Hello,

I am thinking in opening a small business online store to sell candles. I live in sc and I will be setting up an LLC (s-corp). What I would like to know is how do you pay sales tax? What licenses do I need? Do I need to do anything with the county? What if I sell outside of SC? If anybody can help me with this and break it down for me I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

You contact your state dept of revenue (look on the website) for a sales tax ID. They will send you instructions and coupons to remit sales tax monthly, quarterly, or yearly, depending on expected sales. Sales tax is collected ONLY on sales within your state, whether in person or shipped in state, so an online business may have very little.

If you are selling online only, you probably don't need to get a business permit in your town yet, because customers don't come to your establishment. Eventually you should get one if you have lots of deliveries of supplies and shipments going out, and the town can tell you that you have to be in a business zone. But most people wait on that.

Candle making/selling has tons of competition on eBay and etsy. You might want to start as just a sole proprietor, using your own name d/b/a your business name, and your own SSN, assuming you have no employees. Once you have an employee you need an EIN from the feds and state and all the payroll taxes, unemployment, WC, and so on, that need to be submitted monthly. Again, most people stay a sole operator for as long as they can before the huge leap to being an employer.

Get INSURANCE! Candles are highly flammable. I know of a shop that burned to the ground the night of the day they opened.