9 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page, and what the Census counts of hair salons in Iowa say.
Draft. These 9 rows were drafted from the agencies' own pages in October 2026 and 1 still waits to be confirmed against the agency; one carries a note on what to check. Open the official page before you pay anything.
9 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them
Step 1 of 5Set up the business. Now: Certificate of organization (LLC) and the biennial report
0 of 9 items done. Each step opens when the one before it is complete. Progress stays on this device. Members keep a dated, noted plan for each saved location in the workspace.
1Set up the business0 of 3
File through the Secretary of State’s Fast Track Filing system. The certificate names a registered agent with an Iowa street address. Iowa asks for a report every other year rather than every year; miss it and the LLC is administratively dissolved.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
A sole proprietor or partnership trading under any name other than the owners’ names records a verified, usually notarized, trade name statement with the recorder of each county where it does business, before opening. An LLC or corporation using a name other than its registered one files the fictitious name with the Secretary of State instead.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Needed to hire, to open a business bank account and for the GovConnectIowa tax registration. Issued at once online.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Register for taxOpens after step 1
Register online through GovConnectIowa before the first sale; sales and use tax and withholding each get their own permit number, and the permit letter arrives in the portal. You may collect tax as soon as the application is in. Prepared food and drink is taxable at the 6% state rate plus the 1% local option tax where the city or county has adopted it; the Department issues no temporary permits.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Iowa issues no general state business license; the state licenses by activity (alcohol, food, salons, child care, pets) and the rows below cover those. Ask the city clerk before signing the lease whether the city licenses your kind of business, and expect the clerk to handle the council’s alcohol license endorsement too.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Approve the spaceOpens after step 2
Confirm the zoning allows your use before signing; a change of use needs building permits and inspections, and the certificate of occupancy comes before the food license and the alcohol license. Cities and counties enforce the state building code under their own ordinances; in a county with no building department the State Building Code Bureau at DIAL answers code questions.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Get the permits for your kind of businessOpens after step 3
House File 652 merged the barbering and cosmetology boards on July 1, 2023, so barbershops, hair salons and nail salons all hold the same establishment license. Apply before opening, pass the inspection and post the license; every practitioner holds their own license.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Hire only licensed practitioners and keep each license posted. Since the 2023 merger a new barber or cosmetologist trains for 1,550 hours for the combined license; nail technology and esthetics remain separate licenses.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Before the first hireOpens after step 4
Workers’ compensation insurance is required from the first employee; owners, partners and LLC members are exempt unless they elect coverage, and a worker earning under $1,500 a year from you in casual work outside your trade is exempt. Report each new hire or rehire to the Centralized Employee Registry within 15 days, which is sooner than the federal 20.
The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the hair salons already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
The full reportWhether the rules allow a hair salon at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
No account. The hair salon check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
Secretary of State business entity forms and fees page (Iowa Code 489.201); biennial report instructions; Iowa Code 547.1; county recorder trade name pages (Polk, Webster, Pottawattamie counties); IRS EIN page; Department of Revenue business permit registration page; IASourceLink business license information center; city clerk pages; Iowa Code 103A.19 (local administration of the state building code); DIAL State Building Code Bureau pages; city ordinances; DIAL barbering and cosmetology license and renewal pages (establishment license fee); Iowa Code chapter 157; DIAL barbering and cosmetology licensure pages; Iowa Code chapter 157; Iowa Workforce Development 2026 unemployment insurance employer handbook; Iowa Code 252G.3; Iowa Code 85.1 and 87.21; U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023; U.S. Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.
Questions about opening here.
9 items, in order: certificate of organization (llc) and the biennial report, trade name statement (dba), employer identification number (ein), business tax registration: sales and use tax permit, withholding permit, local business license, where the city has one and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 3 more.
Iowa Secretary of State, Your county recorder, Internal Revenue Service, Iowa Department of Revenue, Your city clerk and Your city or county building and zoning office, and 2 more.
With certificate of organization (llc) and the biennial report (Iowa Secretary of State), then trade name statement (dba). The steps run structure, tax, space, permits and employer, in that order.
Each item's fee, renewal cycle and official page are shown to members, as the agency published them on the date checked. Cities and counties add their own fees.
How to open a hair salon in Iowa (2026) | DoorWorthy
