7 items, in order: certificate of formation (llc) and the annual report, alternate name registration (dba), employer identification number (ein), business registration (nj-reg): sales tax certificate of authority, employer accounts, mercantile or business license and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in New Jersey
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 New Jersey? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in New Jersey 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: Certificate of formation (LLC) and the annual report
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 the Division’s business formation service. The certificate names a registered agent with a New Jersey street address. Two missed annual reports and the LLC is revoked.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- nj.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
Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services business formation pages and fee schedule; Division of Revenue alternate name registration (form C-150G); IRS EIN page; Division of Revenue getting registered pages; form NJ-REG; Business.NJ.gov local requirements guidance; municipal ordinances; Department of Community Affairs Division of Codes and Standards; municipal ordinances; Department of Labor employer rate information (2026 wage bases); Division of Workers’ Compensation employer pages. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.