For information on licensing required by the State of New York contact:

For information on all licenses or permits required by the City of Syracuse:

To obtain licensing for the sale of alcoholic beverages, contact:

For the required licensing for the serving, storage, and sale of food products and the operation of motels, hotels, day camps and other residential services, contact:

Local Permits
A person contemplating starting a business should be aware of local laws. Each of the 34 municipalities within Onondaga County establishes requirements for businesses and restricts the location of business to some degree. Examples of local considerations are zoning, parking, sign regulations, and certain occupational licenses such as auctioneers, electricians, and plumbers. Click here for a list of towns, villages, and contact information.

Legal Structure
The following is a brief outline of the most common legal structure of a business organization. An attorney, accountant or other qualified professional should be consulted before deciding on a particular business structure.

Sole Proprietorship
It is the simplest form of business structure and may be suited to a start up or a one-person business. All business responsibilities are those of the single owner. This includes unlimited financial liability incurred by the business.

Partnership
A Partnership is the relationship between two or more persons or companies that carry on a trade or business together. Each one contributes money, property, labor and/or skills, and share in the profit and losses of the business. Each is liable for the business' debts and obligations.

Limited Partnership
A Limited Partnership is a form of group ownership with at least one general partner and one limited partner. The general partner has unlimited liability. Limited partners can only lose their initial investment.

Corporation
A New York State Corporation is an entity separate and distinct from the individual(s) who owns and manages the business. Business corporations are operated for profit and are authorized to raise capital by selling shares of ownership in the corporation. A corporation's debts and obligations are distinctly its own.

S Corporation
An S Corporation is a corporation having thirty-five or fewer shareholders, which allows the owners several tax advantages by avoiding corporate income taxes. It is taxed as if it were a general partnership because losses and profits flow through to the individual shareholders for tax purposes.

Limited Liability Company (LCC)
An LLC combines the best features of an S Corporation and a Partnership. LCCs can have as many company owners as they want and are treated like partnerships for tax purposes.

Filing A Business Name
If the proprietorship or partnership will be operating under a business name, a certificate must be filed with the county clerk. Obtain the necessary forms and file with:

Filing A Certificate Of Incorporation

Personnel And Payroll
If you will be employing people you must:

Become familiar with all labor regulations

Understand the labor market: wages and supply

Taxes Other Than Payroll
New York State Sales Tax, New York State Unincorporated Business, Corporation and Personal Income Taxes.

For information about New York state special purpose taxes such as lottery tax, truck mileage tax, fuel use tax on diesel and gasoline, and miscellaneous commodity taxes:

Publication 750: Guide to Sales Tax Reforms in NYS and Publication 20: New York State Guide for New Business or other publications located on www.tax.state.ny.us/sbc

New York State Tax Credits
Investment Tax Credit. Credit against corporate and personal income offered for capital investment in manufacturing, processing, assembling and related activities.

Employment Incentive Credit. Credit against corporate tax offered for employment growth of at least 101% over the previous year.

Empire Zone Benefits. Various credits offered for qualified businesses locating the business in the Onondaga County or City of Syracuse Empire Zones.

Research and Development Property Investment Tax Credit. Credit against corporate and personal income tax offered for investment in property used for the purpose of research and development in the experimental laboratory sense.

New Business Investment Exclusion and Deferral. Capital gains tax credit offered to those who, after selling a new business, invest in another NYS new business within 12 months of the date of sale. (Additional conditions apply.)

Corporate Franchise Tax Allocation Percentages. Allows corporations to allocate activities which are not subject to tax. (Restrictions apply.)

Retail Enterprise Credit. Credit against corporate and personal income tax for retailers who rehab a building for retail use. (Building must be eligible for investment tax credit per Internal Revenue Code Section 48 (a)(e).)

Sales Tax Exemptions. New York businesses, registered with the State of New York Department of Taxation and Finance are exempt from paying taxes on:

• Utility services used in production
• Machinery, equipment, parts, tools and sup-plies used in production of goods for sale
• Farm equipment, farm implements, parts, tools and supplies used in production of goods for sale
• Labor for repairing or maintaining any exempt production equipment (State portion only.)
• Anything that becomes a component part of a product for sale
• Cartons, containers, wrapping and packaging materials and supplies, and components there of for use or consumption by a vendor in packaging or packing material for ultimate sale
• Industrial waste treatment equipment used in the production process.
• Transportation charges for the delivery of goods from the vendor to purchaser
• Storage charges for goods for resale
• A component part of property being services
• Maintenance, servicing and repairing of railroad rolling stock use in freight
• Commercial vessels (interstate and foreign commerce) and properties
• Commercial aircraft, its machinery, equipment and property
• Research and development related to property
• Tractors, trailers and semi-trailers (Article-1, Vehicle and Traffic Law) and properties installed on such vehicle (gross vehicle weight exceeding 26,000 lbs.)

