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USA business license needed for an online business with zero physical presence?

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fuzzybabybunny

Junior Member
Hello,

I was hoping you could give me some advice on the type of business license I need:

- My business provides real estate photography for real estate agents.

- My customers are located throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

- All the work is done via contractors (independent photographers). My business has zero employees. I'm a single-member LLC.

- I have zero physical presence in California. No office.

- I'm a United States citizen "residing" (on paper) in California but I manage all aspects of the business overseas. I haven't set foot in the USA for the past year and I don't own or rent any property in the USA. All I have is a mailing address and a business consolidates my mail and ships it to me wherever I may be in the world.

I'm already registered with the CA Franchise Tax Board and the CA Secretary of State. Do I still need to get a business license in a certain county?
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
It is not possible you have ZERO physical presence anywhere. It appears you have California nexus and you must follow their rules.

That being said, there's no "license" needed for photography business in California. You pay the franchise tax and income taxes. Unless you sell a "tangilble property" you don't owe sales tax.
 

fuzzybabybunny

Junior Member
My photographers are all contractors. I don't actually do any photography. Strictly speaking, I get clients in various counties and cities wanting photography work, and then I pass the work onto my independent photographers. Each person services numerous cities and counties. It can be photographers in Alaska, Montana, New York, etc. We happen to do most of our work in the Bay Area.

There is no nexus. The only nexus I have is a storage locker somewhere in Oregon where I get my mail sent to, and then a company consolidates the mail and ships it to wherever I am in the world at that time. So does this mean I'm an Oregon 'resident' and an Oregon business? Despite not even stepping foot in the United States?
 

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