State guide
New York business requirements guide
Built from the approved New York platform-and-state research packs. Use the family comparison and platform overlay before you act.
State guide map
4 operating families7 shared source groups4 flagship examples
One statewide answer first, then the matching lane, then the local branch that can still change what you do.
Best reading order
- Read the New York statewide baseline first so the filing and tax order stays anchored to one state answer.
- Use the family comparison before you spend money, then open the matching platform overlay only when that lane changes the answer.
- Treat city, county, home-based, and product-specific rules as a separate final pass instead of flattening them into the statewide answer.
Why trust this page
This New York page is synthesized from approved combo guides across storefront, marketplace-seller, platform-work, and hosting lanes. Use the official links on the page to verify local requirements before you act.
- The Accountant (State-family rollout reviewer assigned)
- Accountable state-surface reviewer
- Launch-state guides, official source directory state bundles, and scenario inheritance.
State baseline What stays true in New York
Across the approved New York research packs, the shared baseline is to choose your setup lane first, finish the federal and state registrations that actually apply, verify local permission-to-operate questions separately, and only then complete the platform-specific launch work. The family comparison below matters because storefront, marketplace, platform-work, and hosting lanes do not share the same tax, insurance, or operations branch.
Best practical order
- Choose whether the New York launch belongs in storefront, marketplace-seller, platform-work, or hosting first.
- Choose the legal setup and public-facing name before paying for filing or onboarding help.
- Get the EIN if your lane or banking setup needs it.
- Open the business bank account and separate personal money early.
- Register for the New York tax accounts that actually apply to your lane.
- Verify county, city, zoning, airport, or short-term-rental branches separately.
- Finish the platform-specific onboarding, payments, tax settings, or operating checks.
- Launch only after the official links and the ongoing compliance calendar are both mapped.
Compare by family How the answer changes by family
Use this comparison before you spend money. The approved research packs show that storefront, marketplace, platform-work, and hosting lanes do not share the same tax, insurance, local-rule, or operations branch.
Storefront lanes keep more of the state setup, tax settings, payments, shipping, and policy work on you. Use the state baseline first, then treat storefront launch tasks as a separate readiness branch instead of a replacement for filings or local checks.
- Do not treat a direct storefront like a marketplace-only tax shortcut; the direct-sale lane usually keeps more registration and tax-setting work on you.
- Store payments, checkout, tax settings, shipping settings, domains, and policy pages are launch tasks, not substitutes for state registration.
- Public-name filing, local storage, home-based, zoning, and carrier-traffic rules can still matter when you operate or ship from home.
- Inventory, fulfillment, and return workflows stay your responsibility even when a third-party service or warehouse helps later.
- Run a real test checkout before going live so the state baseline and storefront setup stay aligned.
Marketplace-seller lanes still start with the state baseline, but marketplace collection, fulfillment, shipping, payout, and resale branches vary by platform. Separate account approval and operations from the state registration and local-rule questions.
- Do not assume marketplace tax collection answers every state-registration, resale, or direct-sales question.
- Keep fulfillment separate: some marketplace lanes use seller-managed shipping, while others offer platform-fulfillment options or warehouse programs.
- Inventory-for-resale setups may still need resale-certificate or supplier follow-up where the approved research says it applies.
- Marketplace approval, product restrictions, payment holds, and reserve rules are platform-specific and happen after the state baseline is clear.
- Local storage, home-based, zoning, or permit questions can still survive even when customer discovery happens through a marketplace.
Platform-work lanes usually run through self-employment, worker-status, payout, insurance, vehicle, and local operating branches instead of a storefront or resale branch. Keep platform onboarding separate from the government and local questions.
- Do not assume storefront or seller-permit logic applies by default; many platform-work lanes turn on worker-status, self-employment tax, or insurance questions instead.
- Platform onboarding is separate from government registration, local permission-to-operate, and airport or city operating branches.
- Vehicle, transport mode, airport, parking, and home-base rules can matter depending on the platform and municipality.
- Mileage, payouts, and tax records need their own routine before you go live.
- If you hire help, add vehicles, or expand beyond solo work, payroll and workers’ compensation thresholds can change the answer.
New York hosting keeps the short-term-rental, lodging-tax, direct-booking, and local-permission branch visible. Use the state baseline first, then open the hosting overlay before you pay for listing, furnishing, or permit help.
- Confirm the property can legally be used for short-term lodging under the actual city, county, building, lease, condo, or co-op rules that apply.
- Decide whether every booking will stay inside your hosting platform's booking-service lane, or whether you will also take direct bookings that trigger a different New York tax setup.
- If the listing is in New York City, close the city legality and registration branch before you list.
- Direct bookings can change tax, permit, payout, and insurance responsibilities.
- Emergency contact, turnover, house-rule, and guest-operations planning belong in launch readiness, not as an afterthought.
Platform overlay
Airbnb in New York: what changes
If you want to open Airbnb in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Confirm the property can legally be used for short-term lodging under the actual city, county, building, lease, condo, or co-op rules that apply.
- Decide whether every booking will stay inside Airbnb's booking-service lane, or whether you will also take direct bookings that trigger a different New York tax setup.
- If the listing is in New York City, close the city legality and registration branch before you list.
- Open and verify your Airbnb host account, set payout and tax information, and launch only after the tax, guest-limit, and house-rule setup is ready.
- Treating Airbnb signup as permission to host
- Assuming New York City under-30-day entire-home stays are allowed if the host owns the property
- Assuming platform tax collection answers every city or county tax branch
- Taking off-platform bookings without re-checking the state vendor-registration branch
- Ignoring lease, condo, co-op, lender, or insurer restrictions
- Treating AirCover as a substitute for real insurance review
- The reviewed official New York state source set did not identify a statewide lodging license for the ordinary home-host path.
- That does not mean the launch is permit-free.
- For the actual property location:
- check the county or city lodging-tax rules,
- check local zoning or STR rules,
- check nuisance, occupancy, or parking rules,
- and check building-specific lease, condo, co-op, or owner restrictions.
- If the listing is in New York City, add one more review layer.
- On January 9, 2022, New York City adopted Local Law 18, the Short-Term Rental Registration Law.
- The city's current OSE pages say a host must be a natural person and the permanent occupant of the dwelling unit to be eligible for registration.
- City guidance says short-term rentals under 30 days are only permitted if the host is staying in the same unit or apartment as the guests, there are no more than 2 paying guests, and the host maintains a common household with them.
- The city says entire-home or unhosted stays under 30 days are not permitted in permanent residential buildings, including one- and two-family homes.
- Current city guidance also says registration is not available for NYCHA, rent-controlled, rent-stabilized, or other rent-regulated units, and owners can also place buildings on the Prohibited Buildings List.
- The current city application fee is $145, non-refundable.
- Tax split inside New York City:
- OSE says tax obligations are independent from registration.
- The New York City Department of Finance says renting only one bedroom in your own home does not trigger city hotel room occupancy tax.
- The same city FAQ says other patterns can trigger hotel room occupancy tax, including heavier frequency or rentals of more than one room.
- UBT note:
- The city's public UBT page exempts an owner, lessee, or fiduciary engaged in holding, leasing, or managing real property for their own account.
- For an ordinary host using their own property or their own leasehold, that makes UBT look less central than in a direct-service or other active business.
- Keep a follow-up note if the activity becomes more management-heavy, service-heavy, or more like a separate hospitality operation than simple own-account lodging.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is short-term rental host.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is host onboarding and short-term rental operations.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with inventory resale assumptions, seller-permit assumptions unless state rules explicitly require them, FBA or storefront setup.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public guide says sign-up is free and hosts complete identity verification before moving into listing setup.
Public page says Airbnb requires primary hosts, new co-hosts, and booking guests to complete identity verification.
Airbnb says incorrect or unconfirmed details can limit account permissions and payouts.
Public page says location verification is optional for most listings and has a narrow meaning.
