7 items, in order: articles of organization (llc), trade name registration (dba), employer identification number (ein), vendor’s license (sales tax) and employer withholding, municipal income tax account and local registrations and zoning certificate and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in Ohio
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 Ohio? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Ohio 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)
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 Ohio Business Central. The articles name a statutory agent with an Ohio street address. A business run under any name other than the registered one also files a trade name registration.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- ohiosos.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 business filing pages and fee schedule; Secretary of State trade name registration form and fee schedule; IRS EIN page; Department of Taxation vendor’s license and employer withholding pages; county auditor notices on the 2025 fee change; Department of Taxation municipal net profit tax pages; RITA and CCA registration pages; Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Industrial Compliance; municipal zoning codes; ODJFS employer pages (form UCO-1, Report to Determine Liability); BWC employer coverage pages. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.