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Maryland is a state where licensing is a real step. Maryland Business Express is the state's joint portal for starting a business, and its licensing page begins with a blunt line: most businesses must get licenses or permits before they start operating. The rules come from both state and local governments.
Where do licenses fall in the startup order?
Business Express lays out a six step path. First you register the business in Maryland. Second you get a federal tax ID from the IRS. Third you apply for Maryland tax accounts and insurance. Fourth you obtain licenses or permits. The last two steps are business insurance and health insurance. So the license step comes after the entity exists and the tax accounts are set up, which is also the order this page follows.
Which license types does Maryland list?
The portal names three.
- Basic business license. Almost all businesses, including retail stores and wholesale companies, need one.
- Trader's license. You need it if you buy goods from other businesses and sell those goods to customers.
- Occupational or professional licenses. You or your employees may need special licenses from state or local governments in certain fields.
The portal adds that the State License Bureau manages business licenses in Maryland, and it points to the Maryland Comptroller's business license pages to check whether your business needs a specific one. We did not read a fee schedule for these licenses, so this page gives no fee.
Where do I apply?
It depends on the kind of license.
State licenses go through the Maryland Licensing OneStop Portal. The examples the state gives are mechanics, real estate, home inspections and insurance. Occupational and professional licenses go through the Maryland Department of Labor.
Local licenses are the county's job. The state says to contact your county's office of inspections, licensing or permits, and that some areas require a local business license. The county's Clerk of the Circuit Court is also named as a place to ask. The portal links a list of circuit court clerks.
The state stresses that requirements differ by place. A restaurant in one county may need different permits than a retail store in another. Check both levels before you open.
What taxes should I register for?
Tax accounts are separate from licenses. The Comptroller's Combined Registration Application, or CRA, lets you sign up for several Maryland tax accounts in one form. New businesses can file it online in Business Express. New or existing businesses can also register or update at the Maryland Tax Connect site.
The state says you typically need tax accounts if the business sells goods or taxable services, pays wages, or works in certain regulated tax types. Unemployment insurance is its own account, applied for through the Maryland Department of Labor if you are an industrial or commercial employer or a qualifying nonprofit.
For the federal side, see our EIN guide. Our state tax ID lookup guide covers tax IDs across states.
How does this fit with forming the LLC?
SDAT files the LLC. The Articles of Organization cost $100, and our Maryland LLC guide has the steps. The licenses above come after. If you plan to trade under another name, that is a trade name filing with SDAT, covered in our Maryland DBA guide.
How do I check a license?
The pages we read do not include a Maryland license lookup, so we link none. Our business license lookup page explains how to check a license in general. To confirm that the company itself exists, use the SDAT search on our Maryland business search guide.
What this page leaves out
License fees, renewal dates and industry rules. Those vary by license and by county, and we did not read them. Neighbors handle things differently, as you can see in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia.