7 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) and the annual report (form 1), trade name registration (dba), employer identification number (ein), combined registration: sales and use tax license, employer withholding, traders license and zoning approval and use and occupancy permit, and 1 more.
How to open a business in Maryland
7 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page.
What licenses do you need to open a business in Maryland? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Maryland takes. A license specific to your kind of business comes from the agency that regulates it; if one of the twenty named businesses is close to yours, its page lists those too.
Every row checked against its agency’s page; the latest on Oct 21, 2026.
Step 1 of 4Set up the business. Now: Articles of organization (LLC) and the annual report (Form 1)
0 of 7 items done. Each step opens when the one before it is complete. Progress stays on this device. Log in to save it to your account and pick it up anywhere.
Set up the business0 of 3
File online through Maryland Business Express. The articles name a resident agent with a Maryland address. The same Form 1 carries the business personal property return when the LLC owns furniture, equipment or inventory, and the county bills personal property tax from it. Two missed reports and the LLC is forfeited.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- dat.maryland.gov
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Register for taxOpens after step 1
Approve the spaceOpens after step 2
Before the first hireOpens after step 3
Then pick the place
- The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the businesses already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
- The full reportWhether the rules allow a business at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
Have an address in mind?
Check the address freeNo account. The business check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
SDAT articles of organization form (revised May 2026) and corporate charter fee schedule; Form 1 annual report instructions; SDAT trade name application and instructions (Corporations and Associations Article 1-406); IRS EIN page; Comptroller business tax tip #13 (opening a new business) and the Maryland Tax Connect registration guide; Comptroller business tax tip #64 (a guide to business licenses); Howard and Somerset County Clerk of the Circuit Court business license pages; Business Regulation Article 17-1804 and 17-1807; County and municipal zoning ordinances and building codes; Board of Cosmetologists and Board of Barbers new shop instructions (use and occupancy permit first); Division of Unemployment Insurance 2026 employer contribution rates; Workers’ Compensation Commission employer FAQ (Labor and Employment Article 9-402); Department of Human Services new hire reporting pages; FAMLI Division contribution pages. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.