7 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) and the annual report, assumed business name registration (dba), employer identification number (ein), vermont business tax account: sales and use tax, meals and rooms tax, withholding, no general business license and zoning permit, and the division of fire safety construction permit and certificate of occupancy, and 1 more.
How to open a business in Vermont
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 Vermont? 7, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Vermont 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 through the Secretary of State’s online business service. The articles name a registered agent with a Vermont street address. Older guides still quote the pre-2023 fees of $125 and $35.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- sos.vermont.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 fee schedule (11 V.S.A. 4023 and 4033) and LLC and annual report pages; Secretary of State assumed name page and fee schedule (11 V.S.A. 1621 and 1625); IRS EIN page; Department of Taxes meals and rooms tax and business registration pages; Secretary of State Business Services Division pages; municipal ordinances; Division of Fire Safety construction permit application and the Vermont Fire and Building Safety Code; 24 V.S.A. chapter 117 (municipal zoning); Department of Labor unemployment tax rate and 2026 taxable wage base pages; Department of Taxes child care contribution page (Act 76 of 2023); Department of Labor workers’ compensation and new hire reporting pages. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.