Public page says most home hosts pay a 3% host fee under split fee, while many single-fee hosts pay about 15.5%.
Public page says Airbnb typically releases a home-host payout about 24 hours after check-in, subject to payout method and review timing.
Payout methods depend on where the host is based and method eligibility.
Public page says eligible Visa or Mastercard debit or reloadable prepaid cards can receive near-instant payouts after release.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public page says Airbnb may collect taxpayer information and may withhold or suspend payouts if a host does not provide requested tax information.
Public page explains 1099-K, 1099-MISC, and 1042-S possibilities and where tax documents appear in the account.
Public page says hosts can set standard house rules including maximum guest count.
Public rules focus on listing accuracy, honoring reservations and refunds, timely communication, and cleanliness.
Public policy says hosts generally cannot collect reservation-related fees outside Airbnb unless specifically allowed.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public page says AirCover includes guest identity verification, reservation screening, $3 million host damage protection, $1 million host liability insurance, and a 24-hour safety line.
Public page says host liability insurance is subject to terms, conditions, and exclusions and is not a substitute for personal insurance.
New York City Branch
City says Local Law 18 requires registration and bars booking services from processing unregistered transactions.
City says no unhosted or entire-unit short-term rentals, no more than 2 guests, host must be a natural person and permanent occupant, and rent-regulated or prohibited-building units are ineligible.
Public FAQ says one bedroom in your own home is not hotel-taxed, while other room-count or frequency patterns can trigger city hotel tax.
Public page shows a 4% tax but also exempts owners, lessees, or fiduciaries engaged in holding, leasing, or managing real property for their own account.
Public city guidance points sole proprietors using a trade name to the borough county clerk.
Amazon FBA in New York: what changes
If you want to open Amazon FBA in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before launch.
- Verify county, local, and New York City rules if the business will operate there.
- Open and verify your Amazon seller account, then enroll in FBA if that is your fulfillment path.
- Launch only after your product, tax, sourcing, and inventory-prep setup is ready.
- Buying inventory before checking category and FBA restrictions
- Using a brand name or DBA without the right county or state filing
- Mixing personal and business money
- Assuming "Amazon handles tax" means New York registration questions disappear
- Launching with batteries, hazmat, food, cosmetics, or other harder categories too early
- Keeping weak supplier documentation
- Missing the LLC publication, biennial, or IT-204-LL branches
- Treating Amazon as the compliance department
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home or store inventory.
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name filings
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- New York State tax guidance says businesses in New York City may be subject to city business income and excise taxes.
- The NYC Department of Finance says all businesses operating in New York City are subject to business taxes, but each tax type has its own filing rules and eligibility details.
- Inference from the public city filing page: because NYC's filing page names Unincorporated Business Tax (UBT) returns NYC-202 and NYC-204, a sole proprietor or disregarded LLC operating in New York City should review the UBT branch before assuming the state filing stack is the whole answer.
- A one-size-fits-all New York City general business license for every Amazon seller is unverified in the reviewed public record; the reviewed city sources instead point founders toward city tax review plus activity-specific permit and location review.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is FBA.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Amazon's public guide says you do not need to be an LLC to register and uses a five-step registration flow.
Public pricing page says plan changes can be made after registration.
Amazon's public page says Brand Registry is free but requires the brand and trademark path to qualify.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public FBA overview explains the Amazon-run fulfillment model and the current Send to Amazon workflow.
Amazon's public FAQ says some categories are open, some require approval, and some cannot be sold by third-party sellers.
Public beginner guide uses Send to Amazon as the shipment-creation workflow and recommends correct prep and labeling.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public Amazon forum materials say insurance may be required within 30 days after exceeding USD 10,000 in gross proceeds in one month, or earlier if requested. Re-check the live Seller Central agreement on the action date.
New York City Branch
State tax guidance says a business in New York City may be subject to city business income and excise taxes.
Start here for the city business-tax branch.
Public filing page includes UBT return references such as NYC-202 and NYC-204.
Use after confirming which city tax branch applies.
Official city start-up page for permits, space planning, and business support.
NY Courts says the five New York City county clerks file business certificates; use the borough where the business is located.
DoorDash in New York: what changes
If you want to open DoorDash in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get the federal and New York setup in place before launch, including the entity, EIN if needed, and the real self-employment and estimated-tax baseline.
- Decide whether you are launching outside New York City or inside New York City, because NYC adds a real delivery-worker-law, UBT, borough business-certificate, and home-business branch.
- Open and verify your DoorDash Dasher account, complete screening, and confirm the transportation mode and payout method actually fit your plan.
- Launch only after payout, tax-recordkeeping, insurance, and any NYC or airport-property follow-up branches are understood.
- Assuming a seller permit is the first New York filing for a Dasher
- Treating NYC like the rest of the state
- Ignoring the borough business-certificate branch when using a trade name
- Ignoring UBT until income is already high
- Treating Fast Pay, DoorDash Crimson, or Tasks as fixed universal features
- Treating public DoorDash safety pages as a substitute for confirming insurance reality
- Assuming JFK or LaGuardia delivery access is automatically settled
- New York does not use one statewide local-business form for DoorDash couriers.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- confirm whether the launch is outside NYC or inside NYC,
- handle county assumed-name filing if you are using a public trade name,
- and treat any separate office, storage, or repeated home-based operational use as a local branch.
- Important statewide local-rule boundaries:
- the reviewed public source set did not identify a general statewide courier license for the ordinary solo Dasher path,
- but that does not erase county-clerk, city-tax, zoning, or airport-property branches,
- and no public source reviewed on April 26, 2026 justified turning JFK or LaGuardia access into a closed statewide answer for DoorDash.
- Typical local risk areas:
- county assumed-name filing
- home-based-business limits
- parking or multiple-vehicle storage
- airport-property access
- any separate office, lot, or dispatch-style setup
- If the business is actually based in New York City, add a much heavier review layer.
- If a sole proprietor or general partnership uses a trade name in NYC, a borough business certificate may be required through the county clerk.
- NYC’s public business-certificate guidance reviewed on April 26, 2026 says each borough has its own county clerk and that a sole proprietorship needs the certificate only if a trade name is used.
- This is not the same thing as an LLC assumed-name filing through the Department of State.
- NYC DCWP’s current restaurant-delivery-worker pages expressly treat DoorDash as an example of a covered restaurant app.
- The city’s public FAQ says covered workers must be paid at least once a week.
- The city’s public FAQ also says apps must disclose the pickup address, dropoff location, estimated time and routed distance, and pay and tip details before a worker accepts an offer.
- The current city FAQ reviewed on April 26, 2026 also references the city’s active minimum-pay framework, including the current $21.44 per hour trip-time figure shown on the page.
- Important worker-status note:
- These city protections apply even when the app classifies the worker as an independent contractor.
- Do not turn those city rights into a statewide employee-status conclusion.
- NYC Finance says UBT is charged at 4% on taxable income allocated to New York City.
- The reviewed current official city record supports the practical filing branch used in this pack: an unincorporated business carrying on business wholly or partly in NYC reaches the current filing line when total gross income from all business is more than $95,000.
- Keep UBT separate from statewide income tax and separate from the MCTMT branch.
- The reviewed public NYC source set did not identify a general city courier-operating license for an ordinary solo Dasher.
- That does not erase home-business and zoning review if the residence becomes more than a paperwork base.
- Public DOB and Zoning Resolution materials reviewed on April 26, 2026 do not fully align, so address-specific home-office, repeated pickup, stored-equipment, or recurring-traffic questions should stay retained follow-up rather than be treated as fully closed here.
- JFK and LaGuardia remain explicit follow-up branches for DoorDash.
- The reviewed public source set did not identify a clean airport-owned or DoorDash-owned public page that fully closes ordinary food-delivery courier access, parking, terminal, or staging rules at those airports.
