8 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page.
8 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them
Every row checked against its agency’s page; the latest on Oct 21, 2026.
Step 1 of 5Set up the business. Now: Articles of organization (LLC) and the annual registration fee
0 of 8 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 Clerk’s Information System. The articles name a registered agent with a Virginia address. The annual fee is a flat payment, not a report, and a late payment adds a $25 penalty before the LLC is cancelled.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Needed whenever the business trades under any name other than the owner’s legal name or the LLC’s registered name. Since 2020 the certificate is filed with the Commission, not the circuit court.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Needed to hire, to open a business bank account and for the state 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 before the first sale. The sales tax certificate of registration must be displayed; restaurants also collect the locality’s meals tax and remit it to the Commissioner of the Revenue.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Most Virginia cities and counties require the BPOL license before opening, and the application asks for the zoning approval and the trade name. Localities also levy a tax on business tangible personal property each year.
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 health permit and the ABC license.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Get the permits for your kind of businessOpens after step 3
Laser hair removal is performed by a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner, or by a trained person under one of them with the documented training the rule requires; injectables and other energy-based treatments are the practice of medicine. Estheticians may not operate lasers. The medical side of the business belongs to a licensed practitioner.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Before the first hireOpens after step 4
Workers’ compensation insurance is required once the business regularly employs more than two full-time or part-time people; part-time staff, family and seasonal workers all count. Report each new hire within 20 days.
The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the med spas already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
The full reportWhether the rules allow a med spa at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
No account. The med spa check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
State Corporation Commission LLC pages and fee schedule (Code of Virginia 13.1-1005); State Corporation Commission fictitious name pages (Code of Virginia 59.1-69); IRS EIN page; Department of Taxation business registration pages (form R-1); Code of Virginia 58.1-3700 and following; locality BPOL ordinances; Department of Housing and Community Development building code pages; locality ordinances; 18VAC85-20-91 (laser hair removal training and delegation); Board for Barbers and Cosmetology scope rules; Code of Virginia 54.1-2900; Virginia Employment Commission employer pages; Workers’ Compensation Commission employer information sheet; 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.
8 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) and the annual registration fee, assumed or fictitious name certificate, employer identification number (ein), business registration: retail sales and use tax, employer withholding, business, professional and occupational license (bpol) and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 2 more.
Virginia State Corporation Commission, Internal Revenue Service, Virginia Department of Taxation, Your city or county Commissioner of the Revenue, Your city or county zoning and building departments and Virginia Board of Medicine, and 1 more.
With articles of organization (llc) and the annual registration fee (Virginia State Corporation Commission, Clerk’s Office), then assumed or fictitious name certificate. 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 med spa in Virginia (2026) | DoorWorthy
