How to Start an Online Store in Utah: Sales Tax Licence, Remote Seller Rules and City Licence

Whether you sell on Etsy or run a standalone Utah ecommerce site, the paperwork is spread across three places: the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code for your entity, the Utah State Tax Commission for sales tax, and your city or county for the local business license. Utah has no statewide general business license, so no single document covers everything. This guide takes the steps in the order most sellers should do them, with the state figures for each.

This article is informational only. It is not legal or tax advice. Talk to a qualified attorney or CPA before you decide on your entity, your taxes, or any multi-state sales plan.

What You Need Before You Start

Gather these items first. Most online forms ask for them in the first few screens.

• Your legal name and your Social Security number, or a federal EIN from the IRS if you form an LLC or corporation.
• A Utah street address for the business. If you form an entity, you also need a Utah street address for your registered agent.
• A UtahID, which you use to log in to the Utah Business Registration System.
• A list of what you sell, with a note on which items are taxable, which are exempt and which you sell wholesale.
• A bank account in the business name, or one you are ready to open.
• A rough 12-month sales forecast, split between your own website and any marketplace you use.
• Money for fees: $59 to form an LLC or corporation, $22 to reserve a name or register a DBA, and $18 a year for the annual entity renewal.

Step 1: Choose Your Legal Structure

Your structure decides what you file with the state and how your income is taxed. Most new online sellers choose one of three options.

• Sole proprietorship. There is no state formation filing. If you sell under a name other than your own legal name, you need an assumed name (DBA) registration. Income goes on your personal return. The tradeoff is that the business and your personal assets are not legally separated.
• LLC. You file a Certificate of Organization with the Division. The filing fee is $59 and the annual renewal is $18. By default, an LLC is taxed as a partnership or sole proprietorship, with income passed through to its members and taxed on their individual returns. It can elect corporate treatment instead.
• Corporation. You file Articles of Incorporation for a domestic business corporation. The filing fee is $59 and the annual report is $18. Corporations pay Utah's 4.45% corporate franchise (for tax years from January 1, 2026) and income tax, with a $100 minimum tax filed on form TC-20.

For a small home-based store, a sole proprietorship has the lowest startup cost. An LLC costs little more and can separate your personal assets from business debts. Whether that separation matters for your store is a question for an attorney.

Step 2: Check and Reserve Your Name

Search the Division’s business search at businessregistration.utah.gov before you commit to a name. The name must be distinguishable on the Division’s records from existing entity names, reserved names, registered names and assumed names. It also cannot imply that your company is a state agency or political subdivision.

An LLC name must include “limited liability company,” “limited company,” or one of these: “L.L.C.,” “LLC,” “L.C.” or “LC.” “Limited” may be shortened to “Ltd.” and “company” to “Co.”

If you need time to finish the filing, you can reserve a name for 120 days for $22. The instructions are at commerce.utah.gov/corporations/online-registration-instructions.

Step 3: File Your Formation Document

File online at the Utah Business Registration System, logging in with your UtahID. Most online filings are processed and approved instantly. Filings that need manual review take 2 to 4 business days from receipt, and the Division has posted 7 to 10 business days during backlogs. Expedited processing costs $75 per filing under the Division’s Fiscal Year 2026 fee schedule.

Every registered entity must name a registered agent for service of process. The agent can be an individual or a business entity registered with the Division and in good standing, or a commercial registered agent. A commercial agent costs $52 to register. The agent needs a Utah street address. A PO box may be listed only in addition to a street address. Naming an agent is your statement that the agent has agreed to serve.

Step 4: Register a DBA If You Need One

If your store name differs from your legal name or from your entity’s registered name, register it as an assumed name, also called a Business Name Registration. You file it with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. It is a statewide filing, not a county one. The fee is $22 to register for a three-year term, and the renewal fee is shown in the portal at renewal. The form and instructions are at commerce.utah.gov/corporations/business-entities/dba.

Step 5: Register for a Utah Sales Tax License on TAP

Utah does not issue a general business license at the state level, but a seller with an established presence in Utah needs a Utah Sales Tax License from the Tax Commission. You get it by applying for a tax account through the Taxpayer Access Point (TAP) at tap.tax.utah.gov, using the information on form TC-69. The license is free. The TAP account is a tax registration, not a business license, and it is separate from your entity filing.

If you run the store from your home and have a Utah address, you are a Utah retailer. You need a TAP sales tax account for your taxable sales, even if your volume is small. The state rate is 4.85%, and the state rate on grocery food is 1.75%. Combined state and local rates run from 6.35% to 9.55% depending on jurisdiction, and the combined grocery food rate is 3.0%. Your Tax Commission account will show the filing frequency assigned to you, so check it when you register.

