This discussion reminds me how fortunate I am to be doing business from a rural township in Wisconsin. I can be in downtown Milwaukee in a half-hour. I pay $10 every two years for my Wisconsin Vendor's License, which just identifies me as someone who must file a sales tax return. I service 6 counties, and as long as I file my sales tax at the correct rate for each county (4 rates for 6 counties) there's no problem.When I converted the basement to my rebuilding shop, the town building inspector wouldn't let me tell him what I would be doing - just didn't want to know something that might force him to hassle me. We're a neighborhood that believes in "live and let live" - there's a variety of home business stuff going on up and down the street, and no-one's ever complained. counting my blessings Mike > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Hy Cohen <frowninverter at gmail.com> > To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> > Sent: Thu, Jul 15, 2010 8:37 am > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Probelm with Business License. Please help! > > Here in CA, you are apparently required to have a license with the > county, even if you’re based in a city. CA is like living on an alien > planet compared to WA, where I’m from. There are a bunch more hoops to > jump through down here, and they charge easily 4 to 8 times as much > for their fees. I got price tag shock when they told me my county > business license was $415. I was expecting around $75. And that’s just > one example of one of the hoops. <grin> To top it off, depending on > the different city codes, even if I have one client in a city I may be > required to have a business license for that city. Ugh. I really do > want to play by the rules, but the gov. sure isn’t a fun opponent in > this game. <grin> > > That’s a good idea about looking into rezoning if we’re going to be > here longer than I’m hoping. > > I was advised to form my company as an LLC. I was going to just get my > sole proprietorship until I moved, thinking it would save some money. > Well, I think that idea has been tossed out. The only part I don’t > like about the LLC, is CA has a minimum mandatory $800 yearly tax on > LLCs, even if you make absolutely no money. Now I don’t know what to do. > > Thanks, > Hy > > Hy Cohen > San Juanqin County, CA > frowninverter at gmail.com <mailto:frowninverter at gmail.com> > > > *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org> > [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org?>] > *On Behalf Of *Paul T Williams > *Sent:* Thursday, July 15, 2010 10:22 AM > *To:* pianotech at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org> > *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] Probelm with Business License. Please help! > > David, > > I was always curious that if we are licensed in the city in which we > live as well as the state, do we also have to have a license for all > the surrounding cities in which we work? (It doesn't matter now, > since I'm a CAUT), but I didn't ever know if I was bending some sort > of law living in Clinton, WA, but doing business all around Puget Sound. > > Best, > Paul > > > From: > > "David Stocker" <firtreepiano at hotmail.com > <mailto:firtreepiano at hotmail.com>> > To: > > <pianotech at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>> > Date: > > 07/15/2010 11:54 AM > Subject: > > Re: [pianotech] Probelm with Business License. Please help! > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > A huge problem for us is that the laws and codes are written by people > who are educated into thinking commercial can only mean retail stores > or industrial businesses. Our kind of business does not exist in their > perception of the universe. The city I grew up in and started my > business in made it literally impossible for me to remain, thereby > losing my taxes. The county here classifies me the same as a piano > teacher; which means if I have no sign, no employees and do nothing > outside, they don't care. In Washington state there is no licensing of > businesses by the county, only by the state and cities. A business > license is not the same as an occupation permit. > > You might ask about the procedure for re-zoning your property. > Sometimes it is not as onerous as you might think, and you may be > presenting your cause to a committee of citizens rather than bureaucrats. > > David Stocker, RPT > Tumwater, WA > > > *From:* Hy Cohen <mailto:frowninverter at gmail.com> > *Sent:* Thursday, July 15, 2010 02:47 > *To:* pianotech at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org> > *Subject:* [pianotech] Probelm with Business License. Please help! > > Hi everyone, > > I just moved here to California a couple of weeks ago, and am working > on getting my business plan assembled so I can soon start my piano > tech business. > > As part of that process, I gave a call over to my county to find out > how much a business license would be (I live outside the city limits). > They told me $415. But then they asked where I would be operating my > business, so I explained to them that it would be a home-based > business where I will perform a majority of my services at my clients’ > location and that once in a while I would take a part home to work on > using manual hand tools which are pretty quiet, and that my business > would not generate any additional traffic, etc. She then asked me for > my address, so I gave it to her. > > Just as soon as I gave her my address she announced that I could not > run my business where I live! She said the property is zoned as > agriculture, and because I would occasionally bring something home > with me to work on that it would be considered a commercial operation > which would not be allowed under the property’s zoning. Any > thoughts…besides moving or pretending I didn’t hear what the lady > said? <grin> I’ve left messages for the city to find out if I lived > there if I would run into the same problem, but they haven’t called > back. In your experience, am I likely to run into this problem living > in a city? We are planning to move into a city in the near future. But > with this goofy problem, we might be moving sooner rather than later. > <grin> Thanks for your advice! > > Warmly, > Hy > frowninverter at gmail.com <mailto:frowninverter at gmail.com> >
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