To register a business in North Carolina, you need to follow a few easy steps. If you have your business idea and plan ready, you can decide on the legal structure of your business. Your decision will have management, structural, and tax implications so you need to choose carefully.
Once you have chosen your business structure, you can decide on a business name. You need to check on existing trademarks so you can determine the availability of your chosen business name and register it.
The next step is to comply with the necessary licensing requirements for your business. The State of North Carolina does not issue the business licenses. Instead, you have to go to your city or county office for that. After all, the licensing requirements and fees will vary from one city or county to another.
Obtain the necessary tax registration for your business. The tax liability will be unique for each type of business. You will also have different requirements when it comes to employer reporting and responsibilities. In general, you need to secure workers compensation and unemployment insurance. Make sure to check with the appropriate industries about additional tax and insurance obligations before you can officially register your business.
The state of North Carolina is divided into 100 counties, 541 municipalities, and 175 special districts.
For more than 300 years, the county is the most basic unit of local government in this state. All counties are administered by the board of commissioners, where commissioners serve either two or four-year terms. Boards choose their own chairman, while some counties vote for a separate chairman. More than half of the counties employ a county manager to manage the county's day-to-day operations.
Other elected county officials include the register of deeds, sheriff, and the school board. For administrative convenience, counties are subdivided into townships, but they don't usually have independent government functions.
Both the county and the municipal governments share several functions, while the exact allocation of authority varies from one case to another. Most cities in this state use the council-manager form of local government.
There are also 319 public school systems in North Carolina.
See the main North Carolina Page for county links .© State & Local 2023