- Do not import passenger TNC, FHV, or TLC airport rules as if they automatically settle DoorDash food-delivery access.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is platform-based delivery courier.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is courier onboarding and delivery operations.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with inventory resale assumptions, seller-permit assumptions unless state rules explicitly require them, FBA or storefront setup.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public U.S. signup page reviewed on April 26, 2026 says Dashers must be 18* or older, with named higher-age exceptions that did not include New York on the reviewed page. Re-check live signup wording because age language has drifted across states.
Public page says support resources exist in the app and that signup status can be checked through the Already started signing up? flow.
DoorDash says prospective Dashers verify a valid government ID and complete a background check using their SSN.
Public pay page says Dashers can use Earn per Offer and in some areas Earn by Time, keep 100% of customer tips, and use weekly direct deposit.
Public page reviewed on April 26, 2026 says approved Dashers can receive no-fee deposits after every dash and manage the account in-app.
Public April 8, 2026 article says Crimson can provide a virtual card, standard external transfers, optional instant transfers, and early direct deposit features. Keep payout-brand drift explicit because public pages still overlap with Fast Pay and older wording.
Latest accessible public tax article reviewed on April 26, 2026 says Dashers are self-employed, DoorDash does not withhold taxes, and 1099-NEC delivery has run through Stripe when the threshold is met. Re-check live tax-help flow on the action date.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public pages explain the flexible delivery model and transport-mode options by market. This directory stays in the courier baseline and does not treat DoorDash Tasks as universally available in New York.
Public January 16, 2024 article describes the core accept-pick-up-drop-off flow.
Public page says Shop & Deliver uses the Red Card and a different shop-pay-deliver workflow.
DoorDash says alcohol orders can require in-app ID scanning and responsible-handoff steps.
Use when a live account issue cannot be solved from public pages.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public safety page reviewed on April 26, 2026 describes in-app safety tools, SafeDash, a 24/7 Trust and Safety line, and an occupational-accident-policy branch.
Dedicated public help articles for auto insurance and occupational-accident coverage exist, but the exact public article wording was not stable enough in browsing on April 26, 2026 to treat it as a closed universal answer. Re-check live help or in-app insurance screens before launch.
New York City Branch
Public pages say the certificate is needed only when a trade name is used and that each borough has its own county clerk.
Public city page says delivery workers in NYC have rights regardless of immigration status and links to the applicable notices and FAQs.
Public FAQ reviewed on April 26, 2026 treats DoorDash as a covered restaurant app example, says workers must be paid at least once a week, and says apps must disclose pay, tips, pickup and dropoff information, and estimated time and routed distance before acceptance.
Public city pages say UBT applies to unincorporated trades and professions carried on wholly or partly in the city. Keep this separate from statewide income tax and MCTMT.
Use the current forms page for filing. The reviewed current official city record also reflects the practical filing branch used elsewhere in this pack: total gross income from all business above $95,000 can trigger the UBT filing line.
Public city materials do not fully close address-specific home-office, repeated pickup, stored-equipment, or recurring-traffic questions. Keep borough or city-only uncertainty explicit instead of guessing.
Reviewed public airport pages did not identify a clean DoorDash-specific food-delivery rule for terminal access, staging, pickup, or parking. Use these official airport pages as action-date layout and access checks, and do not import passenger rideshare rules as if they settle courier access.
Reviewed public airport pages did not identify a clean DoorDash-specific food-delivery rule for terminal access, staging, pickup, or parking. Use these official airport pages as action-date layout and circulation checks, and keep LGA access as retained follow-up rather than a guessed closed rule.
eBay in New York: what changes
If you want to open eBay in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup and a low-risk product lane: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before launching, especially the New York Certificate of Authority at least 20 days before taxable sales or exemption-certificate use, plus any county or state name-filing branch that applies.
- Verify county, local, and New York City rules if the business will operate there.
- Open the eBay seller account, but keep the platform branch narrow because the current public eBay onboarding, fee, payout, and policy pages were not preserved clearly enough in approved local repo evidence to restate as settled facts here.
- Launch only after your product, tax, local, and seller-managed-shipping setup are ready.
- Assuming marketplace collection removes the New York registration and return-filing branch
- Using a trade name without the right county or state assumed-name filing
- Importing Shopify direct-store logic into a marketplace-only eBay setup
- Ignoring the New York City UBT, borough-clerk, or zoning branch
- Pricing inventory without first verifying the live eBay fee stack
- Mixing personal and business money
- Missing the LLC publication, biennial, or IT-204-LL branches
- Buying regulated or high-risk inventory before checking category restrictions
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home or store inventory.
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name filings
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- New York State tax guidance says businesses in New York City may be subject to city business income and excise taxes.
- The NYC Department of Finance says all businesses operating in New York City are subject to business taxes, but each tax type has its own filing rules and eligibility details.
- Public NYC-202 instructions say an individual or unincorporated entity carrying on business wholly or partly within New York City with total gross income from all business over $95,000 must file an unincorporated-business-tax return.
- The city UBT rate is 4% of taxable income allocated to New York City.
- NYC's official business-certificate page says that if a sole proprietorship uses a name other than its legal name, the owner needs a business certificate from the county clerk, and each borough has its own county clerk.
- NYC Business and DOB guidance say zoning rules matter for home-based businesses.
- Department of Buildings guidance says a home occupation generally cannot occupy more than 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site.
- If you will store inventory, receive frequent carrier pickups, or materially increase residential traffic, confirm the exact zoning and home-occupation answer for the address before launch.
- A one-size-fits-all New York City general business license for every eBay seller is unverified in the reviewed public record; the reviewed city sources instead point founders toward city tax review plus activity-specific permits, business-certificate review, and location review.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is seller-managed shipping.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
The approved local evidence for this eBay wave did not preserve a verified public seller-onboarding page. Re-check the current seller entry, identity-verification, and payout pages before listing.
Approved local evidence did not preserve a verified public eBay fee table for listing fees, final value fees, promoted listings, store subscriptions, or payout timing. Re-check the current public fee pages before pricing inventory.
No public eBay brand-registry-style program was verified in approved local evidence for this New York build. Lawful sourcing, invoices, and IP-clean listings still matter.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
This combo's baseline assumption is seller-managed shipping. Exact public eBay listing, shipping, returns, and payout workflow pages were not preserved in approved local evidence and should be re-checked before launch.
Exact public eBay restricted-category and prohibited-item pages were not preserved in approved local evidence. Re-check before listing anything outside low-risk general merchandise.
Re-check the live public seller pages for returns, payout timing, fee rules, and account-setting mechanics before you rely on any saved notes.
Insurance Checkpoint
No public eBay-wide insurance minimum or seller-wide threshold was identified in approved local evidence for this New York build. Re-check live eBay pages and any carrier, storage, or landlord contracts before relying on that absence.
New York City Branch
State and city guidance say New York City businesses may face city business taxes. Sole proprietors and disregarded LLCs should review the UBT branch.
Public city guidance shows a 4% rate, and the NYC-202 instructions say filing begins once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
DOB says a home occupation generally cannot exceed 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site. The city business-certificate guide says sole proprietors using an assumed name file with the appropriate borough county clerk.
Etsy in New York: what changes
If you want to open Etsy in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose an Etsy-eligible product lane and your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before launching.
- Verify county, local, and New York City rules if the business will operate there.
- Open and verify your Etsy shop, payment account, and first listing setup.
- Launch only after your product, tax, local, and seller-managed shipping setup is ready.
- Listing mass-produced goods as handmade
- Using a brand name or DBA without the right county or state filing
- Assuming "Etsy handles tax" means New York registration questions disappear
- Using fandom, trademarked, or copyrighted material without permission
- Mixing personal and business money
- Missing the LLC publication, biennial, or IT-204-LL branches
- Ignoring tracking and documentation until the first buyer dispute
- Treating Etsy as the compliance department
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home or store inventory.
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name filings
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- New York State tax guidance says businesses in New York City may be subject to city business income and excise taxes.
- The NYC Department of Finance says all businesses operating in New York City are subject to business taxes, but each tax type has its own filing rules and eligibility details.
