Do I Need a Licence to Do This
Sources last read 2026-08-04.
Short answer
Maybe, and nobody can tell you from where you are sitting. There is no one national business licence to buy, and the federal small business agency says so in plain words. What you need hangs on what you do and where you are. Some states use an income figure instead of a rule for everyone. And the lemonade stand laws people keep sending you have an age limit in them that almost nobody mentions.
Nobody can answer this from a website
Including this one. Here is why, and then here is how to get your own answer in about twenty minutes.
There is no single business licence in this country. Not one form, not one fee, not one office.
The federal small business agency, the Small Business Administration (SBA), says it plainly. What you need depends on your business activities and business location. The SBA's full sentence is printed further down.
Three levels can each want something. Your state. Your county. Your city. They do not talk to each other and they do not match.
So a page that tells you a business licence costs about 50 dollars a year is not simplifying. It is describing something that does not exist.
What actually decides it
Two things, and neither is your age.
What you sell or do. Cutting grass, minding a dog, selling prints online, cutting hair, selling food. Some of those are watched closely everywhere. Most are not watched at all.
Where you are. Not just your state. The city line matters, and so does whether you are inside city limits at all.
Add a third for some jobs: where the work happens. Selling online from a bedroom and setting up a table at a market are treated as different things in a lot of places.
Some states use a number instead
Here is a shape worth knowing about, because it catches people who read the wrong page.
Washington does not ask everybody to register. It uses a size test. One of its triggers is gross income of 12,000 dollars a year or more. Their wording is below.
Gross income means the whole amount that came in, before costs. If you turn over 14,000 dollars and keep 3,000 of it, the number they look at is 14,000.
That is Washington. It is not your state unless you live there. What it shows is that "do I need to register" can have a numeric answer, so it is worth looking for one on your own state's page.
The lemonade stand laws, and the bit nobody prints
Somebody will send you an article saying lemonade stands are legal now. A handful of states passed laws about this and the articles are cheerful.
Go and read one of the actual laws.
Illinois passed one in 2021, called Hayli's Law. It stops the state health department and local health departments regulating the sale of lemonade and other soft drinks by a person under the age of 16.
Under the age of 16.
Most people reading this site are 15, 16 or 17. So for a lot of you, the famous law that supposedly fixed this does not reach you at all.
Two more things about it, since almost no article says these either. It is about drinks. Not cookies, not tamales, not anything you baked. And it stops health departments acting. It is not a general permission slip for a business.
Other states have passed laws with similar names. I read the Illinois one. I have not read all of them, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Find yours, open the law itself, and look for an age in it.
An example, to show the shape of it
Kendall is 16 and sells hand painted plant pots at a Saturday market.
A friend sent her an article saying her state had made stands like hers legal, so she stopped worrying about it.
She read the law itself later, which took about ten minutes. It covered people under 16, and it only covered drinks. She is 16 and she sells pots, so it missed her twice.
What she did next was the useful part. She rang the market office and asked what they needed from her, and rang the county to ask about selling there. She wrote down both answers and who said them.
Neither call was scary. One of them took four minutes.
How to get your real answer
Three searches and one phone call. Do it once and you are done for a year.
One. Search your state's name plus business licence. Stop only on an address ending in .gov. Look for whether there is a general registration, and whether it has a size test.
Two. Search your county's name plus county clerk. That is usually where a small one person business is registered, if anywhere.
Three. Search your city's name plus business licence. Some cities have one for everybody. Some have none.
Then ring. Say what you sell, where, and how old you are. Do not talk around your age. It is often the thing that makes the answer simpler, not harder.
Write down what you were told, who told you and when. If somebody asks later, that note is the whole of your defence, and it takes ten seconds to make.
One thing to keep in mind
Rules move, and they are different one town over. This page was last checked on the date at the top and it is about how to find your answer, not what your answer is.
Before you pay any fee, show an adult the page you found it on.
The federal small business agency, on whether there is one licence
The licenses and permits you need from the state, county, or city will depend on your business activities and business location.
Small Business Administration, apply for licenses and permits
That is the SBA, and it is the closest thing to an official answer there is. Three levels named, state, county and city, and the answer depends on two things. What you do. Where you are. Anybody who gives you a price for a business licence without knowing either of those made it up.
Washington, doing it by income instead
gross income is $12,000 per year or more
Washington Department of Revenue, apply for a business licence
Washington is one state that uses a number. Take in 12,000 dollars a year or more and you have to register, along with some other triggers on that page. Gross income means everything that came in, before you take your costs off. That matters. A stall that turns over a lot and keeps very little is judged on the big number.
Illinois, and the age hiding in the lemonade law
may not regulate the sale of lemonade or nonalcoholic drinks or mixed beverages by a person under the age of 16
Illinois Public Act 102-0078
This is the law people mean when they say lemonade stands are legal now. Read the last six words. Under the age of 16. If you are 16 or 17, this law is not about you. It is also only about drinks, and it only stops health departments stepping in. It is not a licence for anything else.
Questions people actually ask
Everyone says a business licence costs about 50 dollars a year.
There is no single thing for that to be the price of. Some cities charge a small fee, some charge nothing, some have no general licence at all. A number quoted without a city attached is somebody guessing on the internet.
Is anybody going to come after a kid mowing lawns?
Almost certainly not, and pretending otherwise would be scaring you for no reason. But that is different from being allowed, and it changes the moment you sell food, work on other people's property, or set up somewhere with a sign. Knowing the answer costs you one phone call.
What if my state has a lemonade law?
Read the law itself, not an article about it. Look for two things. An age, and what it actually covers. Illinois covers drinks and stops at 16. Yours may be written differently, and the only way to know is the wording.
Who do I even ring?
Your city hall or your county clerk. Say what you sell, where you sell it, and how old you are. They deal with this all day. If they say you need nothing, ask for the person's name and write down the date.
Does selling food change this?
Completely, and it is the one thing on this site that changes the most by state. Food made in a home kitchen has its own set of rules everywhere, and there is a separate page here on selling food you made at home. Do not use this page to answer a food question.
Where this came from
Small Business Administration, apply for licenses and permits
sba.gov
Washington Department of Revenue, apply for a business licence
dor.wa.gov