Starting a business here

A PTIN. Every paid preparer must have one. No degree is required — this is the federal requirement, and it is the whole of it.

Internal Revenue Service · $18.75, about 15 minutes online

An EFIN, if you will file returns electronically for other people.

Internal Revenue Service

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Complete the pre-licensing education, pass the exam, complete the criminal background check, and submit the initial application checklist.

Ohio Department of Insurance

The application itself goes through NIPR, a national vendor, not through an Ohio-branded portal. People search the state website for a form that is not there.

Applications go through OCLQS, the statewide online licensing system. Pre-licensing training is required before you can be licensed. The support line is 844-234-KIDS, option 3.

Ohio Child Licensing and Quality System (OCLQS)

Type A and Type B are defined by the number of children, not by whether it is your own house. Going from seven children to eight changes your licence category, the rules you follow and how you are inspected.

Ohio's categories are set by how many children you care for at one time. A Type B home takes up to seven; a Type A home takes eight to fourteen; seven or more in a non-home setting is a child care centre.

Ohio Department of Children and Youth

Child care licensing moved from the Department of Job and Family Services to the new Department of Children and Youth in 2023. Older guides, older form numbers and most search results still point at Job and Family Services. Follow Children and Youth.

There is no county general business licence in Ohio and no Columbus general business licence either. The county auditor issues only four licences — kennel, junk yard, retail cigarette dealer, and vendor's license. Columbus licenses trade by trade.

Franklin County Auditor — and the City of Columbus Income Tax Division

What replaces the licence fee, and what a Nevada reader will miss entirely, is the municipal income tax. Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits and requires an annual return from anyone conducting business in the city. Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna each levy their own at their own rate. Working in one city and living in another means two returns. This, not a licence, is the real recurring local cost.

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Understand the line between dispatching and brokering before you cross it.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Working for a carrier as their agent is dispatching. Arranging transport for shippers is brokering, and brokering without FMCSA authority and a surety bond is a federal offence. This is the one line in this trade that matters — ask FMCSA which side you are on.

EPA Section 608 certification. Federal, and required before you may buy or handle refrigerant at all.

US Environmental Protection Agency

Ohio licenses only five construction trades at state level: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration. Each needs the PROV examination. General contracting, home improvement, roofing, drywall, painting, concrete, flooring and landscaping have no state licence at all.

Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB)

No state licence does not mean no licence. The city licenses this work instead, and each city is different. A contractor working Columbus, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna may hold four separate registrations and no state licence at all.

PUCO regulates household goods movers and intrastate motor carriers in Ohio. Registering to carry goods within Ohio is a separate process from federal registration with the FMCSA.

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)

Ohio's mover regulator is a utilities commission, not a transportation authority and not the BMV. People search the motor vehicles site, find nothing, and conclude there is no requirement.

USDOT and MC numbers, if you carry across a state line.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

USDOT and MC numbers if you cross a state line, which most of this work does.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Complete the pre-licensing education, pass the exam, complete the criminal background check, and submit the initial application checklist.

Ohio Department of Insurance

The application itself goes through NIPR, a national vendor, not through an Ohio-branded portal. People search the state website for a form that is not there.

Two different health departments license food in this metro. Columbus Public Health covers the cities of Columbus and Worthington. Franklin County Public Health covers everywhere else — Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, Blacklick and the rest of the county.

Franklin County Public Health — or Columbus Public Health, depending on the address

A Columbus mailing address is not a Columbus jurisdiction. A kitchen in Whitehall is licensed by the county, not the city, even though both agencies sit on East Broad Street downtown. Confirm which one covers your address before you pay a plan review fee — and note that plan review comes before the licence, so you cannot build the kitchen first and apply afterwards.

The salon or shop is licensed separately from the people working in it. Apply about thirty days before you open. An inspector will visit at random within ninety days of the licence being issued.

Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board

A salon in your home needs a scaled floor plan and local zoning approval on top of the board licence. Zoning is the city's, not the board's, and it is the step people discover last.