Step 6: Understand the Remote Seller Rules

The remote seller rules matter if you ship into Utah from outside the state, and they still matter for a Utah seller who makes sales in other states. Utah’s threshold is more than $100,000 of Utah gross sales. The older 200-transaction test ended July 1, 2025 under SB 47, so the number of transactions no longer triggers the requirement. Gross sales count exempt and wholesale sales too, not only taxable retail sales. Confirm the current rules on the Tax Commission’s page at tax.utah.gov/sales/remote-sellers.

Marketplace sales are treated differently from sales on your own site. Etsy is a marketplace facilitator. If Etsy has Utah nexus, it collects and remits Utah sales tax on sales made through its platform, and those sales do not count toward your own $100,000 threshold. Sales through your own website do count. Use this table to sort your sales by channel:

Type of sale	Counts toward your $100,000 Utah threshold?
Sale through your own website	Yes
Sale through a marketplace facilitator with Utah nexus, such as Etsy	No, because the marketplace collects the tax on that sale
Wholesale sale	Yes
Exempt sale	Yes

Keep records for every channel from the first sale. A Utah seller on Etsy still needs its own TAP account for taxable sales on its own site, and the marketplace report does not replace your own books.

Step 7: Get Your City or County Business License

This is the local step. The business license comes from the city or town where your business is located or operating. Outside city limits, it comes from the county. A city license does not transfer to another city, so if you move your home office across a city line, you need a new license for the new location.

Utah state law limits the fees a city can charge a home-based business, unless the offsite impact of the business materially exceeds the normal use of the home. If you request a license, the city may still charge an administrative fee. The amount and rules vary by city, so check the current ordinance on the city’s website. Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, St. George and Ogden each publish their own application and home occupation rules. Do not assume a fee is zero or any specific amount until you confirm it with the city.

Step 8: Check Occupational and Product Rules

Some professions and regulated services need an occupational license from the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL). If your products or services fall into one of those categories, confirm the requirement with DOPL before you list anything. Products such as cosmetics, supplements and foods also carry federal FDA labeling and claim rules, which apply no matter what state you sell from.

If your store sells alcohol, contact the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services (DABS) before you do anything else. This article does not cover alcohol sales.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Looking for a statewide general business license. Utah does not issue one. Your Division registration is a registration, your TAP account is a tax registration, and your local license comes from your city or county.
• Assuming a city license moves with you. It does not transfer between cities.
• Filing a DBA with the county. Utah assumed names are filed with the state Division.
• Counting marketplace sales toward your own threshold, or leaving out your own-site sales. Track each channel separately from day one.
• Listing only a PO box for your registered agent. A Utah street address is required, and a PO box can only be added on top of it.
• Missing the annual renewal. The renewal costs $18 and the window opens 60 days before your anniversary date. A late renewal fee of $10 applies.
• Quoting the 4.85% state rate as your total. Local rates bring the combined rate to between 6.35% and 10.05%, depending on jurisdiction.

Expected Results and Timeline

With complete and accurate applications, you should be able to finish the state filings in one sitting. Your city or county step may take longer, and the ranges below are the Division’s stated figures, which can change. Check the status when you file.

Step	Typical timing	Known fee
Name search and reservation	Search is immediate; a reservation holds the name for 120 days	$22 to reserve
LLC or corporation formation	Instant for most online filings; 2 to 4 business days if manually reviewed; 7 to 10 business days during backlogs	$59, or $75 expedited
DBA registration	Confirm on the Division page at filing	$22 to register; three-year term, renewal fee shown in the portal
Sales tax account on TAP	Confirm with the Tax Commission	Free
City or county business license	Confirm with your city or county	Confirm with your city or county
Annual renewal	Yearly, with a window opening 60 days before the anniversary date	$18, plus a $10 late fee if late

Once these filings are in place, you should have the registrations you need to start selling in Utah. What happens after that, including traffic, conversion and sales, depends on your products, pricing and marketing. No filing can promise those results.

Official Resources

• Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code
• Utah Business Registration System
• Utah State Tax Commission
• Taxpayer Access Point (TAP)
• Tax Commission remote seller rules
• Utah Small Business Development Center
• SBA Utah district office

When to Get Professional Help

A single-owner store that sells in Utah only can often handle these steps alone. Talk to a qualified attorney or CPA before you start if you plan to sell across multiple states, hold inventory in another state, hire employees, or sell regulated products. The right entity and tax setup depends on your facts, and this article cannot make that call for you.