- Inference from the public city filing page: because NYC's filing page names Unincorporated Business Tax (UBT) returns NYC-202 and NYC-204, a sole proprietor or disregarded LLC operating in New York City should review the UBT branch before assuming the state filing stack is the whole answer.
- NYC's official business-certificate page says that if a sole proprietorship uses a name other than its legal name, the owner needs a business certificate from the county clerk, and each borough has its own county clerk.
- A one-size-fits-all New York City general business license for every Etsy seller is unverified in the reviewed public record; the reviewed city sources instead point founders toward city tax review plus activity-specific permits, business-certificate review, and location review.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is seller-managed shipping.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup (Etsy)
Etsy says sellers start at Etsy.com/sell, use a desktop browser to set up the shop, and complete required two-factor authentication. Etsy also says it does not require a business license, but sellers must follow applicable law.
New shops enroll in Etsy Payments as part of opening the shop. Etsy says sellers must be in an eligible country to open a new shop.
Etsy says sellers choose whether they are using Etsy Payments as an individual or a business for legal and tax purposes.
Etsy says it partners with Persona; the name on the ID must match the name on the bank account you shared.
Etsy says U.S. sellers verify through Plaid or manual test deposits. The page says sellers signing up must verify before opening the shop, and existing sellers can be suspended if they do not verify a changed bank account in time.
Etsy says missed legal deadlines can block payouts and place the shop into Etsy-initiated vacation mode until the required information is confirmed.
Main public fee source. Re-check the live set-up-fee display during onboarding because Etsy says the amount varies by location.
Etsy says the fee varies by country and is in addition to the transaction fee.
Optional monthly subscription; not required for a normal U.S. shop launch.
Etsy does not have an Amazon-style brand registry requirement for sellers. The reviewed public record supports Etsy's Reporting Portal and IP policy as the relevant optional enforcement tools instead.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations (Etsy seller-managed shipping)
Etsy says sellers must register as a seller before creating a listing and that the item must fit Etsy's handmade, vintage, or craft-supply categories.
Etsy says missing storefront basics like a shop icon can affect visibility in search.
Etsy says sellers outside the EU must set a return policy whenever they edit or create a physical-item listing, even if the policy says no returns or exchanges are accepted.
Items must be made, designed, handpicked, or sourced by the seller and still comply with the Prohibited Items Policy.
Etsy says drop shipping is generally not allowed except for limited craft-and-party-supplies cases; production partners are allowed for original designs with disclosure.
Etsy says sellers are responsible for ensuring orders are sent to buyers even when using a third party to help with fulfillment.
Optional label tool; can affect shipping workflow and some performance programs.
Reserve timing and percentages vary by account; treat the existence of reserves as real but the exact reserve terms as account-specific.
Etsy says qualifying orders up to $250 may be covered, but the program is not insurance and sellers still need accurate processing, shipping, and listing practices.
Insurance Checkpoint
Some label services include coverage and additional coverage may be available.
No public Etsy-wide seller insurance threshold was identified in the reviewed public record. Etsy Purchase Protection is not a substitute for general liability or product liability insurance.
New York City Branch
State tax guidance says a business in New York City may be subject to city business income and excise taxes.
Start here for the city business-tax branch.
Public filing page includes UBT return references such as NYC-202 and NYC-204.
Use after confirming which city tax branch applies.
Official city start-up page for permits, space planning, and business support.
Official city search tool for licenses, permits, inspections, and other business regulations.
City resource says each borough has its own county clerk and that a business certificate is needed when the business uses a name other than its legal name.
Facebook Marketplace in New York: what changes
If you want to open Facebook Marketplace in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Decide whether you are really doing local meetup/direct sale, shipped checkout through Meta if eligible, or later off-Facebook direct sales, because the New York tax answer changes across those paths.
- Handle your New York name-filing and tax branch before launch, especially the county or borough business-certificate branch if needed and the Certificate of Authority branch if your facts require it.
- Verify local permit, zoning, and city-tax rules, especially if you will operate in New York City.
- Confirm that your Facebook account can actually use Marketplace, and only build around shipping or business-mode tools if your real account has them.
- Treating a local pickup Facebook sale as if it were automatically a marketplace-provider tax sale.
- Ignoring the conflict between New York's marketplace FAQ and TSB-A-24(52)S when planning a pure shipped-checkout-only theory.
- Buying inventory tax free before you have actually secured the right New York registration path.
- Assuming Marketplace shipping, business-mode, or payout tools are universally available.
- Using your display name as a substitute for New York legal-name or business-certificate compliance.
- Ignoring the New York City UBT and zoning layers.
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home or store inventory.
- Typical local risk areas:
- business-certificate filing
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- The city business-certificate page says sole proprietors using a trade name need the borough county-clerk filing.
- The city UBT and NYC-202 materials say unincorporated businesses carried on wholly or partly in NYC may have a city business-tax filing branch once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
- Public city sources also show a live zoning and home-occupation branch.
- Important city nuance:
- The DOB illegal-home-use page still gives a stricter general summary for home occupations.
- The current zoning-resolution text, last amended June 6, 2024, is broader.
- Because those public city sources are not perfectly aligned, treat the exact home-business limits for residential inventory, pickups, staffing, and floor area as an address-specific retained follow-up before you rely on a home-based NYC launch.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is local sale or seller-managed shipping.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public help says Marketplace is for adults with active accounts, must be used from the main profile, and businesses may be blocked.
Public help shows the basic create-listing flow.
Public help lists acceptable identity, address, and SSN or ITIN proof for shipped checkout.
Public policy page also states the U.S. seller-protection limit up to $2,000, the Meta-generated-label condition, and the $20 chargeback fee posture.
Public help says shipping sales may trigger 1099-K through PayPal and 1099-MISC for certain Meta reimbursements.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public help says shipping and checkout are not available to all users and that the article is about individual sellers with shipping and checkout.
Public help says a sale made through an individual seller on Marketplace is between the buyer and seller.
Public help says ordinary Marketplace buyers and sellers are generally pushed toward cash or person-to-person payment methods.
Public help says cancellation rate should stay below 10% and shipping is available only on the Facebook app for iPhone and Android.
Public help says local-pickup Marketplace purchases are not eligible for Facebook returns or refunds.
Public help says Marketplace listings must comply with Commerce Policies and Community Standards.
Insurance Checkpoint
No public universal liability-insurance threshold was identified in the reviewed Meta pages as of April 26, 2026.
New York City Branch
The city page says each borough has its own county clerk.
The city says UBT applies to some unincorporated businesses and lists a 4% tax rate on taxable income allocated to NYC.
The 2025 instructions say businesses wholly or partly in NYC with more than $95,000 of total gross income from all business must file.
Useful forms hub for individual and partnership-style city returns.
City page explains how to check zoning and contact the Zoning Information Desk.
Current zoning-resolution text for home occupation was last amended June 6, 2024 and is broader than the older DOB summary page.
DOB gives a stricter general summary than the current zoning-resolution text, so residential inventory and pickup operations need address-specific confirmation.
Instacart in New York: what changes
If you want to start shopping with Instacart in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your banking, tax recordkeeping, and any New York registrations that actually apply in place before launch.
- Verify whether your local facts create a real New York City branch, including borough business-certificate, UBT, and grocery-app worker-law effects.
- Open and verify your Instacart shopper account.
- Launch only after your identity documents, payout setup, insurance check, and mileage or tax workflow are ready.
- Assuming a New York sales-tax registration is the first filing for an ordinary Instacart shopper
- Ignoring the NYC grocery-app worker-law branch because the platform feels national
- Treating shopper injury protection as a substitute for talking to your own auto insurer
- Mixing personal and business money because payouts feel automatic
- Taking alcohol, prescription, or very heavy batches before understanding the extra requirements
- Forgetting that some stores need an active physical payment card
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express
- contact the county clerk
- contact the city office
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home
- Typical local risk areas:
- business certificates
- home occupation restrictions
- city taxes
- unusual vehicle traffic
- airport-property access
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- NYC grocery-app worker law is real and directly covers Instacart.
