7 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) and the annual report, trade name registration (dba), employer identification number (ein), sales and use tax permit and income tax withholding account, city business or occupational license and zoning approval, building permits and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in North Dakota
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 North Dakota? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in North Dakota 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
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 Secretary of State’s FirstStop portal. The articles name a registered agent with a North Dakota street address. The first annual report falls due the November after the year the LLC was formed.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- sos.nd.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
Secretary of State FirstStop business filing pages; N.D.C.C. 10-32.1-92 (fees); Secretary of State trade name registration pages; N.D.C.C. 47-25; IRS EIN page; Office of State Tax Commissioner business registration pages (North Dakota Taxpayer Access Point, ND TAP); City of Fargo business and occupational licensing pages; city ordinances; Department of Commerce, Division of Community Services (State Building Code adoption); city ordinances; Job Service North Dakota 2026 unemployment insurance tax rate schedule; Workforce Safety and Insurance employer account pages; Child Support new hire reporting fact sheet (N.D.C.C. 34-15). Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.