Does My Business Need a License or Permit to Operate in New York City?

Starting a new business can be one of the most challenging, demanding, surprising and yet, rewarding endeavors that anyone might pursue. Being your own boss certainly comes with its perks and drawbacks. You set your own hours, hire who you want, and answer to no one but yourself. However, you also wear many different hats, e.g., you likely handle the marketing & sales, accounting, administrative work, and the day-to-day operations of your new business venture. As a new business in New York City, you also need to consider the many licenses and permits that may be applicable to your business.

Depending on the nature of your specific business, you may need certain licenses/permits in order to even legally operate. Certainly, not all businesses require a license or permit; however, if your business does and you fail to procure one, you could face fines, suspension or closure of business operations and professional licenses, or even civil/criminal liability. For these reasons, it's crucial that you assess whether your business needs a license or permit before you begin operations.

Fortunately, as a new business in New York State, and New York City, there are several resources for exploring whether your business needs a license or permit. Below are three of the most useful tools for ensuring that your business is properly licensed and protected:

THE NEW YORK STATE BUSINESS EXPRESS PORTAL

The first helpful resource is the New York Business Express Portal. This helpful tool will provide walkthrough questions about your business to guide you towards the specific resources needed to operate your business legally within the State. When using this tool, one of the first questions you must answer is what type of business you are starting. From a pull down menu of roughly 338 business types, you are sure to find the category that best suites your business. From there you will answer questions specific to the business category you selected and when you reach the end of the questionnaire, the portal will produce a checklist of the licenses, permits, and other items needed to bring your business up to code. The checklist also includes links to the relevant pages where you can apply for the necessary licenses and permits.

THE NEW YORK CITY STEP-BY-STEP BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS TOOL

The next useful resource is the New York City Step-by-Step Business Requirements Tool. This tool is very similar to the Business Express Portal, although not as in depth. Since this tool is more narrowly tailored towards businesses in New York City, it's still important to run through this tool to ensure that you capture any specific licenses and permits that the Business Express Portal may have failed to capture. Unfortunately, these tools are not always all encompassing, so its important to use both as a way to cross-check and confirm that you've covered all your bases to ensure compliance with the laws of the State and City.

THE NEW YORK CITY BUSINESS LICENSE AND PERMIT INDEX

A third useful resource is the New York City Business License and Permit Index. While this is not as user-friendly as the Business Express Portal or the Business Requirements Tool, it's an incredibly useful resource for exploring all the available licenses and permits that New York City issues to ensure that you are fully in compliance with the laws applicable to your business. The Index has a search and filter functionality, as well as an alphabetized list of all available licenses and permits. Hovering your cursor over any of the listed licenses and permits will provide a brief overview and description of who needs such a license/permit. You can then click the relevant link to go directly to the page to apply for the license/permit.

It is crucial that you check these three resources as the best means to ensuring that you obtain the licenses and/or permits necessary to bring your business into compliance. If you're starting a new business and interested in discussing the licenses and/or permits applicable to your business, please do not hesitate to give us a call at (212) 547-8857 or schedule a consultation online and we'd be happy to discuss these issues further and help you reach a resolution. Our experienced business attorneys are here to provide the advice you need.

Disclaimer: This blog post and similar posts are not to be considered as providing legal advice. The discussion here is meant for educational and informational purposes only and shall not create an attorney-client relationship with the readers of this content.