- A general business license or tax registration from the city or county where you operate, which many cities require even for a home-based business
- State professional or contractor licensing, often with a bond and an exam
- A DBA or fictitious business name filing if you trade under anything other than your legal name
- Foreign qualification if you form in one state and actually operate in another
- Industry permits: food handling, alcohol, health, environmental
City of Austin: a general business registration, plus permits if you do irrigation work, which Texas licenses separately and enforces.
State: an irrigator license if you touch sprinkler systems. Mowing and planting alone generally do not require state licensing.
Chemicals: a pesticide applicator license if you apply anything commercially. This one carries real penalties.
Federal: an EIN once you hire.
Also a DBA filing if you trade under anything other than your legal name.
Irrigation and chemicals are where landscapers get caught. Want the order to do these in?
It named the two specific licenses that catch landscapers, not a generic list.
Contractor licensing in four big states
California: the exemption for minor work covers only jobs under $1,000 in aggregate that need no building permit, a licensed contractor posts a $25,000 bond, and an unlicensed contractor cannot sue for payment and can be made to return everything paid. Florida: a certified contractor can work statewide and a registered one only where its local license runs, and unlicensed contracting is a crime. Texas: no statewide general contractor license, but electricians and air conditioning contractors are licensed by the state's TDLR and plumbers by a state board, and cities control permits. New York: no state general contractor license, but New York City licenses home improvement contractors through its Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. As of Oct 2026.
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code secs. 7031, 7048 and 7071.6; Fla. Stat. ch. 489 part I, secs. 489.127 and 489.128; Texas TDLR and state plumbing board licensing; New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
The annual filings that keep an LLC alive
California: an LLC registered or doing business there owes the $800 annual tax every year, wherever it was formed. Florida: the annual report is due between January 1 and May 1, with a $400 late fee after May 1. Texas: the franchise tax report is due May 15 (May 17 in 2027, as May 15 is a Saturday), and an LLC under the no-tax-due threshold still files its Public Information Report. New York: a new LLC must publish notice of its formation within 120 days or its authority to do business is suspended. As of Oct 2026.
Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code sec. 17941; Fla. Stat. sec. 605.0212(3); Tex. Tax Code ch. 171; N.Y. LLC Law sec. 206
| Annual report fee | $138.75 |
| Late fee | $400 |
| What a missed May 1 costs | $538.75 |
Forming an LLC in a state with attractive rules while operating somewhere else usually means registering in both and paying both. It is rarely the shortcut it appears to be.
One filing you can stop worrying about: domestic LLCs and corporations are exempt from FinCEN beneficial ownership reporting under FinCEN's final rule effective August 14, 2026 (31 CFR 1010.380 as amended; As of Oct 2026).
I run a [type of business] in [city, state]. What licenses, permits and registrations do I actually need at federal, state and city level, and in what order?
Every lesson ends with a question to hand to a Greymill specialist, who answers with what it knows about your business.