- The public city pages say covered grocery-app workers must be paid at least $22.13 per hour, excluding tips, as of April 1, 2026.
- Public Instacart materials say NYC law has also already changed shopper online-access and batch-offer behavior there.
- Borough business-certificate fees vary by county clerk, and UBT can become real once total gross income exceeds the filing threshold.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is platform-based grocery shopper or delivery contractor.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is shopper onboarding and delivery operations.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with inventory resale assumptions, seller-permit assumptions unless state rules explicitly require them, FBA or storefront setup.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public overview for the ordinary shopper flow.
Says shoppers must be 18+, have a valid driver's license and SSN, and pass background checks.
Also says some regions like New York City have local laws that affect shopper pay.
Account is powered by Branch with banking services through Lead Bank.
Use for proximity, Cart Star, and certification rules; peak earning times is unavailable in New York City.
Instacart says city law forced structural changes, including constraints on when shoppers can go online and one-at-a-time batch offers.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Good public source for how Instacart shopping differs from rideshare or restaurant-only delivery work.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public page says shoppers can access emergency assistance, incident reporting, and resources about shopper injury protection.
Use as the public reminder that shoppers are expected to carry their own insurance; public shopper pages do not close the full New York auto-policy answer.
New York City Branch
As of April 26, 2026, apps such as Instacart must pay at least $22.13 per hour excluding tips for time spent preparing and or making deliveries.
Says the app must pay all tips, pay at least weekly, offer a no-fee payment option, provide route details before acceptance, and provide a free insulated bag after 6 food deliveries.
Use together with the NYC-202 instructions for the filing threshold.
Official city fee row for county-clerk business certificates.
Shopify in New York: what changes
If you want to open Shopify in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before launch, especially your New York Certificate of Authority at least 20 days before direct taxable sales and your New York name-filing branch if you will not use the exact legal name.
- Verify local permit, zoning, and home-business rules. If you will operate in New York City, treat the city tax and home-occupation branch as real work, not a footnote.
- Create the Shopify store, complete Shopify Payments or your fallback payment-provider setup, and finish the storefront, tax, shipping, checkout, policy-page, and domain configuration.
- Launch only after your product, fulfillment, tax, and compliance setup are ready.
- Confusing a direct Shopify store with a marketplace-facilitator safe harbor
- Using a public brand name without the right New York name-filing branch
- Launching without the New York Certificate of Authority branch in place
- Forgetting the New York LLC publication requirement or Biennial Statement cycle
- Ignoring the IT-204-LL filing-fee branch for New York-source LLC activity
- Treating a New York City address as automatically cleared without checking UBT and zoning
- Pricing products without accounting for payment fees, platform fees, shipping, returns, and tax-service costs
- Letting Shopify default settings stand without testing checkout, shipping, and policy-page visibility
- Buying regulated or high-risk inventory before checking Shopify and New York compliance limits
- New York pushes many operational questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk if you need the name-filing branch,
- contact the city, town, or village where the business will operate,
- and ask zoning, building, or fire offices whether the activity is allowed at the address.
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name or business-certificate filing
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- signage
- occupancy and fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- City tax layer:
- New York City Department of Finance guidance says all businesses operating in New York City are subject to city business taxes.
- For the default sole-proprietor or disregarded single-member-LLC path, the Unincorporated Business Tax is the main city tax branch to review.
- Public NYC-202 instructions say an individual or unincorporated entity carrying on business wholly or partly within New York City with total gross income from all business over $95,000 must file an unincorporated-business-tax return.
- The city UBT rate is 4% of taxable income allocated to New York City.
- City filing branch:
- Individuals and single-member LLCs use Form NYC-202.
- Partnerships and partnership-taxed LLCs use Form NYC-204.
- If the founder later elects corporate or S corporation treatment, re-check the city corporate-tax branch rather than assuming UBT stays correct.
- Home-based and zoning layer:
- NYC Business and DOB guidance says zoning rules matter for home-based businesses.
- Department of Buildings guidance says a home occupation generally cannot occupy more than 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site.
- If you will store inventory, receive frequent carrier pickups, or materially increase residential traffic, confirm the exact zoning and home-occupation answer for the address before launch.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is DTC ecommerce store.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is self-fulfillment or 3PL.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public help covers store creation, pricing-plan choice, products, payments, tax settings, policies, and launch-prep basics.
Public pricing reviewed on April 26, 2026 showed starting annual-billing rates of $29 Basic, $79 Grow, and $299 Advanced, with third-party gateway fees of 2%, 1%, and 0.6%.
Reviewed public sources did not identify a mandatory public brand-enrollment program; the practical issue is product legality, rights ownership, and policy compliance.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public help says the pricing plan affects store features and that merchants can be asked for ID, address, business documents, and other verification items.
Public pages explain eligibility by country and business type, possible verification steps, and broader acceptable-use limits.
Public help covers locations, rates, packages, tax settings, and domain setup.
Insurance Checkpoint
No public Shopify-wide insurance minimum or sales threshold was identified in the reviewed public sources as of April 26, 2026; separate carriers, landlords, 3PLs, or product lines may still impose their own requirements.
New York City Branch
Public guidance says all businesses operating in the city are subject to city business taxes, and the default sole-proprietor or disregarded-LLC path should review UBT.
Public city guidance shows a 4% tax rate, and the NYC-202 instructions say filing begins once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
DOB says a home occupation generally cannot exceed 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site; confirm the actual address with city zoning guidance.
TikTok Shop in New York: what changes
If you want to open TikTok Shop in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup and a low-risk product lane: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before launch, especially your New York Certificate of Authority at least 20 days before taxable sales or exemption-certificate use, plus any county or state name-filing branch that applies.
- Verify county, local, and New York City rules if the business will operate there.
- Open the TikTok Shop seller account using the correct seller type, then complete W9, payout, warehouse, and first-listing setup.
- Launch only after your product, tax, local, and logistics setup are ready.
- Assuming TikTok marketplace collection eliminates the New York Certificate of Authority
- Choosing the wrong TikTok Shop seller type for the actual tax and entity setup
- Using a trade name without filing the county or LLC assumed-name branch
- Using a home address without planning for public address display and New York City home-occupation rules
- Pricing products without checking the current live fee and settlement pages
- Listing restricted or prohibited products because they were allowed on another marketplace
- New York pushes some business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices if the business will operate from home or store inventory.
- Typical local risk areas:
- business certificate or assumed-name filing
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for inventory storage
- carrier or truck activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- whether public display of a business address creates a privacy or zoning issue for the actual location
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- New York City business-tax review is real, not optional.
- The city says UBT applies to some unincorporated businesses and the rate is 4% of taxable income allocated to the city.
- The reviewed official city materials also indicate a filing branch once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
- Sole proprietors using a trade name file the business certificate with the appropriate borough county clerk, not with one citywide office.
- The city's zoning and illegal-home-use guidance means you should not assume home inventory, on-site help, or frequent pickups are automatically approved.
- The Department of Buildings says a home occupation generally cannot occupy more than 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is seller-managed shipping, TikTok Shipping, or optional FBT where available.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public guide dated September 18, 2025 explains Individual, Sole Proprietorship, and Corporation/Partnership business types.
Public guide dated April 7, 2026 says applicants must be at least 18, use unique contact info, provide ID, SSN or ITIN, bank information, and a W9.
Public guide dated April 7, 2026 says a sole proprietor without an EIN should register as an Individual Seller.
Public guide dated April 7, 2026 says business-entity registration can require EIN, UBO, and primary-representative information.
Public pages say TikTok charges referral fees, can amend them by notice, and acts as marketplace facilitator in most U.S. jurisdictions where required.
Public page dated September 12, 2025 says setup includes verification, warehouse setup, product upload, and W9; products are not visible until W9 is complete and internal compliance review is passed.
