West Virginia was ranked last in numerous surveys about its market viability. However, this does not mean West Virginia has little to say. Indeed, the state has not increased its general taxation in more than two decades. Most notably, West Virginia has one of the lowest costs of doing business in the United States.
How To Start A Painting Business In West Virginia:
- Getting Started
- Write a Business Plan
- Determine your business’ legal structure
- How to Register your Painting Business Name in West Virginia
- Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- Open a Business Checking Account
- Get Liability Insurance
- Get Health Insurance
- Final Thoughts
Getting Started
To be competitive, painting contractors must be skilled in a variety of painting techniques, as well as know how to bid on jobs, estimate project costs, and recruit employees. In most states, before you can begin operating as an independent painting contractor, you must first apply for licenses, obtain liability insurance, and file the necessary paperwork to get your business recognized.
West Virginia Business Startup Wizard
Write a Business Plan
A business plan is a written outline of the future of your business. That is all it is—a text describing what you intend to do and how you intend to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope outlining your business strategy, you have created a plan, or at the very least the germ of a plan.
Business plans will assist those who write and read them with a variety of tasks. They are used by entrepreneurs seeking investment to communicate their vision to potential investors. They can also be used by businesses looking to recruit key staff, prospect for new business, negotiate with suppliers, or simply to gain a better understanding of how to run their businesses more effectively.
Create a One-Page Business Plan
You should be able to complete your one-page business plan in less than 20 minutes. It’s super-simple: Print our free PDF template and write down one to two sentences to the questions in the free template below:
Download template: PDF
Determine your business legal structure
90% of small businesses are able to escape the confusing scope of legal jargon and tax choices. When you’re first starting out, you really only have two options:
1. A Sole Proprietorship (with a single owner) or a General Partnership (with several owners),
2. A Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).
These systems are low-cost to establish, simple to operate and allow you to save money on taxes through pass-through taxation. Attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers, and other practitioners also use limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and other types of partnerships. Small companies can operate as though corporations do not exist; corporations are commonly used to structure more complex ownership and investment structures. Begin with an inexpensive and simple-to-manage business framework and adjust later if necessary.
Partnership/Sole Proprietorship
These structures are the simplest and most cost-effective way to get started-minimal paperwork is needed. The primary disadvantage (and a critical one) of these systems is that they do not have limited liability. Profit or loss is distributed to the owners.
Limited Liability Companies (LLC)
We create more limited liability companies (LLCs) than any other type of company. Their growing popularity is justified. LLCs incorporate the corporate liability rights with the pass-through taxes applicable to sole proprietors and partnerships.
The majority of small businesses start out as pass-through entities (similar to a sole proprietorship or partnership).The LLC may elect to be taxed as an S-Corporation or a C-Corporation, which may result in tax savings as the company expands.
How to Register your Painting Business Name in West Virginia
If you are not yet prepared to send the organizing documents necessary to register your business, applying for a name reservation can save you time and money. The initial stages of planning to open a business require considerable effort.
You may not want to be one of the people who hired an attorney to prepare organizing papers and placed orders for business cards, letterhead, and advertising signs only to discover that the preferred name was unavailable.
For 120 days from the date of filing with the Secretary of State, a name reservation reserves and preserves the business name you have selected. The team enters the reserved name into the database of business organizations. It will then appear when a name availability search is conducted.
West Virginia Secretary of State
Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Much as individual U.S. residents have unique social security numbers, U.S. companies are given employer ID numbers, usually referred to as EINs. EINs are a special, nine-digit IRS number which is used mainly in the reporting of employment taxes. It can also be referred to as federal tax ID numbers. They never expire and never are reissued to another business, like social security numbers.
If you answer “Yes” to any of the following questions, you will need an EIN.
- Are you an employer?
- Is your company organized as a corporation or a partnership?
- Have you filed any of the following tax returns: Employment, excise, or alcohol, tobacco, and firearms?
- Do you deduct taxes from non-wage profits paid to a non-resident alien?
Open a Business Checking Account
The key reason why it is recommended to open a business bank account is that it solves issues created by combining your personal and business finances.
Opening a business account will enable you to differentiate personal and business expenditures and monitor your cash flow effectively. You will also manage budgets easier, with a concise description of your expenditure and expenditure.
It helps you plan and arrange at year-end what is required for taxes and deductions by separating your personal and business bank accounts. You also have a strong trail of auditing.
Get Liability Insurance
When a business is held liable for the damages sustained by a third party, it is considered liable. If you decide to start your own business and begin selling your goods or offering your services, you subject yourself to a range of liability risks. The business’s goods or services could end up harming a third party or causing damage to a third party’s property.
Any of these scenarios can result in a client making a lawsuit against your business for liability. These allegations sometimes result in expensive lawsuits. In certain instances, even though the company has committed no wrongdoing, it can face a lawsuit as a result of a liability claim.
Liability is not just a high-scoring word in Scrabble (14 points to be precise, 42 if you get a triple word score! ), it refers to the burden you bear as a small business owner if you cause harm to a third party and that third party sues you. Liability lawsuits will wreak havoc on your finances. Having the appropriate insurance policy will assist you in defending it.
Get Health Insurance
Health insurance helps shield a person or family from financial loss for expenses incurred because of illness or injury. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 85 percent of all Americans have some kind of health insurance. Approximately 50 % of Americans with coverage receive it from their employer or their spouse’s employer. There are a variety of reasons why it makes good business sense for employers to offer health insurance to their employees and their families.
Final Thoughts
Compared to the steps taken in order to start a company in West Virginia, a good business idea can be the easy part. And the job will not end until your business is registered and you have licenses and permits.
There’s plenty to do after taking the first steps; after all, these are just the steps to starting a painting company in West Virginia. You would also want to see how to recruit workers, develop a marketing strategy to get the new business’s word, find a site for an office, and more.
Complete Guide: How to Start a Painting Business