Suffolk County Home Improvement License Application

[Mstrlucky74]

Hello all. Looking for a little guidance as to whether we should incorporate or do a sole proprietorship or LLC. Also not sure exactly what they are asking for in A or B in the license app below. Any advice would be great. Thanks so much.
We are opening a masonary company.

Attach the following to the application:
A) If incorporated, please provide a copy of New York State filing receipt.
OR
B) If you are a d/b/a, please provide a d/b/a Certificate (Available from the Suffolk County Clerk’s
Office in Riverhead at (631) 852-2000.

[Owen]

Hello all. Looking for a little guidance as to whether we should incorporate or do a sole proprietorship or LLC. Also not sure exactly what they are asking for in A or B in the license app below. Any advice would be great. Thanks so much.
We are opening a masonary company.

Attach the following to the application:
A) If incorporated, please provide a copy of New York State filing receipt.
OR
B) If you are a d/b/a, please provide a d/b/a Certificate (Available from the Suffolk County Clerk’s
Office in Riverhead at (631) 852-2000.

They're referring to if you're a sole proprietorship when they ask if you're a DBA. A DBA is a doing business as, so if your name is John Smith, you technically can't do masonary under John Masonary without filing a DBA. DBA doesn't come with any protections. If you're incorporated, aka an LLC, LLP, s-corp, or c-corp, they pretty much want the receipt the state gives you once your registration was filed. If you didn't pay about $100+ to register your business, you're not registered and have 0 limited liability protections.

[tallen]

At least in the jurisdictions I am familiar with (but it may be different in Suffolk County), if you are doing business under your own name (and your name only, just "John Smith") then you don't technically need to register a DBA -- your name is already associated with you (and your SSN or tax ID number). If you want to name your business as something other than (or more than just) your own name, e.g. "Smith Masonry Company," or "Bricks Galore," then you do need to register that name as a DBA (unless you have incorporated or formed an LLC under that name, 'cause then the name is automatically registered as part of the incorporation process).

To answer the original question, I would suggest evaluating the potential liabilities (risks) you might incur in your proposed business -- how likely is it that customers, employees, or anyone else could get hurt or suffer other damages (e.g. property loss) or otherwise want to bring a law suit against you as a consequence of your business? How likely are you to take on business debts that might be hard to repay? Do you have significant assets of your own, unrelated to your business, such as your house, vehicle, or savings, that you want to protect from claims that might be made against you because of your business activities? If any of these apply to you, then you probably want to seriously consider incorporating (or forming an LLC). If none of them apply, then a sole proprietorship should be fine...

[Mstrlucky74]

Thank you very much.