Public pages say settlement starts after successful delivery, only the shop owner can change bank details, and bank-account type must match seller type.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public guide dated March 17, 2026 says TikTok Shop offers Seller Shipping, TikTok Shipping, and FBT.
Public policy dated March 3, 2026 says listings must be clear, truthful, and compliant with law and platform rules.
Public policy dated April 7, 2026 says prohibited products cannot be sold and the policy applies to all U.S. sellers.
Public policy dated April 7, 2026 says some categories need category-level, product-level, or invite-only qualification and more documentation may be required at any time.
Public policy dated March 23, 2026 prohibits misleading variation pricing and price gouging, but it is not a permanent category-fee table.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public page dated April 14, 2026 says CGL is not currently mandatory, may become mandatory later with advance notice, and the Insurance Center is available only to select sellers.
This applies to TikTok Shipping labels, not to every seller operation and not as a substitute for general liability coverage.
New York City Branch
State and city guidance say New York City businesses may face city business taxes. Sole proprietors and disregarded LLCs should review the UBT branch.
Public city guidance shows a 4% rate. Reviewed official city materials also indicate a filing trigger once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
DOB says a home occupation generally cannot exceed 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site. The business-certificate guide says sole proprietors using an assumed name file with the appropriate borough county clerk.
Uber in New York: what changes
If you want to open Uber in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get the federal and New York setup in place before launch, including the entity, EIN if needed, and the actual state tax baseline for gig driving.
- Decide whether you are launching outside New York City or inside New York City, because NYC is a much heavier TLC and airport branch.
- Open and verify your Uber driver account, clear screening, upload documents, and confirm the intended vehicle can actually qualify.
- Launch only after payout, insurance, trip-recordkeeping, and airport or city-specific rules are ready.
- Assuming New York City works like the rest of the state.
- Buying a car before confirming the exact market and lane can qualify.
- Treating the TNC assessment like a personal driver sales-tax filing.
- Relying on one public age number without checking the actual market branch.
- Assuming airport access is automatic.
- Ignoring lease, building, parking, or home-use restrictions.
- Jumping into NYC, JFK, or LGA before the ordinary lane is stable.
- New York does not use one statewide local-business form for rideshare drivers.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- confirm whether the launch is outside NYC or inside NYC,
- separate ordinary statewide TNC activity from airport-property rules,
- and treat any separate office, lot, or stored-vehicle location as a local branch.
- Important statewide local-rule boundaries:
- New York DMV says counties or cities over 100,000 population may opt out of TNC pickups, but DMV's public page reviewed on April 26, 2026 says none have opted out at this time.
- The same DMV page says local governments cannot impose a separate tax, fee, or surcharge on a TNC, TNC driver, TNC vehicle, or TNC trip.
- Public-use airports outside a city of one million or more can still adopt airport-property contracts, procedures, and reasonable fees.
- Typical local risk areas:
- county assumed-name filing
- home-based-business limits
- parking or multiple-vehicle storage
- airport access
- any separate office, lot, or dispatch-style setup
- If the business is actually based in New York City, add a much heavier review layer.
- NYC TLC says the minimum age for a TLC Driver License is 19.
- TLC also requires a valid DMV chauffeur-type license in class A, B, C, or E.
- TLC says applicants must complete the listed education and screening steps within 90 days from the application date or the application will be denied.
- The public TLC driver-license page reviewed on April 26, 2026 shows $252 for the 3-year license, $34 for the drug test, and $90.25 for fingerprints and photo, with separate course and exam costs.
- TLC says all For-Hire Vehicles must be affiliated with a TLC-licensed base.
- TLC's current public FHV vehicle page says only owners of wheelchair-accessible vehicles can use the live new-license exception described on the page, and the same page still carries an update stating that new EV FHV applications stopped on November 13, 2023 under a court order.
- The current public TLC FHV page also shows total public cost of $0 to $875 for the WAV branch depending on mileage and whether the vehicle is registered in NJ, PA, or CT.
- Uber's public NYC pages reviewed on April 26, 2026 still require a valid U.S. driver's license, a valid TLC driver's license, a valid TLC-licensed vehicle, proof of commercial insurance, proof of commercial vehicle registration, a TLC for-hire vehicle permit, and a passed Uber safety screening.
- Uber's current public TLC plates page still says that, as of April 1, 2023, Uber is limiting new NYC driver activations and routing new applicants to a waitlist.
- Treat this as a real platform bottleneck, not a solved paperwork step.
- Uber's public JFK and LGA airport pages reviewed on April 26, 2026 say only licensed TLC drivers in NYC are eligible for pickup requests there.
- Those pages also use live staging-lot, queue, and terminal instructions that can change.
- Treat JFK and LGA as live operational branches, not static one-time filings.
- NYC Finance says UBT is charged at 4% on taxable income allocated to New York City.
- The current official NYC record reviewed for this combo supports the filing-threshold branch used here: an unincorporated business carrying on business wholly or partly in NYC reaches the current filing line when total gross income from all business is more than $95,000.
- Keep UBT separate from statewide income-tax, MCTMT, and TLC compliance.
- Do not flatten NYC driver-benefit or pay-floor rules into a statewide employee-status conclusion.
- The current NYC Zoning Resolution text reviewed on April 26, 2026 shows home-occupation language amended on June 6, 2024, including a 49% and 1,000 square-foot cap plus limits on outside storage, outside display, and selling articles produced elsewhere than on the premises.
- The current DOB illegal-home-use summary still describes the rule more narrowly.
- Because the live DOB summary and the live zoning text do not align perfectly, keep address-specific NYC home-office, pickup, vehicle-storage, or recurring-customer-traffic questions as retained follow-up rather than pretending they are fully closed here.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is platform-based independent driver.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is driver onboarding and trip operations.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with inventory resale assumptions, seller-permit assumptions unless state rules explicitly require them, FBA or storefront setup.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public page reviewed on April 26, 2026 is heavily NYC-oriented and dynamic. Treat it as a live platform page rather than a full outside-NYC legal guide.
Public help explains upload steps, common rejection reasons, and the current document-review workflow.
Public help says screening uses a third-party background-check provider, does not use a credit check, and can take multiple business days.
Public Uber page reviewed on April 26, 2026 explains fare components, statements, and fee variability.
Public help reviewed on April 26, 2026 says cash-out is generally available up to 6 times per day, but bank timing and maintenance windows can still vary.
Public help reviewed on April 26, 2026 says tax summaries and 1099s are available by January 31, 2026. The actual document tab at drivers.uber.com is login-gated.
Trip Operations, Airport, and Worker-Status Branch
Public DMV guidance says TNC drivers must be at least 19, hold a valid current NYS driver's license, and may not pick up passengers in NYC unless separately authorized by TLC.
Public help reviewed on April 26, 2026 says non-TLC drivers can drop off riders inside NYC if the trip starts outside the city, but they cannot receive NYC pickups. Treat this as a dynamic platform-operations page.
Public Port Authority PDF says FHV operators must have an executed privilege permit to operate at JFK, LGA, and EWR, and that airport access fees are collected and remitted at the operator level.
Public airport PDF shows that ride-app pickup locations can move with construction. Re-check the current airport and in-app instructions on the action date.
Public page reviewed on April 26, 2026 says only licensed TLC drivers are eligible for JFK pickups and that staging lots, queue rules, and pickup zones can change with demand and construction.
Public page reviewed on April 26, 2026 says only licensed TLC drivers are eligible for LGA pickups and publishes live staging-lot and queue instructions that remain operationally dynamic.
Public TLC pages reviewed on April 26, 2026 keep NYC minimum-trip-pay rules separate from the ordinary outside-NYC state TNC lane. Do not treat these pages as a universal statewide worker-status answer.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public help says drivers must maintain personal auto insurance and that Uber maintains additional liability coverage while the app is on.