Federal Income Tax
In addition to employee withholding tax you may be responsible for quarterly estimated payments for federal income tax. Check with the IRS about the availability of the "Small Business Tax Workshop":

Real Property Tax
If you own real property or if you are responsible for paying the real property taxes on the building you are renting, check with the local municipality. In general the following rules apply:

Property is valued as of the taxable status date. The taxable status date for property for the towns and most villages is March 1. The taxable status date for property in the City of Syracuse and the Village of Solvay is January 1.

Town and County taxes are billed January 1. Village taxes (except Baldwinsville) are billed June 1. Baldwinsville taxes are billed March 1. City taxes are billed June 30, payable quarterly July, October, January and April. More information is available at: www.ongov.net/realproptax.

Business Profile
The NYS Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College will assist a business with its business plans including general and financial planning. The service is free of charge. The SBDC may be reached by calling: 315-698-6070.

A business profile (plan) includes several parts including a description of your business and a financial plan.

For instance when preparing your business description, you should consider the following:

• Who will own the business?
• What skills and experiences do you bring to the business?
• What work will you be doing and what work will you be hiring someone else to do?
• What are your space needs?
• Will customers/clients be coming to you?
• Do you need a special location, site, or building in order to carry out your business?
• Who will your customers/clients be? (Be specific.)
• Who will your competitors be? (Be specific.)
• How do you know there is a market for your product/service?
• How will you price your product or services? What basis will you use?
• Will your prices be competitive?
• How much capital do you need and where will you get the financing you need (a) to start your business and (b) to keep it going?
• What payment terms are you prepared to offer your customers or clients? How do those terms match your competitor?
• How will you promote your product or service?
• What problems, if any, must you overcome?

Financial Planning
Banking and other financial assistance sources will require you to present certain financial information and projections, which are specific to your business and circumstances.

There are suggested formats for the preparation and presentation of this information. Banks and other lending sources often have guides and forms for your use in preparing your application or business plan.

The U.S. Small Business Administration and the NYS Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College offers advice, brochures and forms, free of charge, which will guide you in preparing and presenting your projections. While you may seek assistance in completing these forms, you should have enough understanding of the business plan to be able to describe the financial conditions both to someone from whom you wish to borrow money and to yourself.

SBDC can be reached by calling: 315-698-6070. SBA forms, including a sample business plan, are online at www.sba.gov. At a minimum, the following SBA forms and guidance should be used:

• Personal Financial Statement
• Start Up Cost Estimates and Projected Profit/loss Statement
• Checklist for Going into Business Development (Publication MP 12)
• Three-year Income Statement Projection
• Three-year Balance Sheet Projection
• Monthly Cash Flow Projection SBA Form
• Break-Even Analysis

Break-Even Analysis
The break-even point of your business must be calculated in order to determine the volume of business you must do to avoid incurring a loss. Above the break-even point, there is profit; below there is loss.

In order to calculate the break-even point a few assumptions must be made. You will first need to estimate Fixed Costs, Variable Costs and the Gross Margin.

Fixed costs are those that remain constant no matter the volume of business. Depreciation, insurance, rent, taxes and licenses are likely to be fixed costs.

Variable costs are those that may increase if the volume of business increases. Payroll expense, cost of goods sold, advertising, and, travel and auto are likely to increase with the expanded activity.

Gross margin is calculated by deducting the cost of goods sold (variable labor plus variable materials) from the total sales. The gross margin, or the expected profit on sales, is expressed as a percentage of sales.

Working basic financial spreadsheets help you plan your business.

To break-even sales in dollars(s) must equal fixed costs (FC) divided by the gross margin ex-pressed as a percent of sales (VC).

S = FC/GM (as a percentage of sales)

The answer (S) is the dollar amount, which is the break-even point.

To also determine the number of units which must be sold to break-even:

Amount of Sales(S)/Price per Unit

The break-even formula also is used to determine the dollar volume of sales, which must occur to generate a profit.

The formula now becomes:

S = (FC/GM) + P (target profit expressed in dollars)

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