The Secretary of State commissions all notaries in Ohio. Since the Notary Modernization Act took effect in September 2019, every application, renewal and update must be submitted electronically.

Ohio Secretary of State

Notary commissioning moved from the county courthouse to the Secretary of State in 2019, so anyone who tells you to go to the common pleas court is out of date. And read the entry above before you open a notary business: an Ohio notary commission gives you no authority whatsoever over immigration matters.

Ohio has no document preparation service to register as. There is nothing to sign up for. Preparing immigration or other legal documents for a fee, if you are not an Ohio-licensed attorney, is the unauthorized practice of law under Ohio Revised Code 4705.07.

Board on the Unauthorized Practice of Law of the Supreme Court of Ohio

Being a notary does not give you this authority and specifically forbids claiming it. Ohio Revised Code 147.142 bans a non-attorney notary from advertising as an immigration consultant, from taking money to represent anyone in immigration matters, and from using the words notario or notario publico in any advertising — by name, in any language. The Supreme Court of Ohio has already enjoined a Columbus firm for preparing immigration forms. The lawful routes are an Ohio-licensed attorney, or a DOJ-accredited representative at a recognised organisation.

Enrol through the Provider Network Management module using an OH|ID. Ohio does not accept paper applications. Organisations must give the Social Security number and date of birth of every owner holding five percent or more.

Ohio Department of Medicaid — Provider Network Management (PNM)

The application fee applies to the agency, not to the individual caregiver — a misunderstanding that stops people applying who would pay nothing. The amount changes every year, so check it before you pay. And the order matters: the health department licence first, then this.

PUCO regulates household goods movers and intrastate motor carriers in Ohio. Registering to carry goods within Ohio is a separate process from federal registration with the FMCSA.

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)

Ohio's mover regulator is a utilities commission, not a transportation authority and not the BMV. People search the motor vehicles site, find nothing, and conclude there is no requirement.

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

An FAA Part 107 certificate, if you fly a drone for paid work.

Federal Aviation Administration

Flying a drone at a paid job without it is a federal matter, not a local one — and Las Vegas has controlled airspace over much of the valley, where permission is needed as well.

One board in Ohio, not two. It regulates barbering and cosmetology together under Ohio Revised Code Chapters 4709 and 4713. You need an individual licence, and the shop needs its own separate business licence.

Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board

If you are licensed in another state, Ohio uses reciprocity rather than endorsement. You must have held that licence for at least one year immediately before applying and have been actively working, and the certification must be sent directly from your old state board — Ohio will not accept it from your hand. Budget weeks, not days.

The salon or shop is licensed separately from the people working in it. Apply about thirty days before you open. An inspector will visit at random within ninety days of the licence being issued.

Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board

A salon in your home needs a scaled floor plan and local zoning approval on top of the board licence. Zoning is the city's, not the board's, and it is the step people discover last.

For a salesperson licence: 120 hours of coursework, sponsorship by an Ohio broker, state and FBI background checks, and a passing score of 70 on both exam portions. The application fee is $81.

Ohio Department of Commerce — Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing

You must have a sponsoring Ohio broker lined up before you apply. This is not a licence you can hold on your own, and finding the broker is the step that actually takes time.

Complete the pre-licensing education, pass the exam, complete the criminal background check, and submit the initial application checklist.

Ohio Department of Insurance

The application itself goes through NIPR, a national vendor, not through an Ohio-branded portal. People search the state website for a form that is not there.

Two different health departments license food in this metro. Columbus Public Health covers the cities of Columbus and Worthington. Franklin County Public Health covers everywhere else — Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, Blacklick and the rest of the county.

Franklin County Public Health — or Columbus Public Health, depending on the address

A Columbus mailing address is not a Columbus jurisdiction. A kitchen in Whitehall is licensed by the county, not the city, even though both agencies sit on East Broad Street downtown. Confirm which one covers your address before you pay a plan review fee — and note that plan review comes before the licence, so you cannot build the kitchen first and apply afterwards.

