7 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) and the annual statement, assumed name (dba), employer identification number (ein), michigan business tax registration (sales tax license, withholding), local business license and city income tax and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in Michigan
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 Michigan? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Michigan 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 statement
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 through Corporations Online Filing System (COFS). The articles name a resident agent with a Michigan street address. Two missed annual statements and the LLC loses good standing.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- michigan.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
LARA Corporations Division filing pages and fee schedule; LARA certificate of assumed name form; county clerk fee schedules; IRS EIN page; Treasury new business registration pages and form 518; Treasury city income tax pages; municipal ordinances; LARA Bureau of Construction Codes; municipal zoning ordinances; Unemployment Insurance Agency employer pages; Workers’ Disability Compensation Agency employer coverage pages. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.