New York SBDC Research Network

To streamline the process of starting a business in New York State, the state is pleased to offer citizens and businesses access to a comprehensive resource for starting, running, and growing a business in New York. Using a redesigned platform with new functions, NY Business Express helps a user to quickly learn about and access what they need in one central location. New York Business Express is open to all citizens, along with current and prospective business owners, without a login. Here are some of the key innovative features offered through this website: • To get started, visit the Business Wizard , which leads users through a series of questions to create a Custom Business Checklist that helps determine which New York State, as well as federal and local, requirements apply to their business. • New and returning users are encouraged to utilize the Incentive Guide to find out what New York State incentives and support programs they may be eligible for. • Those who know

Looking for assistance for a specific type of business NOT showing up in the very useful Business Wizard license center website? There is a "contact us" link on the license center website, on the page where all of the drop-down menus are for the type of business. One of our NY SBDC has called often and has found the representative to be very helpful in helping to determine how to categorize certain business entity types. Sometimes it ends up being in more than one category. For instance, our advisor had a taxidermy business, which does not show up as a choice. After several calls, the representative found the one person in the state who knew about the one law that applied to taxidermy!

Everyone has to deal with the nitty-gritty details of starting a business; no matter your industry, getting started safely and legally involves at least a little red tape. You need to make your business an official legal entity, and take an in-depth look at what permits and licenses you need at the local, state, and federal levels to be able to operate your business without fear of being hit with a fine—or worse, having to close down. The term "business license" is a bit misleading as it makes it sound as if there is one license you apply for, sort of like a driver’s license, that you obtain and—voila! You’re legally in business. That is not the case. Read more from Bplans

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational licensing directly affects nearly 30 percent of U.S. workers today and continues to grow in density and scope. In this article, we identify and analyze those rare instances when occupational licensing laws have been eliminated—what we refer to as “de-licensing.” We also discuss recent examples in which courts decided to limit the scope of occupational licensing laws, and we analyze recent efforts (almost uniformly unsuccessful) of a few states to de-license groups of occupations. The reason proposed for most of these efforts is that excessive levels of licensing have hindered job creation, especially for people with lower levels of education. We argue that the paucity of successful de-licensing efforts is due to intense lobbying by associations of licensed professionals as well as the high costs of sunset reviews by state agencies charged with the periodic review of licensing and its possible termination.

When searching to rules, regulations, permits, and licensing information, the first place to look is New York State's Online Permit Assistance and Licensing website . Sometimes, the helpful information provided will tell the searcher to look up legislation that is available through Laws of New York . If no information in provided in OPAL, sometimes searching Laws of New York will yield results previously undiscovered. Ultimately, it is always a good idea to search both sites for the most comprehensive results.

Looking for licensed purveyors of alcohol in New York State? I found my Reference USA search for wholesalers surprisingly unsatisfactory. Then I went to the source, the New York State Liquor Authority's web page. Specifically, the Public Query System is quite useful. One can search by: premises name or the trade name. license serial number. location of the premises. name of the principal for the license. One can also use the Advance Search Find a license according to the City, County, Zip Code, Dates, License Category (on-premise, off-premise, wholesale) and License Status. You may also download the search results, though I had more luck with the Excel than the text, which formatted strangely. A peculiarity in the system, though, is that out-of-state registrants all show up in the records for Albany County. Thus, the 690 cureent wholesale records are not actually applicable to Albany County.

This World Bank site offers a picture of the regulatory costs of doing business. You can look at a map decorated with different colored flags to indicate the level of difficulty of doing business there - ranking issues like starting a business, obtaining licenses, employing workers, registering property, paying taxes and closing a business. For instance, the US ranks as number 3 for ease/difficulty of starting a business, with a 22 for obtaining licenses and a 6 for enforcing contracts. Taiwan ranks in at 62 for enforcing contracts and 148 for obtaining licenses. The Dealing with Licenses Report totals up the number of procedures and days to producing a license; the Trading Across Borders has a summary of number documents needed for export, cost to export per container. Singapore tops the chart for ease of starting a business, followed by New Zealand, United States, Canada and Hong Kong. The site also offers a tidy summary for each country like this one for Denmark .