There is no county general business licence in Ohio and no Columbus general business licence either. The county auditor issues only four licences — kennel, junk yard, retail cigarette dealer, and vendor's license. Columbus licenses trade by trade.

Franklin County Auditor — and the City of Columbus Income Tax Division

What replaces the licence fee, and what a Nevada reader will miss entirely, is the municipal income tax. Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits and requires an annual return from anyone conducting business in the city. Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna each levy their own at their own rate. Working in one city and living in another means two returns. This, not a licence, is the real recurring local cost.

Two different health departments license food in this metro. Columbus Public Health covers the cities of Columbus and Worthington. Franklin County Public Health covers everywhere else — Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, Blacklick and the rest of the county.

Franklin County Public Health — or Columbus Public Health, depending on the address

A Columbus mailing address is not a Columbus jurisdiction. A kitchen in Whitehall is licensed by the county, not the city, even though both agencies sit on East Broad Street downtown. Confirm which one covers your address before you pay a plan review fee — and note that plan review comes before the licence, so you cannot build the kitchen first and apply afterwards.

Online application only. You need verified local zoning, space under roof to display at least one vehicle and to service at least one, a permanent sign with letters at least six inches high, a business telephone answered in the dealership's name, and background checks on all owners.

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles — Dealer Licensing

The roofed space for both display and service is what kills home-based and open-lot plans that would work in another state. Check the zoning and the roofed-space rule before you sign a lease.

There is no county general business licence in Ohio and no Columbus general business licence either. The county auditor issues only four licences — kennel, junk yard, retail cigarette dealer, and vendor's license. Columbus licenses trade by trade.

Franklin County Auditor — and the City of Columbus Income Tax Division

What replaces the licence fee, and what a Nevada reader will miss entirely, is the municipal income tax. Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits and requires an annual return from anyone conducting business in the city. Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna each levy their own at their own rate. Working in one city and living in another means two returns. This, not a licence, is the real recurring local cost.

Online application only. You need verified local zoning, space under roof to display at least one vehicle and to service at least one, a permanent sign with letters at least six inches high, a business telephone answered in the dealership's name, and background checks on all owners.

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles — Dealer Licensing

The roofed space for both display and service is what kills home-based and open-lot plans that would work in another state. Check the zoning and the roofed-space rule before you sign a lease.

EPA Section 608 certification, for anything holding refrigerant. Fridges, freezers and walk-in coolers all do.

US Environmental Protection Agency

Ohio licenses only five construction trades at state level: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration. Each needs the PROV examination. General contracting, home improvement, roofing, drywall, painting, concrete, flooring and landscaping have no state licence at all.

Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB)

No state licence does not mean no licence. The city licenses this work instead, and each city is different. A contractor working Columbus, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna may hold four separate registrations and no state licence at all.

Ohio's health care facility licence covers exactly six types: ambulatory surgical facility, freestanding dialysis centre, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facility, freestanding birthing centre, freestanding radiation therapy centre, and diagnostic imaging centre.

Ohio Department of Health — Bureau of Regulatory Operations

Nursing homes, residential care, home health and hospice are each licensed under their own separate programme and their own statute — not under this one. Nevada's HCQC is a broader single door; do not assume one application covers your facility type.

Ohio's health care facility licence covers exactly six types: ambulatory surgical facility, freestanding dialysis centre, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facility, freestanding birthing centre, freestanding radiation therapy centre, and diagnostic imaging centre.

Ohio Department of Health — Bureau of Regulatory Operations

Nursing homes, residential care, home health and hospice are each licensed under their own separate programme and their own statute — not under this one. Nevada's HCQC is a broader single door; do not assume one application covers your facility type.

Ohio licenses home health under Revised Code Chapter 3740 in two tracks — nonmedical and skilled — and covers both agencies and individual providers. The application fee is $250 and primary owners submit fingerprints. A business not operating before 30 September 2021 must post a surety bond: $20,000 for nonmedical, $50,000 for skilled.