Public DMV guidance says that while a TNC driver is driving a TNC passenger, required vehicle liability insurance is $1,250,000 per occurrence. The same page also confirms that NYC is excluded from the ordinary state TNC law.
Public pages reviewed on April 26, 2026 show that the NYC lane uses TLC licensing and commercial insurance, not the ordinary outside-NYC personal-car baseline.
New York City Branch
Public TLC page says applicants must be at least 19, must hold a qualifying chauffeur's-license class, and must complete the application steps within 90 days.
Public TLC page says the portal is unique to the application or license record and requires license or application details to access, so this branch is effectively account-specific even though the landing page is public.
Public TLC materials reviewed on April 26, 2026 show that new FHV vehicle licensing remains heavily restricted, with the current core public exception focused on wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Public Uber pages reviewed on April 26, 2026 still say that as of April 1, 2023, Uber has limited new NYC for-hire driver signups and uses a waitlist. This is a live platform constraint, not a TLC legal rule.
Public city guidance says UBT is charged at 4% and that the standard unincorporated-business filing branch begins once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
Use this page for the current city return, declaration, and worksheet set rather than relying on older PDFs.
Public DOB and Zoning Resolution materials reviewed on April 26, 2026 do not fully align. Treat address-specific home-office, recurring pickup, vehicle-storage, and on-site-activity questions as retained follow-up rather than as closed by one summary page.
Walmart Marketplace in New York: what changes
If you want to open Walmart Marketplace in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup and a low-risk product lane: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place, and keep the marketplace-only, registration, and resale branches separate.
- Verify county, local, and New York City rules if the business will operate there.
- Confirm that you meet Walmart's public seller qualifications, then complete business verification, payout, fulfillment, and catalog setup.
- Launch only after your product, tax, local, and compliance setup is ready.
- Importing Shopify direct-store logic into a marketplace-only Walmart fact pattern
- Assuming Walmart's marketplace collection automatically settles the New York registration or ST-120 question
- Relying on the no-registration advisory without confirming the exact fact pattern
- Ignoring county or borough trade-name filings
- Ignoring New York City UBT and home-business branches
- Pricing products without first checking the live referral-fee and WFS cost pages
- Buying restricted or pre-approval inventory too early
- Mixing personal and business money
- New York pushes many business-permit questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk,
- contact the city, town, or village office,
- ask zoning or building offices whether home inventory, pickups, commercial deliveries, or added traffic change the permit path
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name filing
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for inventory storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- New York State and the NYC Department of Finance both say a city business may be subject to city business taxes.
- The public UBT page says the tax rate is 4% on taxable income allocated to New York City.
- The 2025 instructions for Form NYC-202 say a filing is required once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
- Sole proprietors using an assumed name file the business-certificate branch with the county clerk for the actual borough.
- The current zoning-resolution text, last amended June 6, 2024, says a home occupation may use up to 49% of the dwelling and no more than 1,000 square feet, may not have outside storage or exterior displays, and may not sell articles produced elsewhere than on the premises.
- Practical warning:
- That means a home-based resale business in New York City is not a footnote. If inventory, carrier pickups, or customer traffic will happen at the residence, confirm the exact local answer before launch.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is marketplace seller.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is seller-managed shipping or Walmart Fulfillment Services.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public qualification list says the seller needs business tax ID or business license number, with SSN not accepted, supporting business documents, ecommerce history, GTIN or UPC coverage, compliant catalog, and WFS or another B2C U.S. warehouse with returns capability.
Public page dated February 11, 2026. The fuller public onboarding sequence is verify business, choose payout method, add market details, manage fulfillment, and set up catalog.
Public guide says payment setup must be completed within 30 days, only one payout method may be used at a time, both fulfillment paths need a verifiable return address, and WFS billing methods are verified in 2 to 3 business days.
Keep this provider-agnostic. Wallet uses JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and is FDIC insured up to $250,000 per depositor. The public payment-hold policy, last updated December 10, 2025, says U.S. sellers are held up to 14 days until 90 days have passed since the first shipped order and the seller has received $7,500 in payments.
Public page says referral fees vary by category and product type and are deducted only when a sale completes.
Public page says an active USPTO trademark registration is required for each brand registered.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Public guide says Seller Center handles item setup, performance monitoring, order tracking, and shipping preferences.
Public page says WFS has no minimum requirements at this time, handles customer support and returns, and works for candidate items up to 500 lb. and 120" x 105" x 93" including packaging.
Public page lists current storage-fee structure, including $0.75 per cubic foot from January through September and an added $1.50 per cubic foot after 30 days during the October through December peak period.
Public guide says one prohibited item can deny the application. Public quickstart policy PDF lists pre-approval examples like fragrance, luxury brands, software, cell phones and accessories, Halloween and select seasonal products, and custom content.
Public policy index includes pricing rules, liability insurance, GTIN policy, payment activities, and selling limits. Public performance pages show current policy-compliance expectations, and the Seller Success Formula page says that for WFS orders, WFS controls the performance standards and those metrics are not available in Seller Center.
Insurance Checkpoint
Public guide last updated December 12, 2025 says a COI with general liability and product liability coverage is required if the seller exceeds $100,000 in GMV in any 12-month period or is notified directly by Walmart. The public rule uses $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate limits and requires Walmart as additional insured.
New York City Branch
State and city guidance say a city business may be subject to NYC business taxes.
Public city guidance shows a 4% rate. The current 2025 instructions say filing is required when total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
Useful hub for NYC business-tax filing and payment routes.
Official forms page for NYC business and excise taxes.
City page says each borough has its own county clerk and business-certificate path.
Current zoning text reviewed on April 26, 2026 says a home occupation may use up to 49% of the dwelling and no more than 1,000 square feet, may not have outside storage or exterior displays, and may not sell articles produced elsewhere than on the premises.
WooCommerce in New York: what changes
If you want to open WooCommerce in New York, you usually need to do five things in order:
- Choose your setup: sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- Get your federal and New York registrations in place before direct taxable sales, especially the New York Certificate of Authority at least 20 days before launch and the right name-filing branch if you are not using the exact legal name.
- Verify local permit, zoning, and home-business rules. If you will operate in New York City, treat the city tax and home-occupation branch as real work, not a footnote.
- Build the actual WordPress + WooCommerce store and finish payments, tax, checkout, shipping, fulfillment, and policy setup only after the legal branch is clear.
- Launch only after your product, fulfillment, tax, and compliance setup are ready.
- Treating a WooCommerce direct store like a marketplace-facilitator channel
- Waiting too late to apply for the New York Certificate of Authority
- Assuming ST-120 is safe before registration
- Turning on Local Pickup before resolving local zoning or home-business rules
- Launching before the payment processor has verified the account
- Assuming shipping labels automatically provide live customer shipping rates
- Storing home inventory or generating recurring pickups without clearing the local home-business branch
- Buying paid extensions before the core store is proven
- New York pushes many operational questions down to counties and municipalities.
- For any place where the business will operate:
- check New York Business Express,
- contact the county clerk if you need the name-filing branch,
- contact the city, town, or village where the business will operate,
- and ask zoning, building, or fire offices whether the activity is allowed at the address.
- Typical local risk areas:
- assumed-name or business-certificate filing
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- signage
- occupancy and fire-code limits
- If the business operates in New York City, add one more review layer.
- City tax layer:
- New York City public guidance says all businesses operating in the city are subject to city business taxes.
- For the default sole-proprietor or disregarded single-member-LLC path, the Unincorporated Business Tax is the main city tax branch to review.
- Public NYC-202 instructions say an individual or unincorporated entity carrying on business wholly or partly within New York City with total gross income from all business over $95,000 must file an unincorporated-business-tax return.
- The city UBT rate is 4% of taxable income allocated to New York City.
- City filing branch:
- Individuals and single-member LLCs use Form NYC-202.
- Partnerships and partnership-taxed LLCs use Form NYC-204.
- If the founder later elects corporate treatment, re-check the city corporate-tax branch rather than assuming UBT stays correct.
