# Two Business Licenses Needed?



## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

If I wanted to do custom screen printing for customers and also have a t-shirt line of clothing, would I need separate business licenses, tax ids, etc?

In other words, if I name my company XYZ Screen Printing but I want to sell my own brand of clothing online named ABC Clothing, would I need separate documents? I plan on doing a sole proprietorship for now, but the two businesses would have different websites.

So XYZ Screen Printing could take custom orders at XYZScreenPrinting.com, but I would sell my own brand at ABCClothing.com.

Any thoughts?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

You can use one business license and get 2 dbas if it's a sole proprietorship.


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## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

DivineBling said:


> You can use one business license and get 2 dbas if it's a sole proprietorship.


Where do you submit for the dba? Local, county, or federal?


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

Well here I did the dba at county but got the business license from my city. One was not tied to the other. But all this will depend on your local government.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

I don't think there is a federal dba. Here in California, you apply for a dba with your county. The business license is with the city. It's called a Fictitious Business Name or FBN in Fresno County.


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## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

Ah yea, very good! Thank you so much. Do you know if there is a limit to how many names one business can dba as?

And how much was the cost on average for each name?


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## Ludasmith (Sep 1, 2011)

It all depends on your state/county/city.

Here it was $24 or something with the county and we were GTG.


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## clclothing (Jul 27, 2011)

A DBA will typically be filed with the state and will be accompanied by an ad in a weekly (at least) newspaper announcing the DBA. This is so that all of the CC processing companies can find out about you and begin to flood you with offers. 

There is not a limit to number of DBAs you can do business under that I am aware of, but each needs to be filed.

Business license is a totally separate issue and you will need to check with your county and city. You may have to file twice if you are in a county or parish and ALSO within a city limits. They can tell you how their licensing works and whether you will need a license (tax receipt) for each "thing" that you are doing.

More than likely you should create one company (corp, LLC) and then file a DBA for the other operation UNLESS there is a need to separate finances/liability/etc. You can have bank accounts for both, but taxes will be filed on the parent filing, if you have DBAs. Consult a CPA.

You may still need a business tax receipt (used to be called a bus lic) for each different kind of operation that you are doing (manufacturing, retail, etc).

Also, make sure you tell your insurance agent everything that you are doing in order to get the proper coverage in place.


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## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

Is it common or ridiculous to create multiple DBAs? I kinda wanna have a main company that engulfs smaller entities. I have ideas for two different clothing markets, so I would like a main company with 3 dbas: 1 for screen printing for customers, 1 for 1 type of clothing line, 1 for the other type of clothing line (since both clothing lines are in complete opposite directions of each other). is this asinine?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

spankthafunk said:


> Is it common or ridiculous to create multiple DBAs? I kinda wanna have a main company that engulfs smaller entities. I have ideas for two different clothing markets, so I would like a main company with 3 dbas: 1 for screen printing for customers, 1 for 1 type of clothing line, 1 for the other type of clothing line (since both clothing lines are in complete opposite directions of each other). is this asinine?


I don't think it's ridiculous. Lots of companies do this. Gap has Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. Gymboree has Gymboree and Crazy 8. Even nail polish brands have an "off brand" for their lower end stuff.


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## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

DivineBling said:


> I don't think it's ridiculous. Lots of companies do this. Gap has Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. Gymboree has Gymboree and Crazy 8. Even nail polish brands have an "off brand" for their lower end stuff.


Those are some good examples. That's kinda the route I wanna take and if it only means paying a little extra for the dbas than that is fine. I wonder if I'll have to file the taxes and all separately, or if they will all be consolidated under the main business since it's going to be a sole proprietorship anyways...


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