Ohio Department of Health — Home Health Agency Licensure

Two things trip people here. Nonmedical home care — personal care, homemaking, companionship — IS licensed in Ohio; it is not an unregulated business. And the licence does not pay you: Medicaid enrolment is separate and comes after.

Ohio's health care facility licence covers exactly six types: ambulatory surgical facility, freestanding dialysis centre, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facility, freestanding birthing centre, freestanding radiation therapy centre, and diagnostic imaging centre.

Ohio Department of Health — Bureau of Regulatory Operations

Nursing homes, residential care, home health and hospice are each licensed under their own separate programme and their own statute — not under this one. Nevada's HCQC is a broader single door; do not assume one application covers your facility type.

There is no county general business licence in Ohio and no Columbus general business licence either. The county auditor issues only four licences — kennel, junk yard, retail cigarette dealer, and vendor's license. Columbus licenses trade by trade.

Franklin County Auditor — and the City of Columbus Income Tax Division

What replaces the licence fee, and what a Nevada reader will miss entirely, is the municipal income tax. Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits and requires an annual return from anyone conducting business in the city. Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna each levy their own at their own rate. Working in one city and living in another means two returns. This, not a licence, is the real recurring local cost.

Ohio's health care facility licence covers exactly six types: ambulatory surgical facility, freestanding dialysis centre, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facility, freestanding birthing centre, freestanding radiation therapy centre, and diagnostic imaging centre.

Ohio Department of Health — Bureau of Regulatory Operations

Nursing homes, residential care, home health and hospice are each licensed under their own separate programme and their own statute — not under this one. Nevada's HCQC is a broader single door; do not assume one application covers your facility type.

All owners submit state and federal background checks. You need an annual fire inspection dated within the last year, a licensed training manager on staff, and a performance bond — a minimum of $10,000 for a teen or adult school.

Ohio Traffic Safety Office — Driver Training Program

A commercial driver training school — a CDL school — needs a bond of at least $50,000, five times the teen-school figure. The common plan in this community is the expensive one. And the licensed training manager requirement means you generally cannot open alone unless you hold that credential yourself.

For CDL entry-level training only, listing on the federal Training Provider Registry. Class C instruction does not need this.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Register your tax accounts through OH|TAX eServices with an OH|ID. If you make taxable sales you need a vendor's license, which IS your sales tax account — Ohio does not issue a separate sales tax permit. It comes from the Franklin County Auditor, costs $50, and is per fixed location.

Ohio Department of Taxation — OH|TAX eServices

The vendor's license fee rose from $25 to $50 in April 2025, so older advice is wrong about the number. And Ohio has both a state income tax and a municipal income tax — Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits. Somebody arriving from Nevada expecting no income tax is wrong twice.

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Register your tax accounts through OH|TAX eServices with an OH|ID. If you make taxable sales you need a vendor's license, which IS your sales tax account — Ohio does not issue a separate sales tax permit. It comes from the Franklin County Auditor, costs $50, and is per fixed location.

Ohio Department of Taxation — OH|TAX eServices

The vendor's license fee rose from $25 to $50 in April 2025, so older advice is wrong about the number. And Ohio has both a state income tax and a municipal income tax — Columbus takes 2.5% of business net profits. Somebody arriving from Nevada expecting no income tax is wrong twice.

Customs duty and import rules on anything you bring in commercially.

US Customs and Border Protection

Bringing clothes in for a shop is not the same as bringing them in a suitcase for the family, and the difference is decided by what you do with them, not by how they arrived. Textiles also carry labelling rules. Ask CBP before the first commercial shipment, not after it is held.

Online application only. You need verified local zoning, space under roof to display at least one vehicle and to service at least one, a permanent sign with letters at least six inches high, a business telephone answered in the dealership's name, and background checks on all owners.

Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles — Dealer Licensing

The roofed space for both display and service is what kills home-based and open-lot plans that would work in another state. Check the zoning and the roofed-space rule before you sign a lease.

Ohio does not license or register locksmiths. There is no exam and no board. Working on vehicle locks needs a vendor's license; building locks do not.

