Licenses and permits in Nevada

The Secretary of State filing is a state business license, and it is not the only permission you may need. You must license the business with the state. Also, a city or county license may also be required where the business is based and where it operates¹. Start with the state license, then the county on the state’s map, then the agency for your kind of work.

What’s different in Nevada

• There is a statewide business license. Most businesses need it. A small home business can fall outside it, with a yearly certificate of exemption instead. Local licenses are a second step in some places and not in others.
• Contractor licensing turns on the kind of work, not a single sentence. Repair work under $1,000³ can sit outside the chapter, with a list of exceptions.
• Cottage food has a sales cap and no state environmental health permit. The cap is $35,000⁴ a year, for direct sales from a home kitchen. A 2025 law changes the rules on July 1, 2027⁵.
• Liquor and tobacco licenses are on the tax department’s fee table. A city may still require its own license.

Do this

1. Get the state business license. File it with the Secretary of State through the ORION Business Portal¹. The fee and the form are on Register your business. A sole proprietor who files no annual list gets the license on its own before conducting business, unless an exclusion on that page applies.
2. Open the county in the startup guide. The guide’s map links the county and city license offices. Fees vary by place. Use the link for the place you will work, and pay the fee that office prints.
3. Get a contractor license if the work is not exempt. Chapter 624 says repair or maintenance under the threshold is outside the contractor chapter unless a permit is required, the work is plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, heating or air-conditioning, or it is part of a larger project. The dollar line is $1,000. If you do need a license, you post a bond or cash deposit, and the Contractors Board sets the amount from the contractor's responsibility and the size of the work, between $1,000 and $500,000³. Chapter 624 does not print the application fee.* Check it with the Contractors Board before you pay.
4. Selling food from home? Read the cottage food guide. Cottage food is food made in a private home for direct sale to an end customer. Sales must stay at or under $35,000 a calendar year. Nevada State Environmental Health Services does not require a permit for a cottage food operation, but you do register with the state or a county health department, and city, county, or state business licenses still apply⁴. From July 1, 2027, a 2025 law replaces the health-department registration with a license from the state and raises the cap to $100,000⁵. The guide’s flowchart asks about sales through distributors, stores or online, and the statute it quotes is limited to direct sale to an end customer.* Check the health department before you sell through a store or a website. A food business outside that law needs a permit from state or local health authorities. The guide does not print that permit fee.* Check the health district that covers your kitchen.
5. Selling alcohol or tobacco? The Department of Taxation fee table lists a certificate of compliance to sell and ship liquor for $50, an importer of wine, beer and spirits at $500, and a tobacco retail dealer license at $50⁶. Other rows on that table have their own fees. Use the row that matches what you will do. A city or county can still require a local license. The startup guide’s county map is the place to check.
6. A licensed profession is separate from the company filing. The state’s startup guide points to boards by profession and does not put every license on one fee schedule. Start with the guide’s profession list, then the board that regulates the work.
7. Selling taxable goods? Register with the Department of Taxation: Get your tax IDs.

What you get back

A state business license, a local license where the city or county requires one, and a trade permit if the work needs it. Each renewal is its own date. The state license follows the annual list if you have one, and the anniversary of the license if you do not. Write the local date down when the county gives it to you. The state guide does not print one renewal day for every city.