Screen whether operating, hiring, or selling in a state creates business registration, foreign-qualification, or licensing obligations, and what to gather before registering.
Answer a few quick questions below. It is private - nothing is submitted or stored - and takes about a minute.
Informational screening only; not tax or legal advice. Confirm registration and licensing requirements with the relevant state authorities and your CPA.
Here is what the checker asks and why each step matters. Prefer to talk it through? Contact us and we will help directly.
Physical presence is the oldest and clearest nexus trigger; a single in-state location or resident worker commonly creates both entity-registration and tax duties regardless of sales volume.
Use the interactive tool above to see how this applies to your situation.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
P.L. 86-272 commonly shields a company from another state's net income tax when its only in-state activity is soliciting orders for tangible goods shipped from outside; inventory, services, or payroll typically break that shield - and a CPA would confirm each state's reading, since the MTC now treats many internet activities as unprotected.
Register for the taxes your presence triggers (sales, payroll, gross receipts) while confirming P.L. 86-272 protects only your net income tax.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Unregistered back periods commonly carry open-ended exposure because the statute of limitations does not start until you file; a voluntary disclosure agreement typically caps the look-back (often around three to four years) and abates penalties, but only before the state contacts you first.
Weigh a voluntary disclosure agreement to cap the look-back and abate penalties before you register forward - available through the MTC National Nexus Program only before the state contacts you first.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Since Wayfair, economic nexus commonly attaches once remote sales into a state pass a threshold - most often around $100,000 a year, with many states dropping the old 200-transaction test - and it usually applies before any physical presence exists.
Use the interactive tool above to see how this applies to your situation.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
Economic-nexus thresholds are measured state by state on current or prior-year sales; crossing one commonly obligates you to register and collect that state's sales tax even though you have no office or staff there, so a CPA would run your revenue by destination state against each threshold.
Register to collect and remit sales tax in each state where you cross the threshold, as authorized post-Wayfair by that state's economic-nexus statute.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
A regulated activity commonly requires an occupational or industry permit that is separate from - and additional to - entity registration and tax accounts, and it is frequently enforced by a different agency with its own bonding, insurance, or continuing-education rules.
Obtain the specific occupational and industry licenses your activity requires, which are enforced separately from tax registration by the relevant licensing agency. Keep a single-state footprint and monitor the physical-presence and Wayfair economic-nexus triggers that would add obligations.
Official guidance: SBA apply for licenses and permits
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