No Ohio licence — Ohio Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section

No licence does not mean no rules. Ohio's Repairs and Services Rule and the Home Solicitation Sales Act govern estimates, written authorisation and pricing, and the Attorney General enforces them. And if you also install alarms, the City of Columbus licenses alarm dealers separately.

Columbus licenses specific trades rather than businesses in general. The list includes mobile food vending, itinerant vendors, massage and bath establishments, vehicle for hire, scrap metal dealers, short-term rentals, alarm dealers and hotel operations.

City of Columbus — License Section

Your street decides this, not your mailing address. Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna and Blacklick all use Columbus postal addresses and none of them are the City of Columbus for licensing. Check which city your address is actually in before you pay any fee.

Ohio has no single one-stop and no state business licence. You do up to three separate things: form the company with the Secretary of State, register tax accounts with the Department of Taxation, and get a vendor's license from the county auditor if you make taxable sales.

Ohio Secretary of State — Ohio Business Filings

The Ohio Business Gateway and the Ohio Business Filings portal are different systems run by different agencies. The Gateway files taxes; it does not create your company. A sole proprietor trading under their own legal name may skip the Secretary of State entirely.

Ohio licenses only five construction trades at state level: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration. Each needs the PROV examination. General contracting, home improvement, roofing, drywall, painting, concrete, flooring and landscaping have no state licence at all.

Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB)

No state licence does not mean no licence. The city licenses this work instead, and each city is different. A contractor working Columbus, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna may hold four separate registrations and no state licence at all.

In Columbus the General Contractor licence needs a notarised application, a $25,000 bond and liability insurance naming the city — no exam. The Home Improvement General Contractor licence is harder: a written exam at 70% or better, three full years of hands-on experience, and approval by the Board of Review.

City of Columbus — Department of Building and Zoning Services

Read the trade scopes before you pay. People apply for the Home Improvement licence when the General Contractor licence covers their work, and pay for an exam and a board hearing they did not need. And this is the Columbus answer only — Whitehall wants a $25,000 bond and $500,000 insurance with no exam, Reynoldsburg charges $75 per trade and makes a general contractor register separately for every specialty he self-performs, and Gahanna registers online for $100.

Ohio licenses only five construction trades at state level: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration. Each needs the PROV examination. General contracting, home improvement, roofing, drywall, painting, concrete, flooring and landscaping have no state licence at all.

Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB)

No state licence does not mean no licence. The city licenses this work instead, and each city is different. A contractor working Columbus, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Gahanna may hold four separate registrations and no state licence at all.

You need two licences, not one: a Commercial Applicator licence if you are hired to apply pesticides to someone else's property, and a separate Pesticide Business licence to be hired or to solicit the work at all.

Ohio Department of Agriculture — Pesticide & Fertilizer Section

Both expire on 30 September every year, not on the anniversary of the day you got them. And lawn care or landscaping that applies any pesticide needs both licences, even though general landscaping needs no state licence at all — which is how somebody ends up unlicensed without ever deciding to be.

In Columbus the General Contractor licence needs a notarised application, a $25,000 bond and liability insurance naming the city — no exam. The Home Improvement General Contractor licence is harder: a written exam at 70% or better, three full years of hands-on experience, and approval by the Board of Review.

City of Columbus — Department of Building and Zoning Services

Read the trade scopes before you pay. People apply for the Home Improvement licence when the General Contractor licence covers their work, and pay for an exam and a board hearing they did not need. And this is the Columbus answer only — Whitehall wants a $25,000 bond and $500,000 insurance with no exam, Reynoldsburg charges $75 per trade and makes a general contractor register separately for every specialty he self-performs, and Gahanna registers online for $100.

In Ohio the licence belongs to the company, not the guard. PISGS licenses the business and its qualifying agent, and the licensed company then registers its employees with background checks.

Ohio Department of Public Safety — Private Investigator Security Guard Services (PISGS)

You cannot work as a freelance guard on a personal licence the way you can in Nevada. You are either a licensed company with a qualifying agent, or a registered employee of one. Working without either is a crime, not a fine.