past searching the Secretary of Land's database of fictitious names to decide whether your desired DBA is available for apply, and once you accept washed so, you tin can claim your DBA by filing a Fictitious Proper name Registration with the Florida Secretary of Country. You may do so past either mailing in a paper application or by filing online.

If you need more than detailed guidance on the DBA acquisition process in Florida, so you should check out our article about Florida DBAs.

Become Your Business organisation Domain

To fully embrace the business name, annals your URL. With GoDaddy yous'll exist able to quickly build a company website so that nobody else can use or take it.

Decide Tax Requirements

Sole proprietors without employees commonly don't need to acquire a federal revenue enhancement ID number (EIN), because equally a ane-person business, you can typically just use your ain social security number for most things an EIN is used for. Even so, if you would rather not use your SSN for privacy purposes, information technology would be a skilful thought to get an EIN regardless.

Across that, the nature of your concern will determine which taxes use to you lot as a sole proprietor.

Businesses that sell appurtenances or products, for example, are typically subject to Florida'due south sales and apply tax. To annals to pay these types of business-specific taxes, you must submit Form DR-one, the Florida Business concern Tax Application. By submitting this form, you will officially register your concern with the Florida Department of Revenue and automatically annals for any taxes that your concern is liable for. You tin submit this form either online or by postal service.

Obtain Business Licenses and Permits

There isn't a requirement in Florida for sole proprietors to acquire a general business concern license, but depending on the nature of your business you may need other licenses and/or permits to operate in a compliant fashion.

Since Florida has a large number of these types of licenses and permits, y'all should consult the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's businesses and professions search to determine whether any utilize to your business.

In addition, you lot should bank check to see if your business organisation needs whatsoever licenses or permits on the local level.

Major Florida cities – including Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and St. Petersburg – all have their ain individual laws and regulations, so you should bank check with your city or county to ensure that you have met all local requirements.

What Is a Florida Sole Proprietor?

As opposed to a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), the sole proprietorship is not a legal business concern entity. The sole proprietorship is a one-person business that is not considered to be a singled-out entity from the person who owns it, and information technology is oft operated using the owner's personal name.

Here are the three master things you lot need to know:

Tax Responsibilities

Because there'due south no distinction between the owner and the concern itself, sole proprietors don't need to file concern tax returns ― they instead simply claim any concern profits or losses on their personal tax returns.

Contracts

Sole proprietors are allowed to sign contracts using their personal name, and along those aforementioned lines, customers can write checks to the business by using the sole proprietor's name.

More Flexible

The other big difference betwixt sole proprietorships and more formal business concern structures is the fact that sole proprietors are allowed to commingle business and personal assets as much as they want to. With LLCs and corporations, buying is required to keep their assets split from those of the company. The downside of this aspect for sole proprietors is that if your business is sued, creditors are free to pursue your personal assets similar your business firm, motorcar, personal bank accounts, etc. For corporations and LLCs, creditors are limited to your business assets.

Conclusion

While the sole proprietor is such a uncomplicated business organization classification that Florida doesn't even require a business organization registration process or any type of fees, depending on how you use your sole proprietorship and what industry yous operate in, yous yet might have some important steps that need to be taken.

When information technology comes to problems of taxation, licenses and permits, or even the name you want to call your sole proprietorship, you lot exercise need to exist vigilant to make sure you lot're not overlooking anything.

We hope this guide helped you answer any questions you had for sole proprietorships in Florida, and we wish you success with your business organization!