How to Move a Business Across State Lines

Moving a business across state lines is a daunting challenge, but with the right information, it can be easier than you think.

Instructions

• Step 1: Contact your local revenue agency for city and county business tax requirements and apply for a new tax identification number.
• Step 2: Check with your state about your obligations as an employer. Obligations may include worker's compensation insurance, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance.
• Step 3: Make sure that you understand the tax consequences of your move. Each business is unique, so ask a tax expert about your business tax responsibilities. Expand and grow your business, and eventually you'll go global.
• Step 4: Register for a "doing business as" permit if you do business under a name other than your own.
• Step 5: Register for business licenses and permits with your new local government after you move.
• Step 6: Consider your options if you are a limited liability corporation, or LLC. Continue as an LLC in your former state and register as an outside LLC in the new state. Dissolve the LLC in your former state and form an LLC in the new state and establish an LLC in the new state and have members contribute their interests from the original LLC. You can also establish an LLC in the new state and merge the existing LLC with it.
• TIP: If you are a sole proprietor who is personally liable for all your business debts and obligations, all you need do is register your business name in the new state.
• Step 7: Consider your options if you are relocating a corporation. You can continue to do business in your former state and register as an outside corporation in your new state, dissolve the corporation in your old state and re-form it in the new one, or form a new corporation in the new state, and then merge it with the old corporation.