- Home-based and zoning layer:
- NYC public guidance says zoning rules determine where retail and manufacturing activities can happen.
- DOB guidance says a home occupation generally cannot occupy more than 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site, but the current NYC Zoning Resolution text appears broader in some contexts.
- The reviewed public pages did not identify one general NYC ecommerce license for a normal direct-to-consumer store, but that does not remove the tax or zoning branch.
- If you will store inventory, receive frequent carrier pickups, or materially increase residential traffic, confirm the exact zoning and home-occupation answer for the address before launch.
- This guide assumes a U.S.-resident founder starting from scratch.
- The primary lane is DTC ecommerce store.
- The expected fulfillment or operating model is self-fulfillment or 3PL.
- The setup comparison centers on sole proprietorship vs single-member LLC.
- This guide is not starting with food, supplements, cosmetics, medical claims, batteries-heavy hazmat, alcohol, children's products.
Platform-specific official links
Platform Setup
Public setup guidance centers onboarding around products, payments, shipping, taxes, marketing, and personalization.
Public page says there are no platform fees and no revenue share.
Public WordPress.com packaging changed on April 2, 2026, so hosted plugin capability should be re-checked on the action date.
Fulfillment, Logistics, or Store Operations
Covers business address, sell regions, ship regions, currency, and related settings.
Current public guide says WooPayments is optional, supported-country limited, requires HTTPS, requires a WordPress.com account, and uses Stripe as the payments partner in the signup flow.
Public fee tables are detailed and time-sensitive. Do not flatten them into one universal number.
Public docs say most countries pay out to bank accounts, while U.S. merchants can also add a debit card.
Public docs explain software configuration, not the legal duty to register or collect.
Current docs say this path can connect through WordPress.com and can override parts of normal manual-tax setup behavior.
Core starts with Flat Rate, Free Shipping, and Local Pickup.
Public docs show label purchase and fulfillment tooling, but not universal live checkout rates.
Public docs show that many fulfillment workflows extend through integrations and plugins rather than core.
Public docs say the Analytics section supports filters, segmentation, CSV export, and dashboard reporting.
Insurance Checkpoint
No public universal WooCommerce or WooPayments liability-insurance threshold was identified in the reviewed official Woo source set on April 26, 2026. Carrier, landlord, payment-processor, and 3PL contracts can still add their own insurance requirements.
New York City Branch
Reviewed public sources did not identify one general NYC ecommerce license for a normal direct-store seller, but they do identify city tax and zoning branches.
Public city guidance shows a 4% UBT rate, and the 2025 NYC-202 instructions say filing begins once total gross income from all business exceeds $95,000.
DOB says a home occupation generally cannot exceed 25% of the residence, up to 500 square feet, and no employees may work on-site, but the current Zoning Resolution text appears broader in some contexts. Confirm the actual address and use classification with city zoning guidance before relying on a home-fulfillment or local-pickup plan.
Change your path
Need a different route into this answer?
Use these links if you want another platform, another launch state, or the official source directory before you keep reading.
Choose another platform for New York Jump back to the platform hub if the family or platform overlay here is not your lane. Browse another launch state Switch to another launch-state baseline without losing the state-first flow. Open official sources Jump straight to the official source directory if you want agency links first.
Official links Shared official links for New York
Start with these shared state and federal groups before you layer on the platform-specific overlay. They are the stable baseline reused across the approved New York packs.
Statewide Start
New York startup portal for entity, tax, insurance, and local-permit orientation.
Public portal links to tax, employer, and local-checklist branches.
Public guidance distinguishes sole proprietorships, LLCs, partnerships, and county assumed-name rules.
Entity Choice and Formation
Official summary of sole proprietorships, LLCs, partnerships, and corporations.
Main Department of State hub for new entities and business records.
Online filing is available; the county named in the filing drives the publication branch.
Operating agreement is required but kept internally, not filed with the Department of State.
Requires two county-clerk-designated newspapers, publication affidavits, and exact match to Department of State records.
State-level DBA filing for LLCs.
Separate from tax returns and separate from IT-204-LL.
Sole Proprietor and Local Name Filings
Public guidance says no formation document is required if the proprietor uses their own name.
Public city guidance says each borough has its own county clerk and a sole proprietorship needs a certificate only if a trade name is used.
Public Department of State FAQ says the entity branch is filed with the state, not the county clerk.
Federal and State Tax Setup
IRS says you can get an EIN directly from the IRS for free.
IRS reference page for the current SS-4 form and instructions.
Main registration page for the Certificate of Authority.
Explains the timing rule and registration responsibilities.
Used with the registration workflow.
Current published FAQ still says a home-based New York seller using only a marketplace provider should register and file periodic returns.
Fact-specific opinion dated November 12, 2024 says a marketplace seller would not need to register if the provider collects and remits tax and the seller makes no other New York sales.
Walmart's public guide says Walmart collects and remits marketplace sales tax for New York, effective June 1, 2019. The public addendum says Walmart is the marketplace facilitator and seller or taxpayer of record for applicable marketplace-facilitator-law taxes, while the retailer remains responsible for correct tax designations and other tax branches.
Documents why the marketplace seller did not collect tax on covered marketplace-facilitated sales.
For the founder in this pack, the clean path is to use ST-120 only after the registration side is closed.
Helpful for audits and exemption-certificate retention.
Entity Tax Maintenance
New York follows federal classification rules for LLCs and LLPs.
Separate from the Department of State biennial statement.
Current instructions say there is no extension to file or pay.
Federal Reporting
FinCEN says domestic U.S.-created entities are exempt under the interim final rule published on March 26, 2025.
Employees, Payroll, and Insurance
Current public form is NYS-100; use this branch only if you hire.
Public guide says you may register online or by completing NYS-100.
Public guidance says virtually all employers must cover employees.
Public page says workers' compensation is not required for LLCs and LLPs with no employees.
Public guidance explains the covered-employer threshold.
Public guidance says CE-200 is for permit, license, or contract situations only.
Local follow-up Local checks that can still change the answer
- New York still pushes some permission-to-operate questions down to counties, municipalities, zoning offices, airports, or short-term-rental regulators depending on the lane.
- Keep public-name filing, home-based, zoning, storage, parking, traffic, airport, HOA, lease, condo, deed, and short-term-rental questions separate from the state-level baseline.
- Use the family comparison and platform overlay before you spend money, because the tax, insurance, and operations branch changes by lane.
- assumed-name filings
- home occupation restrictions
- zoning for storage
- truck or carrier activity at a residence
- fire-code limits
- county assumed-name filing
- home-based-business limits
- parking or multiple-vehicle storage
New York City: family-specific local split
- New York City is not one universal local branch for New York; the exact city answer changes by family and sometimes by platform.
- New York City storefront lanes can reopen city tax-account, business-license, home-occupation, zoning, storage, or use-permit questions depending on the address and setup.
- New York City marketplace-seller lanes can reopen city tax, storage, inventory, home-business, or permit questions even when the platform handles customer discovery or some tax collection.
- New York City platform-work lanes can reopen local TNC, delivery, worker-status, vehicle, airport, parking, or city-tax questions that do not apply to seller or host lanes.
- New York City hosting can reopen short-term-rental permit, occupancy, local lodging-tax, direct-booking, primary-residence, or host-eligibility questions.
- Open the family comparison first, then open the platform overlay before you spend money on permits, inventory, vehicles, furnishings, or listings tied to New York City.
Representative flagship routes
Frequently asked questions
- Does New York use the same setup path for every platform?
No. The state baseline stays useful, but storefront, marketplace, platform-work, and hosting lanes can split the next step in different ways.
- What should I verify after the New York baseline?
Check the platform overlay that matches your lane, then keep city, county, home-based, and product-specific rules as a separate local review step.
- When should I open the platform-specific guide instead of staying on this page?
Open the deeper platform guide when the family comparison shows that taxes, insurance, operations, or local branches depend on the platform lane you picked.